Italian Competition Law Reform

On August 5, 2022, the Italian Parliament adopted Law No. 118, the “2021 Annual Competition Law” (the “ACL”).

The ACL, which will enter into force on August 27, 2022, amends the Italian Competition Law (Law No. 287/90) to further align the Italian antitrust law to EU rules, which have evolved over the years. The changes concern, in particular, the substantive test for assessing mergers, the rules applicable to joint ventures, and the calculation of turnover for credit and financial institutions.

The ACL also extends the enforcement powers of the Italian Competition Authority (the “ICA”), through new provisions that raise potential concerns. Finally, the ACL introduces provisions empowering the ICA to review certain below-threshold mergers and to obtain information and documents that might be useful for investigative purposes at any moment, even outside of formal investigation proceedings.

Please click here to read the full alert memorandum.

To read the memo in Italian, click here.