The Italian Competition Authority (AGCM) has imposed fines totaling €23.3 million on three major Italian snack manufacturers for participating in a cartel in the market for private-label savoury snacks supplied to large-scale retailers.
Amica Chips S.p.A. and Pata S.p.A. were each fined €8,239,210, while Preziosi Food S.p.A. received a fine of €7,503,550.
According to the AGCM, the three companies engaged in a single, complex and continuous secret agreement to allocate the supply of savoury snacks manufactured for large-scale retail distribution and sold under retailers’ private-label brands. The Authority found that the companies coordinated their commercial strategies in order to divide up supply opportunities for private-label snack production, thereby restricting competition in violation of Article 101 TFEU.
The infringement concerned the Italian market for savoury snacks produced on behalf of large-scale retail trade and distributed through retailers’ private-label sales channels. In the Authority’s view, the arrangement amounted to a cartel designed to partition supply among the principal producers active in the segment.
The AGCM applied its leniency programme and granted reductions in fines to Amica Chips and Pata in recognition of the significant evidence they provided during the investigation, which helped establish the infringement.
The decision is also procedurally important because the Authority activated, for the first time since its introduction, the settlement procedure under Article 14-quater of Law No. 287/1990. Following the successful completion of that process, all three companies received a further reduction in their fines.
The case is the first practical use of Italy’s antitrust settlement procedure and may indicate a greater willingness by the AGCM to use negotiated procedural tools to streamline cartel enforcement.
