Getting Settlement Procedures Right: Italian Competition Authority Adopts Procedural Guidance

On 22 May 2023, the Italian Competition Authority ("ICA") published a communication (the "Communication") to define the procedural application of Article 14-quater of the Italian Competition law ("Law n. 287/1990") governing the so-called "settlement procedure", which has been introduced by the 2021 annual competition law.

As a result of the Communication, settlement procedures are now officially part of the framework of all antitrust proceedings initiated by the ICA. The Italian legislator has thus notably extended the scope of application of antitrust settlement procedures – usually applied by the Commission in cartel proceedings - to investigations of abuses of a dominant position under Article 102 TFEU.