(Tiper Stock Exchange) – The Antitrust Authority appreciate “spirit and goals” of the law decree on the transparency of fuel prices, but points out some “contraindications”, in particular that referring to the obligation for petrol station attendants to display the regional average price. This element “is very little representative of the actual competitive context in which a fuel distribution plant operates” and “could even lead some consumers into confusion”. This was stated by the President of the Antitrust, Roberto Rustichelli, during the hearing in the Productive Activity Commission of the Chamber on the Transparency decree.
The President of the Antitrust explained that “the awareness by consumers of the prices charged by the distributor is a desirable objective” and that “accurate, clearcertain and timely on the price applied by the distributor make the consumer an active subject capable of correctly evaluating the offers”.
However, the Authority explained that “the introduction of the obligation to indicate the regional average price calculated by the Ministry alongside the selling price also presents possible contraindications”. In particular, said Rustichelli “the arithmetic mean of the regional price is very little representative of the actual competitive context in which a fuel distribution plant operates” and this is because a fuel distribution plant “is actually in competition only with the located a few kilometers away which can constitute a concrete alternative for the consumer”. So “lon a regional scale, the total number of fuel distributors that could actually be alternatives for consumers is far in excess”.
Rustichelli then underlined that “the envisaged double signage, beyond the possible additional charges for merchants, could even lead some consumers into confusion” and that “the diffusion among merchants of an average regional price – regardless of the representativeness of this given – risks reducing price variability, as it could be used by companies to automatically converge on a “focal price””.