Eni, the Council of State overturns the Antitrust
The Council of State rejected the AGCM's argument against Eni, accused of having deceived consumers about the "green" benefits of Diesel+ fuel and sentenced to pay a fine of 5 million. The Council fully accepted the oil company's appeal. All the details
Eni said it was "with satisfaction" to learn of the decision of the Council of State which, after four years, rejected the argument of the Competition and Market Authority (AGCM) according to which the company had implemented an unfair commercial practice. to the detriment of consumers due to the advertising campaign for Eni Diesel+ fuel.
WHAT THE ANTITRUST COMPLAINED TO ENI
In 2020, the Agcm contested the valorisation in terms of environmental benefit of the green component consisting of the percentage of HVO (hydrogenated biofuel) mixed in diesel.
THE STATE COUNCIL'S POSITION: IT IS NOT GREENWASHING
The Council of State fully accepted Eni's appeal in the proceedings in which the company was sentenced to pay a fine of 5 million euros.
The Council has definitively ascertained that no unfair commercial practices have been implemented by Eni to the detriment of consumers and that the charges raised at the time by the Agcm are to be considered unfounded, disregarding the principle according to which terms such as green and similar do not can never be associated with products considered, by their nature, not 'zero impact' on the environment.
The assessment recognizes "there can be no doubt, in principle, about the legitimacy of the use of 'green' claims also in relation to products (such as in this case diesel fuel) which are (and remain) to a certain extent polluting but which have, compared to others, a lower impact on the environment".
ENI'S VERSION
Eni supported the veracity of the environmental claims of Diesel+ based on documented scientific evidence, defining the 15% HVO component contained in it as green and specifying in relative terms that Diesel+, thanks to this green component, was less polluting than other fuels sold on the market at that time.
This is a machine translation from Italian language of a post published on Start Magazine at the URL https://www.startmag.it/energia/eni-agcm-diesel-ricorso/ on Wed, 24 Apr 2024 11:59:12 +0000.