What changes on TPL cars, bills, taxis, authorities and beaches with the Competition bill
Here are the main provisions of the Competition Bill approved by the Council of Ministers. Focus on RC cars, bills, taxis, authorities and beaches and more
There is no revision of the bathing concessions – but only a mapping of the existing ones – and there is also no liberalization of licenses for street vendors. In the new competition law, instead, there is a provision that opens a passage in taxi licenses – which has already caused the ire of the category – greater transparency on the appointment of the authorities and on those of primary hospitals, measures to regulate hydroelectric concessions. Instead, the possibility for notaries to operate throughout the national territory was skipped.
These are some of the salient points that emerge from a first reading of the Competition bill approved yesterday by the Council of Ministers.
Let's briefly see some aspects of the provision .
BEACHES, AMBULANTS AND HYDROELECTRIC CONCESSIONS
There will be a "mapping" of all existing concessions, which will allow for a transparent operation in view of a future reform. The map is used to get a clear picture of who owns them, for how long and at what cost. No decision, however, on the liberalization of street vendors' licenses. On hydroelectric concessions, tendering times are accelerated and replacement powers are strengthened, which allow the State to intervene if the Regions are late.
TAXI AND COMPETITION
The aim is to promote competition in licensing and protect consumers. With a decree, within six months, the government will have to "adapt the offer of services to the new forms of existing mobility that use apps and technological platforms" to connect passengers and drivers, "reducing administrative requirements" for the bus operators.
AUTHORITY APPOINTMENTS
To strengthen the independence of the various authorities (from Antitrust, to Consob, from Agcom to the transport regulator to that of energy), the new competition law revises the selection procedures for presidents and members, entrusting the selection of candidates to a " Independent and well-known technical committee.
MORE TRANSPARENT HEALTH
Less discretion in the appointment of hospital managers: the general manager will no longer have to choose only between a set of three names, but a ranking will be drawn up (on curricula, professional titles, volumes of activity, adherence to the profile sought and interview) and who will choose who has the best score. The accreditation and agreement procedures for new private health facilities are then reviewed and made more transparent, which will also have to publish online reports and data on the quality of services and activities of doctors. Facilitated the entry of generic drugs charged to the NHS without waiting for the expiry of the patent.
WASTE, COLUMNS AND FIBER
Some regulations on waste management are amended: the Regulatory Authority for Energy, Networks and the Environment (ARERA) will define "adequate technical and quality standards" for the performance of disposal and recovery activities. Instead, the rule that changed the authorization procedures for incinerators was skipped. Tenders will then be held for the installation of charging stations for electric vehicles. And on fiber, network operators and infrastructure managers are asked to coordinate when they carry out interventions in the same area, to avoid the "duplication" of excavations, and to streamline the process of requesting permits. Agcom monitors and can sanction non-compliance.
STOP TELEPHONE SERVICES WITHOUT CONSENT
To counter the persistent phenomenon of unaware, fraudulent and irregular activations, telephone companies must acquire proof of the customer's prior consent before charging any subscription service fees offered by third parties.
RC CAR
Companies with their registered office in other Member States are also obliged to adhere to the direct compensation procedure. This eliminates a potential discriminatory treatment to the detriment of Italian companies.
+++
THE SHEET OF THE SUN 24 HOURS
The crux of the implementation of the Bolkestein directive remains: there is no expected acceleration on tenders for bathing establishments and itinerant trade. The veto of the League prevails. We only proceed with a delegation to the government which within 6 months will have to set up an information system on the concessions, which details the beneficiaries, duration, renewals and "profitability of the economic use of the asset". It is planned to entrust the database to the Ministry of Economy, but in reality a monitoring had already been foreseen since 2010 (ministerial decree of 30 July relating to the “Patrimonio Pa” project). On seaside resorts, the ruling of the Council of State is also awaited and in the event of rejection of the extension to 2033, the theme of the competition could return to the table later on.
Stop to the rule, not appreciated by Lega and Forza Italia, which would have authorized notaries to exercise their functions throughout the national territory. Instead, the delegation for the reorganization of the taxi sector, NCC and Uber-style app is present: the taxi driver unions have already announced the mobilization. Ok also to the regional selections for the agreement of private individuals with the National Health Service.
For the reorganization of local public services, another 6-month delegation is aimed at. The objective is to limit the use of exclusives in favor of subsidiaries by local authorities (in-house) with anticipated and reinforced motivations, non-binding however, for missing tenders above the Community threshold. But it is in local and regional transport that there is the most decisive push, in fact with a tender obligation introduced with an ordinary rule. Instead, the rule on unpacking in in-house waste management, contested by the Pd, M5S and IV, was skipped, and in extremis the accelerated procedures for the authorizations of the disposal plants were also canceled: the fear of the parties on the incinerator theme weighs. The chapter on ports is robust, but it will lend itself to discussions. Ordinarily, without delegation, tenders are foreseen which can also be launched upon request by a party by means of a notice without the need for an Infrastructure decree. But the prohibition of accumulating concessions for the same activity is abolished in the cases of ports of international and national economic importance, a move that is not exactly pro-competitive according to some unions. On the other hand, the deregulation of self-production does not pass, on which there was a strong fear of protests by port workers. Also controversial is the extension to EU companies of direct compensation for RC auto, which according to motorcycle manufacturers will have a boomerang effect on insurance costs for two-wheelers.
The energy-environment chapter contains the rules to facilitate local tenders for gas and the obligation for motorway concessionaires to call tenders for electric recharging infrastructures. The hydroelectric concessions remain with the Regions which, by 2022, will however have to provide for tenders according to "competitive, fair and transparent parameters" with "adequate compensation" for the investments of the outgoing concessionaires. Other measures concern public subsidiaries, telecommunications, drugs, simplifications for business activities, postal services, Antitrust powers, appointments of Authorities.
+++
MORE INFORMATION ON RC CARS, TELEPHONE BILLS, TAXI AND BEACHES. TRACKS EXTRACTED FROM THE CORRIERE DELLA SERA:
The competition bill also revises the rules on motor insurance and in particular article 150 of the legislative decree 7 September 2005, n. 209 on the discipline of the direct compensation system. In the event of an accident, the insured can in fact request direct compensation from his own insurance company which will have to settle the damage and can then settle with the other insurance company. However, the rule was only valid for insurance companies based in Italy. Article 27 of the competition law, on the other hand, extends the obligation of direct compensation to insurance companies with registered offices in other European countries, therefore obliged to adhere to the compensation procedure. A potential discriminatory treatment to the detriment of Italian companies is eliminated. A choice, however, disputed by Assoutenti because it is considered too much in favor of the insurance companies and not of the users and announces a collection of signatures of the policyholders to bring to Prime Minister Draghi for him to think again.
++
The bill contains some delegations to the government for the regulation of certain sectors. Among these is the one on the "reorganization of non-scheduled urban mobility services" which sparked the protest of taxi drivers. The government, "within six months" of the entry into force of the law on competition, is delegated to adopt "a legislative decree" which, among other things, guarantees the "promotion of competition, also in the granting of licenses, to the in order to stimulate higher quality standards ”, reads the draft of the law. Another important delegation (besides that on bathing concessions) concerns "the reorganization of local public services". Here, too, the executive will have to intervene within six months, with the aim, among other things, of "overcoming exclusivity regimes" that are not "indispensable for ensuring the quality and efficiency of the service". The local authority that does not tender the services must give reasoned communication to the Antitrust Authority.
+++
Stop to all services not requested but charged in the telephone bill. Article 21 of the bill provides for this, according to which the operators must inform the consumer and have his "expressed and documented" consent before activating the "premium" subscription services, offered "by the operators themselves or by third parties". Consumer's consent is also required for those services "which provide for the supply of digital content provided either via text message and mms, or via data connection, with telephone credit or billing document" offered both by third parties and directly by operators: prohibited then activate them automatically. The bill also sets rules for the construction of fiber optic networks to accelerate their development by reducing bureaucratic constraints: yes to coordination between managers of physical infrastructures and network operators in the request for permits, in the "non-inefficient duplication of civil engineering works" , in the "sharing of construction costs".
+++
That of bathing concessions is a question that has been dragging on for years. Since, in 2006, Europe with the Bolkestein directive establishes the free circulation of services between Member States and imposes tenders for the assignment of public concessions. In Italy, 50% of the coasts, owned by the state, are given in concession to private individuals without any auction and, often, at very low rents. Several times Europe has recalled Italy for the lack of respect for competition. In 2019, a reform plan was decided but the existing bathing concessions were also automatically extended to 2033, as requested by the entrepreneurs. Extension challenged once again by the EU, but also by the Council of State and Antitrust. The recently approved competition bill does not dissolve the problem, but provides for a mapping of all existing concessions within 6 months to "promote maximum publicity and transparency of the main data and information relating to all concession relationships".
This is a machine translation from Italian language of a post published on Start Magazine at the URL https://www.startmag.it/smartcity/cosa-cambia-su-rc-auto-bollette-taxi-authority-e-spiagge-col-ddl-concorrenza/ on Fri, 05 Nov 2021 07:55:24 +0000.