by Veronica Pinotti and Martino Sforza

On March 6, 2012, the members of the Italian Antitrust Association met with the new Chair of the Italian Competition Authority (ICA), Giovanni Pitruzzella. During the meeting, Pitruzella stated that ad hoc qualitative compliance programs will continue to be considered as an effective mitigating factor, confirming the ICA’s attitude towards compliance programs and encouraging the use of such programs. However, participation in general online compliance training sessions is unlikely to be considered as a mitigating factor because such sessions are not specifically tailored to a company’s needs. To mitigate the risk of potential antitrust infringements, therefore, multinational groups with operations in Italy should consider developing ad hoc antitrust compliance programs in their Italian subsidiaries.