The Autorità Garante della Concorrenza e del Mercato (Guarantor Authority for Competition and Market), know also with the acronym AGCM, is an Italian

Italy

Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...

 quasi non-governmental organisation

Quango

Quango or qango is an acronym used notably in the United Kingdom, Ireland and elsewhere to label an organisation to which government has devolved power...

 established on the basis of Law no. 287 of 10 October 1990, 100 years after the Sherman Antitrust Act

Sherman Antitrust Act

The Sherman Antitrust Act requires the United States federal government to investigate and pursue trusts, companies, and organizations suspected of violating the Act. It was the first Federal statute to limit cartels and monopolies, and today still forms the basis for most antitrust litigation by...

.

The authority is deputed as the Italian competition regulator

Competition regulator

A competition regulator is a government agency, typically a statutory authority, sometimes called an economic regulator, which regulates and enforces competition laws, and may sometimes also enforce consumer protection laws...

 to enforce both Italian and European consumer protection

Consumer protection

Consumer protection laws designed to ensure fair trade competition and the free flow of truthful information in the marketplace. The laws are designed to prevent businesses that engage in fraud or specified unfair practices from gaining an advantage over competitors and may provide additional...

 laws.

An annual report is presented to the President of the Council of Ministers of Italy.

Duties

The main duties of the authority are:

• Vigilance against abuses from market dominance
  Dominance (economics)
  Market dominance is a measure of the strength of a brand, product, service, or firm, relative to competitive offerings. There is often a geographic element to the competitive landscape...
  
  .
• Vigilance against cartel
  Cartel
  A cartel is a formal agreement among competing firms. It is a formal organization of producers and manufacturers that agree to fix prices, marketing, and production. Cartels usually occur in an oligopolistic industry, where there is a small number of sellers and usually involve homogeneous products...
  
  s that may are prejudicial or restrictive of a fair competition
  Competition (economics)
  Competition in economics is a term that encompasses the notion of individuals and firms striving for a greater share of a market to sell or buy goods and services...
  
   (Anti-competitive practices
  Anti-competitive practices
  Anti-competitive practices are business or government practices that prevent or reduce competition in a market .- Anti-competitive practices :These can include:...
  
  ).
• Vigilance on takeover
  Takeover
  In business, a takeover is the purchase of one company by another . In the UK, the term refers to the acquisition of a public company whose shares are listed on a stock exchange, in contrast to the acquisition of a private company.- Friendly takeovers :Before a bidder makes an offer for another...
  
  s to check concentration ratio
  Concentration ratio
  In economics, a concentration ratio is a measure of the total output produced in an industry by a given number of firms in the industry. The most common concentration ratios are the CR4 and the CR8, which means the four and the eight largest firms...
  
   and verify market impact
  Market impact
  In financial markets, market impact is the effect that a market participant has when it buys or sells an asset. It is the extent to which the buying or selling moves the price against the buyer or seller, i.e. upward when buying and downward when selling...
  
  .
• Consumer protection
  Consumer protection
  Consumer protection laws designed to ensure fair trade competition and the free flow of truthful information in the marketplace. The laws are designed to prevent businesses that engage in fraud or specified unfair practices from gaining an advantage over competitors and may provide additional...
  
  , against unfair trade practices and false advertising
  False advertising
  False advertising or deceptive advertising is the use of false or misleading statements in advertising. As advertising has the potential to persuade people into commercial transactions that they might otherwise avoid, many governments around the world use regulations to control false, deceptive or...
  
  .
• Supervise and penalize the cases of conflict of interest
  Conflict of interest
  A conflict of interest occurs when an individual or organization is involved in multiple interests, one of which could possibly corrupt the motivation for an act in the other....
  
   regarding members of Government of Italy
  Council of Ministers of Italy
  The Cabinet of Italy is a principal organ of the Government of Italy...
  
  .

Powers

The Authority in such cases may conduct investigations or hearings, even with the Guardia di Finanza

Guardia di Finanza

The Guardia di Finanza is a Italian law enforcement agency under the authority of the Minister of Economy and Finance. Like the Carabinieri, it is part of the Italian Armed Forces. The Guard is essentially responsible for dealing with financial crime and smuggling; it has also evolved into Italy's...

 at his disposal, which may result in a warning or an administrative penalty.

External links

• AGCM Official Website
• AGCM commission hearings are available on Radio Radicale
  Radio Radicale
  Radio Radicale is the official radio station of Partito Radicale in Italy.It was founded in the seventies, along with the "Radio libere"....
  
  website (in Italian).