Cleary Gottlieb is counsel to UnipolSai, which has obtained from the Council of State confirmation of the annulment of the whole of a decision from March 2015.
The Italian Competition Authority had imposed an overall fine of €29 million on UnipolSai and Generali, for an alleged cartel in tenders for third-party liability car insurance in the local public transport sector.
At the end of a proceeding that lasted nearly two and a half years, the Competition Authority had concluded that there had been unlawful coordination between the two companies (the two largest insurance companies in the third-party liability car insurance) when participating in 58 of the above tenders for 15 local public transport companies.
Upholding the judgment of the Lazio Regional Administrative Court (TAR Lazio) in its entirety, the Council of State established in very clear terms that, in the case, the constituent elements of the alleged unlawful concerted practices (unlawful contacts and parallelism in behavior in tenders) were lacking, and, at the same time, that the parties had provided numerous and valid explanations of their conduct, alternatives to the non-existent cartel suggested by the Competition Authority.