Law-decree no. 112/2008 (Section 23-bis in particular, inserted by conversion Law no. 133/2008[1]) augmented the Antitrust Authority's consultative powers with respect to the regulations on assigning and managing economically-relevant local public services.

The cited article (23-bis), which applies to all local public services except for gas and electricity distribution and the management of municipal pharmacies and regional railway services, establishes the general principle that the assignment of local public services should proceed by means of publicly-visible competitive procedures. Paragraph 3 allows for the possibility of waiving this rule by using assignment procedures targeted at companies that qualify for "in-house" management on the basis of Community law, or that at least “respect the principles embodied by the Community regulations on analogous forms of company screening, especially when the services are performed in conjunction with a public entity (or entities) that supervises them,” and only in “territorial contexts with special economic, social, environmental and/or geo-morphological characteristics" that “limit the effective and fruitful recourse to market dynamics.” Local entities that intend to assign local public services pursuant to and in accordance with paragraph 3 (above) of Section 23-bis must publicize their decision appropriately and justify it on the basis of a market analysis, reporting the results of this study to the Antitrust Authority for advance assessment that may require up to sixty days to complete.

On16 October 2008 the Antitrust Authority decided to implement Section 23-bis by means of a special notice to local entities that described the procedures for submitting advance assessment requests. The dedicated form must be filled out and accompanied by the appropriate documentation, and must be submitted to the Antitrust Authority soon enough for its opinion to be issued within the legal time limit.

In September 2010, the Presidential Decree governing the implementation of Section 23-bis was issued[2], redefining the Antitrust Authority's advisory duties with respect to the assignment of local public utility contracts. The details identified the sum of 200,000.00 EUR per year as the threshold limit for determining the economic relevance of the service being contracted and thus the need for an assessment. The Antitrust Authority was also assigned new tasks of verifying the satisfaction of legal requirements for the direct contracting of water utilities management.

[1] As modified by Section 30(26), Law no. 99 of 23 July 2009 and subsequently by Section 15 of Law-Decree no. 135 of 25 September 2009, converted with modifications by Law no. 166 of 20 November 2009.

[2] Presidential Decree (DPR) no. 168 of 7 September 2010, governing "Regulations on matters of economically-significant local public services, in accordance with Section 23-bis(10), of Law-decree no. 112 of 25 June 2008, converted with modifications by Law no. 133 of 6 August 2008 (Official Journal no. 239 of 12 October 2010).