Abstract

After a brief introduction on the historical development of the Italian Antitrust Authority, we aim at assessing its twenty-year long activity in favour of competition by looking at some significant statistical data about its interventions in the main fields of competence. The assessment is completed by the analysis, although brief, of antitrust cases considered significant. Our analysis leads us to claim that, even if sometimes successful and sometimes unsuccessful, the Authority's activity has been helpful to the country both as a vehicle to transmit the culture of competition and as a deterrence instrument able to prevent strong anticompetitive behaviour.