ANTITRUST | The ICA on the intersection between abuse of dominance and environmental protection

On 24 June 2025, the Italian Competition Authority (ICA) fined Novamont S.p.A. (Novamont) and Eni S.p.A. as its parent company for abusing their dominant position in violation of Article 102 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union in the national markets for bioplastic raw materials used to produce shopping bags and ultra-lightweight bags. According to the ICA, the abusive conduct (“Conduct”) consisted in creating a dual system of agreements with exclusive supply clauses at two levels of the supply chain (with processors and large-scale retailers), which had an exclusionary effects on Novamont’s competitors. The ICA considered that this prevented Novamont’s competitors from finding effective outlets for their products and from operating effectively in these markets, thus hindering effective competition. The ICA also outlined that the limitation of competition arising from Novamont’s Conduct might also have had a negative environmental impact. Healthy competition could lead to the development of more efficient bioplastics and encourage the production of cheaper and/or higher quality eco-friendly products.

Newsletter n. 109 – July 2025