New mandatory antitrust fee – Update

On August 27, 2012, the Italian Competition Authority (ICA) published a regulation regarding a new annual fee that corporations with a turnover exceeding € 50 million must pay to the ICA by October 30, 2012 (see our memorandum “New antitrust mandatory fee”).

On September 28, 2012 the ICA published a list of Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) providing clarifications on the new annual fee, which is in essence a tax that companies doing business in Italy must pay each year to the ICA, regardless of any case pending before the ICA.

The main points of clarification are the following:

• Corporate entities must pay the fee if their revenues exceed € 50 million. The fee is applicable to corporate entities registered in the Italian companies register, i.e. Italian companies and foreign companies with Italian branch offices.

• Each corporate entity (subsidiary or affiliate) registered in the Italian companies register must pay a separate fee if its individual revenues exceed € 50 million.

However, the fee is capped at € 400,000 for each corporate group.

• The fee is calculated as 0.008% of the revenues of each registered corporate entity (subsidiary or affiliate). The fee must be calculated on the basis of the balance sheet of each individual company (and not on the basis of consolidated accounts).

• The revenues to be taken into account are the total (worldwide) revenues resulting from the balance sheet approved before July 18, 2012 and, specifically, those listed under item A1 of the income statement (conto economico) or, for foreign companies, under the equivalent item according to international accounting principles.

• The parent company is entitled to pay the fee on behalf of its subsidiaries or affiliates through separate individual bank transfers. If the € 400,000 cap for the corporate group is reached, the parent company may pay the fee through a single payment.