COMPETITION AND TOURIST PROTECTION 267 application of the existing regulations “in order to include the largest possible number of cases (...) in relation to the various possible electronic methods of more or less personalised combination of services (...) allowed by the Internet”11. The aim is to safeguard the needs of tourists in a system that guarantees and even encourages computer-based or online services. This intense law-making activity would not lead to many results if a more articulated regulation of the market did not exist, one in which various conflicts are of limited economic importance and only have a national importance that causes an intervention of the state authorities. This occurred in Italy, when the Italian Competition Authority12 issued provisions of matters of significance for consumer protection and to enable fair competition. These acts have highlighted typical aspects of the tourism services’ offerings and allowed us to understand the most modern commercial strategies, especially in regards to computer resources. The Italian Competition Authority ensures a balanced market structure that respects the interests of consumers, with fair competition among all operators13. As noted14, “the competences of the Authority have been extended (...) to the point that, despite not having changed its name, it has become an authority for the protection of consumers and not just competition”. One example of such is how originally, the authority only had jurisdiction over misleading advertising, but nowadays its power has been extended to cover unfair commercial practices15. It is not by chance that the most interesting measures belong to this last profile and are quite heterogeneous, due to the diversity of the aspects and the companies involved. Despite their differences, they can be divided into four groups. This classification is certainly not scientific and its conceptual importance must not be overestimated. It is an arrangement aimed to give reasoning more order and functionality for the understanding of commercial strategies, therefore following 11 See G. De Cristofaro, La nuova disciplina europea dei contratti di viaggio (Direttiva 2015/2302/UE) e le prospettive del suo recepimento nell’ordinamento italiano, loc. cit., 5 and following. 12 See V. P. Magnani, Attribuita all’Autorità garante della concorrenza e del mercato la competenza in materia di pratiche commerciali scorrette nei settori regolati, in Riv. soc., 2014, 1195 and following; F. Ghezzi – G. D. Pini, Le nuove linee guida dell’Autorità garante della concorrenza sulla quantificazione delle sanzioni antitrust: maneggiare con cautela, ibid., 2015, 1196 and following. 13 See Bastianon, La tutela del consumatore alla luce delle nuove norme legislative e regolamentari in materia di pratiche commerciali sleali, in Resp. civ. prev., 2008, 1460 and following; Troiani, La nuova disciplina delle pratiche commerciali scorrette, in Cons. dir. mercato, 2007, 68 and following. 14 See Mancaleoni, Pratiche commerciali scorrette (drip pricing): sanzioni e ruolo dell’Authority in Australia e in Italia, in Riv. it. dir. tur., 2017, 159 and following. 15 See Di Cataldo, Pratiche commerciali scorrette e sistemi di enforcement, in Giur. comm., 2012, I, 803 and following; Bonaccorsi – Di Patti, Le pratiche commerciali scorrette: prime note sul procedimento istruttorio innanzi all’Autorità garante della concorrenza e del mercato, in Dir. econ. ass., 2008, 651 and following.
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