268 COMPETITION LAW IN TOURISM a careful approach of the description of habitual behaviours so that they can be catalogued and evaluated according to Italian law, with a critical examination of the same indications of the Competition Authority. The first group includes the judgements and opinions on the practice of the alleged “large hand luggage fee” charged by some airlines in addition to the base fare; the second includes the opinions and judgements on cancelled flights; the third group is about the online purchase of airline or maritime tickets; and the fourth addresses refunding unused airline tickets. As can be seen, the Competition Authority has dealt with many different phenomena. Indeed, this classification is not comprehensive16 and cannot encompass all the relevant features, but tries to capture those of greater importance so that we can study a market characterised by strong competition and, often, by casual behaviours regarded as illegitimate. Despite the complexity of the discipline and the attention of the EU, there have been many national provisions which may point to both a certain disorder in commercial practices as well as a hectic, unhinged competition, with experiments and risks that border, and sometimes trespass, the limits of the law. One cause is the frequent use of computer and web-based tools that are at the centre of attention of the Competition Authority. However, it would be wrong to focus only on this technological aspect, even though it makes the tourism initiative quite well structured. In a country that enjoys high prosperity and mature capitalism, tourism has an essential role in respect to the interests of a large portion of the population, which generates more attention from companies and aggressive competition, despite the constraints put in place by Italian and European law. However, since the matters being discussed are “rest, leisure and expectations perceived as fundamental by the community as a whole”, the reaction towards unfair or even questionable practices is traditionally a strong and widespread reaction towards them, and the public opinion is traditionally and consistently sensitive to them. The regulatory activity of the Competition Authority has brought out many initiatives of travellers with regard to phenomena that do not have the grounds for a court action, but have earned a special consideration in administration justice. 16 See the action taken by the Italian Competition Authority of 13 September 2018, no. 27324, in Boll., 1 October 2018, no. 36; the action taken by the Italian Competition Authority of 20 December 2017, no. 26913, ibid., 22 January 2018, no. 2; the action taken by the Italian Competition Authority of 4 April 2017, no. 26534, ibid., 18 April 2017, no. 14, who take a position on the online sales systems used by travel agencies to promote the sale of airline tickets or any other service, from hotel rooms to a theatrical show.
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