272 COMPETITION LAW IN TOURISM traveller who is therefore unable to understand the actual cost or to compare it with competitors’ rates. The Competition Authority regarded the aforementioned conduct as highly offensive, as it requires payment of a surcharge for an essential service. In the absence of a precautionary measure, the effects of this practice would have been consolidated “with the consequence of making the effective restitution of the damage unlikely”30, “considering also the modest amount of each individual refund and considering that the surcharge (...) is required in combination with other services, such as priority boarding”31. Therefore the Competition Authority32 has ordered the airline to stop requesting that surcharge and, since the company has not complied, the Authority has resorted to opening a procedure for administration of a monetary fine, provided for by Art. 27, paragraph twelve, of the Consumer Code. Numerous provisions have been issued regarding similar practices adopted by other airlines33. Moreover, Art. 22 of Regulation (EEC) no. 1008/2008 recognised the airline’s right to freely set tariffs and opened the market to low-cost airlines, which “completely changed the processes (...) adopted by (...) traditional companies by breaking down the fare intomultiple services (...), and have (...) allowed transport users to personalise the composition of the final service also by waiving, often but not always fully willingly important services, such as checked baggage, with the aim of cutting down costs and retaining (...) profit margins”34. Instead, Art. 23 of the regulation established the principle of transparency of tariffs thus allowing customers “to directly evaluate and compare the tariffs offered for the same service”35. The search for the right balance between the opposing interests of the company and the 30 Such is the text of the action taken by the Italian Competition Authority of on 31 October 2018, no. 27398, cit. 31 Such is the text of the action taken by the Italian Competition Authority of on 31 October 2018, no. 27398, cit. 32 See the action taken by the Italian Competition Authority on 7 November 2018, no. 27406, in Boll., 13 November 2018, no. 42. 33 See the action taken by the Antitrust Authority of 7 November 2018, in Boll., no. 41 of 12 November 2018. 42; the action taken by the Italian Competition Authority on 31 October 2018, no. 27399, ibid., no. 41 of 6 November 2018. 34 See Bocchese, La Corte di giustizia europea interpreta le disposizioni sulle tariffe aeree presenti nel Reg. (CEE) no. 1008 (2008), loc. cit., 439 and following. See also Deiana, Problematiche giuridiche del trasporto aereo low cost, loc. cit., 671 and following; Zampone, Il ruolo delle autorità nazionali nella valutazione dei requisiti economico – finanziari delle compagnie aeree, tra esigenze di liberalizzazione, sicurezza e tutela dell’utente, loc. cit., 87 and following. 35 See Bocchese, La Corte di giustizia europea interpreta le disposizioni sulle tariffe aeree presenti nel Reg. (CEE) no. 1008 (2008), loc. cit., 439 and following. See also Rasi, I supplementi di prezzo opzionali per prestazioni offerte da persona diversa dal vettore aereo, loc. cit., 173 and following; Lenzoni Milli, Sulla trasparenza del prezzo nei biglietti aerei e sui rapporti tra la disciplina nazionale a tutela dei consumatori e la libertà dei vettori in materia di tariffe, in Dir. trasp., 2018, and following.
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