COMPETITION AND TOURIST PROTECTION 273 traveller is the rationale for the action taken by the Competition Authority; daring decisions by the companiesmust still complywith the criterionof clear, unambiguous description of the ticket price and the components thereof. Unsurprisingly, this close connection between protecting the consumer and safeguarding efficiency of the competition and market fairness is the basis of our Consumer Code, as amended by Legislative Decree no. 146 of 2007, which implemented Directive 2005/29/CE36. In fact, “consumer protection laws nowadays tend to move away from a Private Law based model (...) and (...) gradually move towards a Business Law based one”37. In essence, the protection of the traveller is instrumental to the proper functioning of the market. The very definition of “practice” contained in Art. 18, first paragraph, lett. d) of the Consumer Code, that is “any act or omission, conduct or declaration (...) exercised by a professional and related to the promotion, sale or supply of a product” is a clear demonstration of this principle38. This definition includes any “positive or negative, active or passive behaviour” that is able to influence the consumer’s reaction; any “actual or potential, collective or individual contact”39 is sufficient. Pursuant to Art. 20 of the Consumer Code, the commercial practice is incorrect if contrary to the diligence and if it is proven suitable to falsify in an appreciable way the behaviour of the average consumer40. Instead of focusing on current damage, professional diligence is assessed using an objective parameter that is independent of specific individual relationships. This aim of the Consumer Code towards regulating the market is confirmed by the preference for an administrative-type law of protection through the Competition Authority that has the power to oversee fines and sanctions41. 36 See G. De Cristofaro, La nozione generale di pratica commerciale “scorretta”, in Aa. Vv., Pratiche commerciali scorrette e Codice del consumo. Il recepimento della Direttiva 2005/29 /CE nel diritto italiano, G. De Cristofaro (ed.), Turin, 2008, 143 and following; Battelli, Codice del consumo, codice civile e codici di settore, in Europ. dir. priv., 2016, 425 and following and, from the same author, L’intervento dell’Autorità antitrust contro le clausole vessatorie e le prospettive di un sistema integrato di protezione dei consumatori, ibid., 2014, 207 and following; Camardi, Pratiche commerciali scorrette e invalidità, in Obbl. contr., 2010, 498 and following. 37 See Seminara, La tutela civilistica del consumatore di fronte alle pratiche commerciali scorrette, in Contr., 2018, 690 and following V. anche Camardi, Pratiche commerciali scorrette e invalidità, loc. cit., 408 and following. 38 See Labella, Pratiche commerciali scorrette e rimedi civilistici, in Contr. impr., 2013, 688 and following; Lamanna Di Salvo, La tutela del consumatore nell’ordinamento italiano tra strumenti civilistici e pubblicistici, in Giur. mer., 2013, 2658 and following; Nobile, Le tutele civilistiche avverso le pratiche commerciali scorrette, in Contr. impr. Europ., 2014, 180 and following. 39 See Labella, Pratiche commerciali scorrette e rimedi civilistici, loc. cit., 688 and following; Lamanna Di Salvo, La tutela del consumatore nell’ordinamento italiano tra strumenti civilistici e pubblicistici, loc. cit., 2658 and following. 40 See Camardi, Pratiche commerciali scorrette e invalidità, loc. cit. 498 and following; Paglietti, La tutela civile dei diritti dei consumatori, Napoli, 2013, 102 and following. 41 See Mancaleoni, Pratiche commerciali scorrette (drip pricing): sanzioni e ruolo dell’Authority in Australia e in Italia, loc. cit., 159 and following.
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