Competition Law in Tourism

TOURISM AND COMPETITION IN THE ITALIAN LEGAL SYSTEM 327 of the exiting economic operator who, with its own investments, promoted and redeveloped the property that was granted. The perspective through which we read the connection between tourism and competition in the matter of bathing establishments should be rethought. Attempting to overcome the tensions between the needs of the exiting licensee, on one side, and those of the market and of the prospecting licensees, on the other, the perspective through which we read the situation should now shift towards the costs of the concession rather than its duration. Providing a shorter duration for the concessions apparently only seems to be functional in terms of the market’s maximum opening: in fact, the administrative judge affirms that a duration of the concession contract that isn’t excessively short guarantees not only the rights of the private entrepreneur who aims at depreciating the cost of the investments but it also enlarges the arena of the prospective contracting operators, which in prejudice to the competence principle should be instead limited as long as the activity performed is not profitable, thanks to the short duration of the authorisation13. Considering the ongoing clash between a national legislator that continues to think of the extension as the only way to protect the licensee and the national and supranational case law that, on the contrary, interprets the needs of competition as being a priority – thus it deems necessary a competitive procedure between pairs – whereby the only converging point seems to be providing a tender with fair and proportionate indemnities in favour of the exiting licensee or with a starting amount that takes into account the investments already made. 3. TOURISTIC LAYOUT AND RULES IN FAVOUR OF COMPETITION: BRIEF NOTES ON THE ORGANISATIONAL STRUCTURE The organisational layout of the touristic sector does not become “immune” following the implementation of the competition principle in the Italian legal order when it comes to the performance of administrative functions by the public institutions, as it plays a role in the different public policies. In other words, the impact or the influence of the competition rules is not limited and cannot be limited to the sector of touristic activities (considering the issue related to the use of public properties, which constitutes the core of it, 13 Tar Campania, Salerno, sect. I, no. 1582/2011 cit.

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