COMPETITION PROTECTION IN THE TOURISM SECTOR IN ITALY 335 public sector, giving it the right to take legal action against administrative acts that distort competition5. 1.3. Within its general competence, the Authority intervenes in the multifaceted sector of tourism mainly through advocacy activities – meaning that the relevant part of its activity in this sector is directed to public regulators. However, even if to a lesser extent, the Authority has also carried out different investigations aimed at prosecuting violations committed by undertakings. Bearing that in mind, in order to understand the scope of the Authority’s interventions, it’s relevant to illustrate the national regulatory framework in force regarding tourism, and then move on to analyse the main forms of intervention carried out by ICA in the touristic sector. II. THE ITALIAN REGULATORY FRAMEWORK 2.1. The unique territorial, cultural and historical features of Italy make tourism particularly relevant for the Italian economy. This is the reason why this phenomenon attracts so much public attention. In particular, the public authorities exercise three types of administrative functions: i) planning, direction and coordination; ii) promotion of tourism; iii) supervision and control of the sector. The Italian legislation 2.2. Years ago, the Italian Legislator aimed to guarantee the decentralisation of powers regarding the tourism sector, mainly by assigning the central core of functions and powers in this field to the territorial bodies (such as Regions). In particular, the attempt to decentralise public powers was strongly implemented in 2001 with the reform of Title V of the Constitution. In fact, before the constitutional revision law of 18 October 2001, no. 3, each Region could only issue laws within the limits of the fundamental principles established by the laws of the State (this is the so-called concurrent legislative competence). 5 According to art. 21 bis of the law no. 287/90, the Authority is entitled to take legal action against general administrative acts, regulations and measures of any public administration that violate the competition rules. However, the litigation phase can only begin after the experiment of a pre-litigation phase. In particular, the Authority is entitled to take legal action only if the Administration does not comply, in the following 60 days, with the requirements expressed by the previous opinion sent by the Authority.
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