THE GROWING INFLUENCE OF COMPETITION LAW IN TOURISM municipal ones, to disapply national legislation conflicting with that of the Union15. In this sense, the position taken in certain rulings of the Italian administrative judge, according to which the application of art. 12 must be considered conditional on the preliminary investigation entrusted to the Member States to ascertain the scarcity of the natural resource16. This interpretation effectively translates into an arbitrary subtraction - for an indefinite time - of the obligations imposed by European Union law. In fact, as also recalled by the Council of State, where the resource is scarce or, even if it is not scarce, the single concession has a cross-border interest, the opening of the market is required and, therefore, every need related to the assignment of the current player that holds a concession can at most be evaluated when establishing the rules of the pubblic tender17. With specific regard to the issue of state concessions and their duration, this path has already been reiterated by the Constitutional Court, which noted the occurrence of unequal treatment between economic operators as a result of the automatic ex lege extensions of maritime concessions and the consequent violation of competition principles18. 4. ICA INVESTIGATIONS 4.1. In the last few years important ICA intervention has focused on the online platforms for tourist services19. This new channel is significantly modifying the characteristics of international tourism and the way tourism businesses operate internationally. Naturally, this revolution has also influenced the competitive dynamics of the market20. Tourist services can be sold individually or as part of a so-called tourist package, in which case the specific legislation comes into play. 15 See, Court of Justice, 20 April 2023, AGCM, Municipality of Ginosa, C-348/2022, ECLI:EU:C:2023:301. 16 See, judgment Tar Lazio, 2 novembre 2023, n. 1223. 17 See Judgment Consiglio di Stato, 20.5.2024. n. 4480 18 See, Judgment Corte Costituzionale, 24 giugno 2024, n. 109 19 See Claudio Rangone, Effetti delle misure antitrust sulle “clausole di parità” applicate ai contratti nel settore delle prenotazioni alberghiere, Rivista Trimestrale Appalti, 2027, no.2, p. 463; G. Cipolla; Il settore delle prenotazioni online: gli impegni di Booking e la clausula di parità. Un caso condotto in cooperazione con le altre Autorità Nazionali di Concorrenza., Rivista Italiana di Antitrust 2015, vol. 2, no. 3, pp. 175-180, on the monitoring exercise carried out in online hotel booking sector by EU Competition Authorities in 2016. 20 See Pal Szlagyi, On line agency and competition law, European Competition Law Review, 2018, p. 436.
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