The Italian competition watchdog has fined snack makers Amica Chips, Pata and Preziosi Food for “coordinating” strategies through a cartel.
Announcing the decision, Autorita Garante della Concorrenza e del Mercato (AGCM) said the companies participated in a “single, complex and continuous” market-sharing agreement.
The regulator fined the companies a combined €23.3m ($27.2m), saying the firms coordinated their respective commercial strategies in a move that violated EU competition rules.
The action occurred within the market for savoury snacks made for “large-scale” retailers and sold under private label.
None of the three snacks makers had responded to Just Food's request for comment at the time of writing.
Amica Chips and Pata received reduced fines after providing evidence that was “significant” in establishing the infringement, the watchdog said in a statement.
The authority also noted it used its settlement mechanism under Italian law for the first time, resulting in additional fine reductions for all the companies.
The investigation into Amica Chips and Pata was triggered in 2024 by a whistleblower report, which led to raids on the companies’ premises.
At the start of the probe, the regulator said that, with the help of the Special Antitrust Unit of the Guardia di Finanza, it had carried out inspections at the main offices of the two firms, as well as another person “believed to be in possession of elements useful for the investigation”.
The two companies “would have coordinated to distribute customers among themselves, thus keeping prices at a supra-competitive level,” AGCM had then said.
