The Lazio Regional Administrative Court upheld the appeal, granting a stay of the penalty imposed by the Italian Competition and Market Authority pending the hearing on the merits, scheduled for July 2020. In Decision No. 27849, the AGCM had found that the company’s alleged participation in a horizontal cartel aimed at price-fixing and market-sharing in the corrugated cardboard packaging sector had been proven, imposing a fine of more than €10 million.

The company was represented in the proceedings by Prof. Andrea Gemma, Esq., with the assistance of senior associate Chiara Adele Pero, Esq., and associate Umberto Parmigiani, Esq. The stay granted by the Regional Administrative Court (TAR) is particularly significant as it marks the first judicial review of the decision issued by the AGCM in August of this year, following an investigation into the corrugated cardboard and cardboard packaging market launched in 2016, which involved over 50 companies and was characterized by the presence of multiple leniency applicants.

During the proceedings before the AGCM, the GPD law firm, with the same team, represented the company and secured, already at the administrative level, an acquittal on all charges related to the corrugated cardboard market that had initially been alleged.