The Council of State rejects the billboards with the average price of fuel that petrol stations have been obliged to display since last August.
In sentence 1806 published today, the Council of State accepts the appeal brought by the Ministry of Business and Made in Italy, but "as a result, in partial reform of the appealed sentence and for different reasons, it cancels article 7 of the decree " of the Mimit of 31 March 2023, which establishes the characteristics and methods of display of the billboards containing the average prices.
Decree 5 of 2023 provides that operators selling automotive fuel to the public, including those operating along the motorway network, must adequately display posters showing the average reference prices.
It did not provide that the update must take place on a daily basis: this specific requirement was introduced" by the decree of 31 March 2023, we read in the sentence. "This requirement, however - continues the Council of State - presents itself as manifestly unreasonable and disproportionate. ministry website or by downloading apps;
on the other hand, the related information costs are borne solely by the distributors, imposing unreasonable and disproportionate burdens on them compared to the limited usefulness that the information relating to the average price, considered in itself, can have", explains the ruling, which for this reason defines Article 7 of the "illegitimate" decree, establishing that "it must be annulled". Furthermore, according to the State Court, the display of a plurality of prices, as already noted by the Antitrust, "can confuse the consumer instead of helping him to assume the best solution in their own interest.
Upon closer inspection, the topic is truly complex."
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