Opinion of the Advocate General — ECLI:EU:C:1997:246
Date: 1997-05-15
Language of the case: Italian
Based on: Treaty establishing the European Economic Community (1957)
Subject matter: Competition;Freedom to provide services;Free movement of workers;Dominant position
Procedure: Reference for a preliminary ruling
Origin: Italy

Summary of the Judgmen t 
1. Competition — Community rules — Undertaking — Definition — Public placement office — 
Included 
(EC Treaty, Arts 85 and 86) 
2. Competition — Dominant position — Abuse — Undertaking with a legal monopoly — Pub­
lic placement offices — Criteria for assessment 
(EC Treaty, Arts 86 and 90(1) and (2)) 
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SUMMARY — CASE C-55/96 
1. A public placement office may be classed 
as an undertaking for the purposes of the 
Community competition rules since, in 
the context of competition law, the con­
cept of an undertaking encompasses every 
entity engaged in an economic activity, 
regardless of its status and the way in 
which it is financed. 
2. As undertakings entrusted with the 
operation of services of general economic 
interest, under Article 90(2) of the Treaty 
public placement offices are subject to the 
rules on competition and, in particular, 
the prohibition contained in Article 86 of 
the Treaty, so long as application of that 
provision does not obstruct the perfor­
mance of the particular task assigned to 
them. A Member State which prohibits 
any activity as an intermediary between 
supply and demand on the employment 
market, whether as an employment 
agency or as an employment business, 
unless carried on by those offices, is in 
breach of Article 90(1) of the Treaty 
where it creates a situation in which those 
offices cannot avoid infringing Article 86 
of the Treaty. That is the case, in particu­
lar, in the following circumstances: 
— the public placement offices are mani­
festly unable to satisfy demand on the 
market for all types of activity; and 
— the actual placement of employees by 
private companies is rendered impos­
sible by the maintenance in force of 
statutory provisions under which such 
activities are prohibited and non-
observance of that prohibition gives 
rise to penal and administrative sanc­
tions; and 
— the placement activities in question 
could extend to the nationals or to the 
territory of other Member States. 
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