WRITTEN QUESTION E-1788/99 by Glyn Ford (PSE) to the Commission. Lazio Football Club and travel agency agreement.
Date: 1999-10-11
Institutions: European Parliament, Provisional data
Subjects: Italy, consumer protection, oligopoly, sporting event, sports body, travel agency

20.6.2000

EN

Official Journal of the European Communities

C 170 E/101

the suitability of putting forward proposals for legislative action in this area in the light, in particular, of
the financial and human resources available to it for implementation and follow-up purposes.

The Commission has already done a great deal of work on survivability as part of the research and
development programmes and intends to continue to do so in order to make progress as regards aircraft
design and certification requirements, together with their operating procedures.

(2000/C 170 E/117)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-1788/99

by Glyn Ford (PSE) to the Commission

(11 October 1999)

Subject: Lazio Football Club and travel agency agreement

Is the Commission aware of press reports that indicate that Lazio Football Club have signed a three-year
agreement with a travel agency to cover transport to and tickets for away games in the Champions(cid:146)
League, with the result that,
in order to obtain tickets, fans have to pay twice the cost of travelling
independently to the games?

In the light of earlier answers to similar questions where the Commission indicated that such an
arrangement would be in breach of European Union law and constitute an (cid:145)abuse of a dominant position(cid:146),
will the Commission investigate and, if the reports are true, inform Lazio that such breaches of law must
immediately cease?

Answer given by Mr Monti on behalf of the Commission

(9 November 1999)

The Honourable Member asks the Commission whether it considers a reported agreement between Lazio
Football Club and a travel agent, according to which the former supplies to the latter 70 % of all entry
tickets allocated to the club for each of its Champions(cid:146) League away-leg matches, to constitute an abuse of
a dominant position contrary to European law.

Assuming the press reports as referred to by the Honourable Member are accurate, it appears that the
effect of the agreement in question is to reserve a significant proportion of away-leg entry tickets to a
single travel agent for onward sale to the general public, thereby preventing other travel agents from
selling tickets to Lazio supporters for the matches in question. Furthermore, it is likely that in respect of
ticket sales by the appointed travel agent, Lazio supporters will be obliged to purchase match tickets as
part of a package of services, including the provision of travel and accommodation arrangements as well.

Insofar as the application of European competition rules to the agreement is concerned, those rules do not
apply unless the agreement could have an appreciable effect on trade between Member States. It would
appear that tickets allocated to Lazio Football Club for entry to its away-leg Champions(cid:146) League football
matches are likely to be wanted exclusively by Italian supporters. As such, it can be assumed that the
demand for those tickets is of a national, regional or even local nature. It follows therefore that any
restrictive effects of the agreement in question are likely to be confined principally, if not entirely, to travel
agents and other distributors of tickets active on the Italian market.

The Commission considers therefore that the agreement in question could have little or no effect on trade
between Member States and that as such European competition rules are not applicable.

Agreements or practices with allegedly restrictive effects on a purely national scale may, however, be
assessed by a Member State(cid:146)s national competition authority. The Honourable Member may therefore wish
to consider raising this matter with the Autorit(cid:224) Garante della Concorrenza e del Mercato in Italy
(Via Liguria 26, I-00187 Roma).