by Veronica Pinotti and Martino Sforza

From 1 October 2012 until 30 October 2012, public limited companies based in Italy that have total revenues exceeding EUR 50 million must pay to the Italian Competition Authority (ICA) a new mandatory fee, which replaces the current filing fees for merger transactions.

Entities Subject to the Fee

• Public limited companies (e.g., S.p.A. or S.r.l.) with total revenues—according to the latest financial statements (item A1 of the income statement)—exceeding EUR 50 million are subject to the fee.
• For banks and financial institutions, the amount of revenue for the purposes of calculating the fee is one-tenth of the institution’s assets on its balance sheet.
• The revenues of insurance companies are equal to the amount of premiums collected. Subsidiaries and associate companies belonging to a group must each pay the fee separately on the basis of the revenues set out in their financial statements.

Contribution Amount

• The amount of the fee is equal to 0.08 ‰ of the revenues set out in the latest financial statements. The fee cannot exceed EUR 400,000.

Terms of Payment

For 2013, the fee must be paid in advance to the ICA from 1 October 2012 until 30 October 2012, and the payment must be communicated to the ICA by 30 November 2012.