| Abstract: |
The Italian Antitrust Authority has cleared Colavita Spa of an earlier charge of unfair business practices following a May 2015 report by the consumer magazine Il Test Salvagente. Giovanni Colavita, the company’s legal representative, announced that Santa Sabina has been found to comply with the current quality standards for extra virgin olive oil.“After 15 months, finally, the Italian Antitrust Authority has provided clarity with its Decision n. 26161, published on August 22, 2016 in its official bulletin, which confirmed that, based on the analysis carried out on Santa Sabina, it resulted that this product ‘corresponds to the category extra virgin olive oil as declared on the label’. Consequently, the Authority ruled that there was no ‘unfair business practice’.”The decision of the Antitrust is the latest in a series of acts after the report by Il Test which in May 2015 commissioned an analysis of 20 olive oils labeled ‘extra virgin’ distributed and sold by the most popular supermarkets in Italy. Some were found to be merely virgin by the magazine due to the presence of organoleptic defects found by the panel tests. The prosecutor of Turin consequently launched an investigation to verify the accusations. |
