«The Italian Competition Authority once again he tries to intervene with a straight leg on the sector of ports, trying again to undermine the current rule that regulates the self-handling of port operations". It has denounced the national secretary of the Filt Cgil, Amedeo D'Alessio, referring to the proposal for competitive reform presented at the end of last year to Parliament in view of the annual law on competition, a part of which substantial concerns port work.

In particular, in its proposals for competitive reform, the AGCM, referring to the issues of labour and self-production ports, pointed out that "one of the factors limiting the competitiveness of Italian ports is the longest time in required for port operations, which translates into a more days spent in port by ships and therefore in higher costs for shipping companies". Second Antitrust, "greater flexibility in the use of the available manpower can help to make more efficient port operations and therefore reduce the time spent in port by the ship', flexibility that - in the opinion of the AGCM, "is limited, among other things, by the prohibition of the exchange of labour between the different state-owned areas given in concession to the same company or to subjects in any case to the same (contained in the current wording of Article 18, paragraph 9, of Law 84/1994) and by the heavy restrictions to which it is the use of self-handling has been subject to the 199-bis of Decree-Law 34/2020, converted, with amendments, by Law no. 77/2020 (already the subject of previous reports29). The latter provision, which introduced the paragraphs 4-bis and ter of Article 16 of Law 84/1994 - recalled - has limited the right to self-production of port operations and services, making it possible only where in the port of docking there is no necessary equipment or workers and subordinating the use of self-production to a series of of onerous requirements, including possession by the carrier of suitable personnel "additional" to the the staff of the ship safety and operation table, which must also be "exclusively dedicated" to carry out these operations. The need for additional staff imposes additional costs on the carrier, which risk translating into a de facto ban on self-handling".

For the AGCM, "these stringent constraints, to the extent that create a de facto exclusivity in favor of the workers' companies would be contrary to the legislation protecting the competition. This appears to be confirmed by the recent ruling 6523/2024 of the Council of State, in which the judge stated that "the ambiguity of the regulatory text requires to the College to choose the meaning [...] that leads back to the standard to the necessary compliance with the regulatory framework European Union of reference, which does not tolerate the existence of dominant positions or exclusive rights for transactions ports, unless they are services of economic interest general".

The Antitrust Authority therefore suggested "to amend this rule in order to support the competitiveness of Italian ports, also compared to neighbouring ports in other Member States where it is it is possible to resort to self-handling with greater freedom, also providing further incentives to the efficiency of managers port services". For the AGCM, "this proposal, moreover, it does not conflict with the indispensable requirements of protection of working conditions, which appear to be guaranteed by the scrupulous verification of compliance with the provisions of the contract National Collective of Workers of Seafarers and relevant safety standards".

Hoping that the brief presented by the AGCM "will not be taken into consideration by Parliament", the manager national team of the Filt Cgil noted that "it is really incomprehensible how the Authority has not in the least analyzed the real dangers to the integrity of the principle and what are the real distortions that can be endanger the public aspect and the general interest of our port system. The current rule on self-handling - highlighted Amedeo D'Alessio - protects the safety of workers port and maritime authorities, preventing the spread of forms of unfair competition between companies or outright social dumping and salary. It is false to say that one of the factors that limit the competitiveness of Italian ports is the longer time on average required for port operations".

"The regulated market of ports - he underlined again D'Alessio - is the essential element for a correct operation of the port logistics system since it does not allows individual companies to condition the tariffs and consumer prices for the exclusive prerogative of one's own interests and at To the detriment of everyone, starting with the workers. We ask ourselves, therefore, whether it is really useful to the country to have an Authority that instead of regulating the market, it facilitates its deregulation without in the least concern for the dominant positions that are being already configuring not only in the maritime and port sector".

The national secretary of the Filt Cgil has therefore urged to set aside the Antitrust Authority's proposal on port work and to rather, to open "a discussion on the various issues that need to be studied in depth starting from several times Port reform announced, otherwise we will be ready to take action in all locations and in all permitted ways in order to to protect the regulated world of work in ports".