Alleged horizontal agreement in the market for long term car rentals

Lear assisted an association of companies providing long-term car rentals, investigated by the Italian Competition Authority for having allegedly enabled an exchange of sensitive and detailed commercial information among its associates. In order to rebut the allegation of the Italian Competition Authority, Lear developed a qualitative analysis centred on the level of aggregation of the exchanged data and the market heterogeneity and an empirical analysis to prove the absence of any anticompetitive effects. The proceedings resulted in a finding of non-infringement.