Tiscali 2014 Annual Report Download - page 170

Annual financial report as at 31 December 2014
Date
File Name
Status
Page
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Annual Report as at 31
December 2014
170
Disputes, contingent liabilities and commitments
During the normal course of its business, the Tiscali Group is involved in a number of legal and
arbitration proceedings, as well as being subject to tax assessments.
A summary of the main proceedings to which the Group is a party, is presented below.
Civil and administrative proceedings
Dispute open with TeleTu
In June 2011, Tiscali Italia summonsed TeleTu S.p.A. before the Milan Court, requesting
compensation of damages for EUR 10 million due to illegal conduct implemented by the defendant
during the migration of users in the period January 2009-April 2011. The defendant made a
counterclaim for alleged similar conduct adopted by Tiscali Italia, in turn requesting damage
compensation for more than EUR 9 million. The outcome of the proceedings is not predictable.
Telecom dispute
In December 2014, Tiscali Italia summonsed Telecom Italia before the Milan Court, so as to obtain
compensation for the damages suffered due to the excluding conduct adopted by Telecom to the
damage of competitors which formed the subject matter of the ruling of the Anti-trust Authority No.
24339 dated May 2013 issued on conclusion of proceedings A-428 dated June 2010. The AGCM
believed that Telecom Italia adopted abusive conduct in the three-year period 2009-2011, in detail: (i)
the opposition of a significantly high number of KO (or rather negative responses) to the requests for
activation of access services carried out by other operators, thereby establishing discriminatory
treatment with respect to the same requests by the internal Telecom Italia S.p.A. divisions; (ii) the
adoption of conduct for the unlawful squeezing of the profit margins of the competitors with reference
to certain services dedicated to business customers. By virtue of the afore-mentioned ruling of the
AGCM, Tiscali took steps to quantify, via a specific expert opinion, the damage suffered as a
consequence of the conduct adopted by Telecom Italia S.p.A.; a value of over EUR 285 million
emerged. To-date, it is not possible to make any prediction with regard to the outcome of the
proceedings.
Consob proceedings
On 29 October 2014, CONSOB notified Tiscali, pursuant to Articles 193.1 and 195.1 of the TUF, of the
failure to make the following available to the general public; by the legal deadlines: (i) the annual
financial report as at 31 December 2013 (as well as the reports of the Board of Statutory Auditors and
the independent auditing firm pertaining to this document); as well as (ii) the interim management
report as at 31 March 2014. By the legal deadlines, the Company formulated it defence briefs,
pleading, amongst other things, the absence of its responsibility for the subjective element or in any
event the fact that its conduct cannot be found fault with, since the alleged delay was due to the
extension of the negotiations with the Senior Financiers and the consequent uncertainty regarding the
possibility of approving the accounting documentation in question with a view to the business as a
going-concern. It being understood that the outcome of the proceedings cannot be predicted, in the
event that the Company should be held responsible in any way, the possible fine would range
between a minimum of EUR 5,000.00 and a legal maximum of EUR 500,000.00.
WOL dispute
In relation to the holding in World Online International BV, acquired by the Group in 2000, in July
2001, the Dutch association Vereniging van Effectenbezitters and the Stichting VEB-Actie WOL
foundation, which represent a group of around 10,000 former minority shareholders of World Online
International NV (hereinafter “WOL”), summonsed WOL (currently 99.5% owned by Tiscali) and the
financial institutions tasked with the stock market listing of the Dutch subsidiary, disputing, in
particular, the incomplete and incorrect nature, as per Dutch law, of certain information contained in