Autostrade argues that the clause of the privatisation law banning construction companies as shareholders has expired .
意大利高速公路公司称，这项私有化法律对建筑公司的约束条款已经过期了。
The italian government has changed the rules about motorway concessions to prevent a friendly merger between autostrade and abertis , so that deal is off .
The decision took autostrade and abertis by surprise : over the past weeks the firms felt confident that their plan to create the largest toll-road company in the world was on track .
Instead they wrote to the boss of the motorways regulator , pointing out that the 1997 privatisation law which relates to autostrade stipulates that no construction company can become a shareholder .
