On Friday, July 3, representatives of the CC participated in the meeting of the Standing Committee on Production and Trade regarding the draft law of the Ministry of Development: “Strengthening consumer protection in the fields of credit agreements, financial services, and contracts concluded remotely, outside the store, and electronically.”
The draft law concerns the CC only with regard to three specific provisions that clarify and strengthen the powers of the Competition Commission, based on Directive 1/2019 (also known as ECN+), which was incorporated into the national legal order by Law 4886/2022. It is noted that the proposed legislative provisions apply to the Competition Commission, but also to the EETT, which implements the law governing the operation of the Competition Commission (Law 3959/2011), only in the telecommunications and postal sectors.
As stated in the relevant announcement, the first provision concerns the audit powers of the CC and the introduction of an explicit provision that audits in non-professional premises will be carried out following an order from the locally competent Prosecutor.
It is noted that under the current legislation (art. 39 Law 3959/2011) the authorized employees of the CC exercise tax inspector powers and have the authority to conduct audits both in professional and non-professional premises, in the latter case observing the provisions of Article 9 of the Constitution regarding the inviolability of the home, according to which the entry of public authority officials into the constitutionally protected private physical space of the individual is prohibited without complying with the conditions set by law (mainly a request for assistance to the locally competent prosecutor, appointment of a judicial officer to be present).
With the proposed provision, a phrase is added which now explicitly provides for the issuance of an order by the locally competent Prosecutor for the conduct of audits in non-professional premises. It is noted that the CC has made use of this provision once in the recent past.
The second provision concerns fines in case of non-compliance with an investigative measure. It is noted that Law 3959/2011, following recent amendments introduced by Law 5255/2025, fully ensures the ability of the Competition Commission to impose fines in accordance with the requirements of the ECN+ directive. With the proposed provision, the ability to impose fines and periodic pecuniary penalties in the case of refusal to appear for testimony is explicitly stated.
The third provision concerns the enforcement in Greece of decisions of other national competition authorities, by which fines and periodic pecuniary penalties are imposed. Under the current legislation, following a request from a competition authority of a member state, the Competition Commission may enforce final decisions for the imposition of fines or pecuniary penalties, which were issued in proceedings for the application of Articles 101 or 102 TFEU, especially when the undertaking or association of undertakings against which the fine or periodic pecuniary penalty is enforceable does not have an establishment in the member state of the requesting authority.
With the proposed provision, the current legislation is amended in order to explicitly state that in the above case, the national competition authority is not required to prove that it made reasonable efforts to enforce the decision in its territory.
The CC supports legislative changes that clarify and strengthen its powers. After the bill is passed, the relevant changes will be incorporated into the updated and codified version of Law 3959/2011, which is available on the CC website www.epant.gr.