On Friday, July 3, representatives of the Competition Commission participated in a meeting of the Standing Committee on Production and Trade regarding the Ministry of Development’s draft law: “Strengthening consumer protection in the areas of credit agreements, financial services, and contracts concluded at a distance, off-premises, and online.”
The draft law concerns the Competition Commission only in relation to three specific provisions that clarify and strengthen the Commission’s powers, based on Directive 1/2019 (also known as EDA+), which was transposed into national law by Law 4886/2022. It should be noted that the proposed legislative provisions apply not only to the Competition Commission but also to the Hellenic Telecommunications and Post Commission (EETT), which implements the law governing the operation of the Competition Commission (Law 3959/2011), solely in the telecommunications and postal sectors.
As noted in the relevant announcement, the first provision concerns the Competition Commission’s investigative powers and the introduction of an explicit provision stating that inspections of non-commercial premises will be conducted upon the order of the competent local public prosecutor.
It should be noted that, under current legislation (Article 39 of Law 3959/2011), authorized officials of the Tax Administration exercise the powers of a tax auditor and have the authority to conduct audits in both business and non-business premises, in the latter case, in compliance with the provisions of Article 9 of the Constitution regarding the inviolability of the home, under which public authorities are prohibited from entering an individual’s constitutionally protected private living space without complying with the conditions set forth by law (primarily a request for assistance from the locally competent public prosecutor and the appointment of a judicial officer to be present).
The proposed provision adds a phrase that now explicitly requires a warrant from the competent local prosecutor for conducting inspections in non-commercial premises. It should be noted that the EA has made use of this provision once in the recent past.
The second provision concerns fines for noncompliance with an investigative measure. It should be noted that Law 3959/2011, following the recent amendments introduced by Law 5255/2025, fully ensures the Competition Commission’s ability to impose fines in accordance with the requirements of the EDA+ Directive. The proposed provision explicitly establishes the authority to impose fines and periodic penalty payments in the event of a refusal to appear for questioning.
The third provision concerns the enforcement in Greece of decisions by other national competition authorities imposing fines and periodic penalty payments. Under current law, upon request by a competition authority of a Member State, the Competition Commission may enforce final decisions imposing fines or periodic penalty payments that were issued in proceedings for the application of Articles 101 or 102 TFEU, in particular where the undertaking or association of undertakings against which the fine or periodic penalty payment is enforceable does not have an establishment in the Member State of the requesting authority.
The proposed provision amends the current legislation to explicitly state that, in such cases, the national competition authority is not required to prove that it made reasonable efforts to enforce the decision within its territory.
The HCC supports legislative changes that clarify and strengthen its powers. Once the bill is enacted, the relevant changes will be incorporated into the updated and codified version of Law 3959/2011, which is available on the HCC’s website at www.epant.gr.