2 results
Greece
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- By Panayotis M. Bernitsas, M. & P. Bernitsas Law Offices, Athens, Greece, Angela Nissyrios, M. & P. Bernitsas Law Offices, Athens, Greece
- General editor Maher M. Dabbah, Queen Mary University of London, Paul Lasok QC
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- Book:
- Merger Control Worldwide
- Published online:
- 05 November 2014
- Print publication:
- 31 May 2012, pp 595-626
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- Chapter
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Summary
Free competition is regulated in Greece by the provisions of Law 703/1977 on the control of monopolies and oligopolies and the protection of free competition, as amended and currently in force (‘Law 703/77’). Initially, Law 703/77 did not contain specific merger control rules and Article 4 of the law, as applicable at the time, merely stated that these transactions were not considered to fall within the ambit of the provisions on restrictive trade practices and abuse of dominance (Articles 1 and 2 of Law 703/77 which are, in essence, a reiteration of Articles 101 and 102 – former Articles 81 and 82 – of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU), respectively).
In the beginning of the 1990s, with the development of EU merger control rules, detailed provisions on concentrations were introduced into Law 703/77 by virtue of Law 1934/1991. These were subsequently amended on a number of occasions to take into account the evolution of market trends and conditions.
Currently, Law 703/77 provides for the pre-merger notification of concentrations which meet the statutory turnover requirements set by the law (Article 4b) and establishes the procedure for the review of these transactions by the Greek Competition Commission (GCC) as well as by the competent ministers or appellate administrative courts, as the case may be.
13 - Greece
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- By Panayotis M. Bernitsas, Managing Partner, M. & P. Bernitsas Law Offices, Athens
- General editor Maher M. Dabbah, Queen Mary University of London, K. P. E. Lasok QC
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- Book:
- Merger Control Worldwide
- Published online:
- 30 July 2009
- Print publication:
- 29 May 2008, pp 52-59
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- Chapter
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Summary
In August 2005 the provisions of Law 703/1977 “on the control of monopolies and oligopolies and the protection of free competition” (“Law 703/77”), including the merger control rules, were amended by Law 3373/2005. Under Law 703/77 as recently revised (the “revised law”), post-merger notification, which had previously been abolished by way of Law 2837/2000, has been reintroduced with Article 4a. Moreover, the structure of the Greek Competition Commission (the “GCC”) has been modified while the merger notification requirements and procedures, as described in our Chapter (the “Main Chapter”), have been amended primarily by abolishing the market share criterion for a pre-merger notification under Article 4b and introducing a two-step procedure for the examination of these transactions. The main amendments to the merger control rules, including, also, the readjustments to the fines and penalties that may be imposed by the GCC for any infringements of Law 703/77 as well as the significant additions to the revised law, particularly concerning sectoral investigations, will be examined in this supplement.
Structure of the GCC
Under the revised law, the composition of the GCC has been increased from nine to eleven members. In particular, rather than appointing only one member from a Greek university specialising in financial matters and economic policy, the Minister appoints two, while, in relation to those members who are appointed to the GCC because of their prestige and experience in public and community economic law as well as competition policy matters, three members are appointed instead of two.