GREECE Law and Practice Contributed by: Anna Manda and Venetia Lazaratou, Karatzas & Partners
Concerning conglomerate mergers, the HCC will assess whether the concentration would result in fore - closure through tying or bundling. Regarding full-function joint ventures, please refer to 4.7 Special Consideration for Joint Ventures . As regards concentrations in the (informative) media sector, Law 3592/2007 expressly provides that a con - centration is not permitted where it involves under - takings that hold a dominant position in this sector or where the concentration would result in the crea - tion of such dominant position. Dominance is thereby defined by reference to specific market share thresh - olds, which range from 25% to 35%. 4.2 Markets Affected by a Transaction The HCC closely follows the EC practice and the rel - evant EU case law when determining which markets may be affected by the transaction. In particular, an affected market is deemed to arise when: • two or more of the participating undertakings are engaged in business activities in the same product and geographic market (horizontal relationships), and the concentration would result in a combined market share of at least 15% in the relevant market (for horizontal mergers); or • one or more of the participating undertakings are engaged in business activities in a product market that is upstream or downstream from a product market in which any other participating undertaking is engaged (vertical relationships), and either their individual or combined market shares in either level is at least 25%. In the event that the aforementioned thresholds are not satisfied, no affected markets are deemed to exist, and the competitive concerns are generally deemed unlikely. The same applies where there is no incremen - tal market share increase. 4.3 Reliance on Case Law The HCC heavily relies on EU case law and takes into account all relevant notices and guidelines issued by the EC in relation to the EUMR, including also the
revised Market Definition Notice adopted by the EC in 2024, which the HCC interprets and implements hav - ing regard to the Greek regulatory regime applying to specific sectors – eg, banking and financial services and other regulated activities, such as energy, which may differ in certain aspects from other EU countries. 4.4 Competition Concerns The HCC will examine all potential competition con - cerns (see also 4.1 Substantive Test ). 4.5 Economic Efficiencies When assessing a concentration, the HCC will con - sider efficiency considerations that could offset its possible anti-competitive effects, including the devel - opment of technical and economic progress. None - theless, these efficiency considerations are taken into account only if: • they produce benefits to consumers; • they constitute a direct consequence of the con - centration; • they cannot be achieved to a similar extent by less anti-competitive methods; and • they are verifiable. 4.6 Non-Competition Issues Under the Greek Competition Act, non-competition issues, such as industrial policy and national secu - rity, are not expressly prescribed and are generally not taken into account as part of the HCC review process. Nevertheless, the HCC has expressed its strong inter - est in the relationship between sustainable develop - ment and competition law and in particular, the extent to which sustainability and environmental considera - tions may be taken into account when assessing a concentration. By virtue of the above, in October 2022, the HCC launched the HCC Sustainability Sandbox platform, a supervised environment for experimenta - tion for sustainable development (sustainability) and competition in the Greek market. Such mechanism will enable the submission (to the HCC) of business pro - posals aimed at enhancing the conditions for sustain - ability and which, in order to materialise, will require greater legal certainty in relation to competition law enforcement.
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