GREECE Law and Practice Contributed by: Anna Manda and Venetia Lazaratou, Karatzas & Partners
• capable of being implemented effectively without requiring further medium- or long-term monitoring mechanisms and heavy HCC involvement. The purpose of the remedies would be to ensure that the competition concerns arising from the concentra - tion are being removed. Thus, there is often pushback for behavioural remedies. In that vein, in 2025, the HCC in Case 887/025 ( Alha- bet / Delta ) concluded that the proposed commitments did not fully address the competition concerns identi - fied in the statement of objections. In particular, with regard to two out of the three affected markets, as these were defined in the HCC’s statement of objec - tions, Alphabet proposed certain pricing and non- pricing behavioural measures for a period of two years, to address the HCC’s concerns regarding the new entity’s possibility of raising barriers to potential competitors’ entry and to actual competitors’ expan - sion, as well as its concerns regarding an increase in tuition fees. The HCC found that those commit - ments failed to address the structural competition issue identified in the statement of objections – ie, the weakening of the competitive structure of the markets under consideration due to the creation of a dominant/ hyper-dominant position of Alphabet and the elimina - tion of its major competitor. 5.4 Negotiating Remedies With Authorities Until the modification of the Greek Competition Act (see 1.1 Merger Control Legislation ), remedies could only be proposed by the parties during the Phase II review process. However, under the current Greek merger control regime, remedies can be proposed and submitted both under the Phase I and the Phase II review process. In particular, remedies should be submitted within: • 20 calendar days from the notification date, when remedies are proposed in Phase I; or • 20 calendar days from the date on which the case is introduced before the HCC with the submission of the SO by the Rapporteur allotted to the case, when remedies are proposed in Phase II. Excep - tionally, the HCC may accept remedies proposed after the aforementioned deadline. In this case,
the 90-day time limit for the completion of Phase II may be extended to 105 calendar days. Under the Greek Competition Act, there is no “earli - est” point in the procedure when the parties can begin negotiating remedies with the HCC. In practice, the parties would seek to start negotiating the proposed remedies with the HCC as early as possible in the process, and even before the Rapporteur issues its SO in the Phase II review. The HCC can only impose the remedies proposed by the parties and does not have the power to impose remedies not agreed by them. In practice, however, the remedies proposed by the parties often result from unofficial discussions with the HCC, during which the HCC often guides the parties as to the type of rem - edies that could address the competition concerns. 5.5 Conditions and Timing for Divestitures As analysed in 5.4 Negotiating Remedies With Authorities , HCC Decision 779/2022 determines the content of the notification form on remedies and its accompanying documents. The latter decision sets out the information that should be included in the submission of remedies, and also includes a standard notification form for divestment remedies. Remedies have to be implemented in accordance with the relevant merger clearance decision of the HCC, normally within a prescribed period post-completion of the transaction. To date, the HCC has issued only one decision where the divestment was imposed as a condition for clearance (HCC Decision 515/2011 – Vivartia / Mevgal ). A divestment remedy would normally require keeping the business/asset to be divested separate until the completion of its sale. The parties will be also required to report to the HCC regarding the actions taken in order to implement the agreed remedies. If necessary, the HCC may also appoint a trustee to monitor the implementation of the agreed remedies. If the parties do not comply with any of the agreed remedies, the HCC may revoke its clearance deci - sion. In addition, the HCC may also impose a fine of up to 10% of the combined aggregate turnover of the
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