GREECE Law and Practice Contributed by: Anna Manda and Venetia Lazaratou, Karatzas & Partners
7. Third-Party Rights, Confidentiality and Cross-Border Co-Operation 7.1 Third-Party Rights Under the Greek Competition Act, third parties, including inter alia customers, and competitors can play an important role in the assessment of a notified concentration. First, when the HCC conducts its market testing in order to assess the competitive conditions in the rel - evant markets, it sends requests for information to third parties, the opinion of which may be critical for the assessment of the transaction. Moreover, a summary of the notified concentration, including the undertakings concerned, the form of control acquired, and the relevant markets, is pub - lished in a national daily financial newspaper, as well as on the HCC website, within five working days of the submission of the notification to the HCC. Within 15 calendar days from the publication of the announce - ment of the proposed concentration in the newspaper, any interested third party may submit comments or provide information regarding the notified concentra - tion to the HCC. Furthermore, any third party establishing a legitimate interest may intervene during the HCC proceedings by submitting written pleadings at least 30 calendar days prior to the HCC hearing. In addition, third parties may be invited by the HCC to the hearing before it during the Phase II investigation, provided that the HCC considers that their participa - tion will be essential for the examination of the case and contribute to ascertaining the truth. Finally, third parties are also entitled to appeal against HCC decisions before the Administrative Court of Appeal of Athens within a period of 60 calendar days from the publication of the HCC decision, provided that they establish a legitimate interest. 7.2 Contacting Third Parties Third parties are a source of information and evi - dence for the HCC in relation to the assessment of a proposed concentration. In particular, the HCC may,
participating undertakings. The relevant undertakings may also request for the modification of the agreed remedies, in the event that the circumstances signifi - cantly change. In HCC Decision 713/2020 – Diamantis Masoutis SA / Promitheftiki SA , the HCC accepted the modification-replacement of the agreed remedies (as imposed in HCC Decision 665/2018) due to excep - tional financial market conditions emerging from the COVID-19 outbreak. 5.6 Issuance of Decisions HCC decisions that either clear (without remedies), clear with remedies or prohibit a concentration, are notified to the parties within the prescribed time limits (ie, 30 calendar days for Phase I and 90 or 105 cal - endar days for Phase II). A non-confidential version of the HCC decision is also published on the HCC website and in the Greek Government Gazette. 5.7 Prohibitions and Remedies for Foreign-to- Foreign Transactions The HCC has only imposed remedies in a foreign-to- foreign concentration on one occasion. This occurred in Case 50/1997 ( SKW Trostberg AG / Sandoz AG ), where the HCC imposed a behavioural remedy on SKW Trostberg AG, requiring the company to con - tinue supplying the Greek market with raw materials through its agency arrangements for a period of three years following the publication of its decision. 6. Ancillary Restraints and Related Transactions 6.1 Clearance Decisions and Separate Notifications An HCC clearance decision covers any ancillary restraints that are directly related to, and necessary for, the implementation of the concentration, such as long-term service agreements, non-compete clauses, etc. The HCC examines such restrictions on the basis of the EC’s Notice on ancillary restrictions.
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