GREECE Law and Practice Contributed by: Anna Manda and Maria Kallidopoulou, Karatzas & Partners
the market share thresholds in relation to the acquisition of informative media. 2.12 Requirement for Clearance Before Implementation The Greek Competition Act (Article 9) requires the automatic suspension of a notifiable con - centration, until the latter is cleared by the HCC. This inter alia means that the implementation of a notifiable transaction should be suspended until it has been cleared by the HCC (or the rel - evant timeframe for the HCC to issue a decision has lapsed without the HCC having reached a decision). See also the derogations to the sus - pensory effect in 2.14 Exceptions to Suspen- sive Effect . 2.13 Penalties for the Implementation of a Transaction Before Clearance If a notifiable transaction is implemented prior to the HCC clearance decision, the HCC may impose administrative fines to the undertakings having an obligation to notify. The fine will be at least EUR30,000 and up to 10% of the aggre - gate turnover of the undertakings concerned. In calculating the fine, the HCC will take into account the economic power of the undertak - ings concerned, the number of affected mar - kets and the competitive conditions prevailing in these markets, as well as the estimated impact of the concentration on competition. In addition, criminal sanctions ranging between EUR15,000 and EUR150,000 may be also imposed on the undertaking’s executives for violation of the merger control provisions. In 2024, the HCC initiated an investigation to assess whether there has been a failure to noti- fy, however the publication of the HCC decision is pending (acquisition of exclusive control by Piraeus Bank S.A. over MIG Holdings S.A.). In
2023, the HCC imposed a fine of EUR30,000 on an undertaking for failure to notify (HCC Decision 823/2023 – Anedik Kritikos SA/Synergazomenoi Pantopoles SA ). In 2022, the HCC imposed a fine of EUR500,000 for gun-jumping (HCC Deci - sion 752/2021 – OPAP/Stoiximan Business ). Lastly, in 2018, the HCC also imposed a fine of EUR50,000 on an undertaking for failure to notify and in the same decision an additional fine of EUR30,000 for gun-jumping (HCC Decision 659/2018 – Alter Ego Media/DOL SA ). To the best of the authors’ knowledge, no penal - ties have been imposed in the case of foreign- to-foreign transactions. 2.14 Exceptions to Suspensive Effect Notwithstanding the suspensive effect of the implementation of a notifiable concentration, the Greek Competition Act provides for two deroga - tions. • First, the implementation of a public bid or the acquisition of a controlling interest in the context of stock exchange transactions shall not be prevented provided that (i) the concentration is notified to the HCC within the 30-day deadline; and (ii) the acquirer does not exercise the voting rights attached to the securities in question or does so only to maintain the full value of its investments based on the grant of a special derogation by the HCC. Hence, in case of non-clearance of the transaction, the risk shifts to the acquirer, since the acquirer would need to dispose of the shares. • Second, the HCC may, upon request, grant a derogation from the obligation to suspend the completion of a transaction that is notifi - able, in order to prevent serious effects to the detriment of one or more of the undertakings concerned or to the detriment of a third party.
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