GREECE Law and Practice Contributed by: Anna Manda and Maria Kallidopoulou, Karatzas & Partners
penalties described in 3.6 Penalties/Conse- quences of Incomplete Notification apply. 3.8 Review Process After the HCC deems the notification to be com - plete, it will follow the below review and decision process. • In case the HCC concludes that the notified concentration does not fall within the jurisdic - tional thresholds, the President of the HCC will issue a decision within 30 calendar days from the receipt of a complete notification. • In case the HCC considers that the notified concentration does not raise any adverse effects on the relevant markets, the HCC will issue a decision approving the concentration within 30 calendar days from the receipt of a complete notification (Phase I process). • In case the HCC considers that the concen - tration raises serious doubts as to its com - patibility with competition law in the relevant markets, the President of the HCC will issue a decision within 30 calendar days from the date of the notification and will initiate the procedure of full investigation of the noti - fied concentration (Phase II process). The participating parties should be immediately informed of this decision. The case is sub - sequently introduced before the HCC within 45 days from the date on which the in-depth assessment is initiated (the “hearing”). Prior to the hearing, the HCC will issue a report summarising its findings, similar to the state - ment of objections (SO) of the EC under the EUMR, on which the parties will be invited to comment. The parties can offer remedies either during the Phase I investigation within 20 calendar days from the date of the noti - fication or during the Phase II investigation within 20 days of the HCC SO. Under the Phase II process, the HCC must issue its
The notification itself and the accompanying documents should be submitted in Greek. If the accompanying documents are drafted in a lan - guage other than Greek, an official (ie, certified by an attorney) translation in Greek should be also submitted. 3.6 Penalties/Consequences of Incomplete Notification The HCC officially commences the review pro - cess of the notified concentration as soon as the filing is deemed to be complete. In case the filing is found to be incomplete, further clarifications are requested by the HCC through RFIs. Only when the HCC considers that the filing is com - plete, the Phase I review period commences. In cases where the information requested by the HCC is being refused, obstructed, delayed, the HCC may impose on the undertakings con - cerned fines of up to 3% of their aggregate worldwide turnover on a daily basis (and for as long as the infringement takes place). In addition, the HCC may also impose fines on the under - takings’ executives ranging from EUR15,000 to EUR30,000 per day of non-compliance. Lastly, those that refuse or obstruct the request - ed information may be also subject to imprison - ment for at least six months. In 2011, the HCC imposed fines of EUR20,000 and EUR15,000 respectively on two gas-provid - ing companies for inter alia delaying providing the information requested (HCC Decision 516/ VI/2011 – EPA Thessalias/EPA Thessalonikis ). 3.7 Penalties/Consequences of Inaccurate or Misleading Information In the event that the parties provide inaccurate, incomplete or misleading information, the same
252 CHAMBERS.COM
Powered by FlippingBook