GREECE Law and Practice Contributed by: Anna Manda and Maria Kallidopoulou, Karatzas & Partners
where there is no incremental 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, includ - ing also the revised Market Definition Notice adopted by the EC in 2024, which the HCC inter - prets and implements having 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 concerns (see also 4.1 Substantive Test ). 4.5 Economic Efficiencies When assessing a concentration, the HCC will consider efficiency considerations that could off - set its possible anti-competitive effects, includ - ing the development of technical and economic progress. Nonetheless, these efficiency consid - erations are taken into account only if: • they produce benefits to consumers; • they constitute a direct consequence of the concentration; • 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-competi - tion issues, such as industrial policy and national security, 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 interest in the relationship between sustainable development and competition law and in par - ticular, the extent to which sustainability and environmental considerations may be taken into account when assessing a concentration. By virtue of the above, in October 2022, the HCC launched the HCC Sustainability Sandbox plat - form, a supervised environment for experimen - tation for sustainable development (sustainabil - ity) and competition in the Greek market. Such mechanism will enable the submission (to the HCC) of business proposals aimed at enhanc - ing the conditions for sustainability and which, in order to materialise, will require greater legal cer - tainty in relation to competition law enforcement. The HCC has also appeared to demonstrate pri - vacy concerns and to be particularly sensitive regarding the protection of consumers’ personal data (see also 5.2 Parties’ Ability to Negotiate Remedies , which includes a discussion on typi - cal remedies). Lastly, the HCC has considered the potential effects of a concentration on the national econ - omy. More specifically, public interest objec - tives, such as the liquidity in the banking sector and the stability of the financial system, have been taken into account by the HCC in its deci - sions regarding concentrations in the banking sector during the financial crisis (HCC Deci - sion 574/2013 – Piraeus Bank/Bank of Cyprus- Cyprus Popular Bank , HCC Decision 568/2013 – National Bank of Greece/FBB , HCC Decision 566/2013 – Piraeus Bank/Millennium Bank , HCC Decision 562/2013 – National Bank of Greece/ Eurobank Ergasias Bank ). As regards FDI filing requirements see 9.1 Leg- islation and Filing Requirements .
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