GREECE Law and Practice Contributed by: Anna Manda and Maria Kallidopoulou, Karatzas & Partners
In this respect, it is considered that structural commitments are generally preferable since they are deemed to avert the competition concerns over the longer term. Nonetheless, the HCC has accepted behavioural remedies in a number of cases thus far. For instance, in Case 861/2024 ( Hellenic Train S.A./Damco Energy S.A ), the HCC approved the creation of a joint venture between Hellenic Train and Damco Energy with behavioural remedies only, which included, inter alia, the establishment of Chinese walls and the imposition of confidentiality obligations between Hellenic Train and the joint venture. Further - more, in Case 682/2019 ( Mytilineos/EPALME ), the HCC accepted behavioural remedies that aimed to address vertical foreclosure concerns. Moreover, the HCC, in Case 775/2022 ( Delivery Hero/Alpha-Inkat-E-Table ), accepted a series of behavioural remedies. The concentration concerned the acquisition by an online deliv - ery platform, Delivery Hero, of the sole control over companies that are active in the wholesale supply of goods to supermarkets and run online platforms that provide intermediation services for orders and reservations in restaurants. The HCC was concerned that the combination of end user data collected from these online plat - forms would allow the merged entity to imple - ment personalised promotion strategies, there - by having a competitive advantage to such an extent that the combined entity’s competitors would no longer be able to compete effectively. The HCC eventually cleared the concentration with behavioural remedies, which included, inter alia, the obligation by Delivery Hero (i) not to tie the online intermediation services for food order - ing with the online reservation services in res - taurants when offered to business users; (ii) not to provide special discounts to business users; and (iii) not to use end user data collected from its platform in order to implement personalised promotion strategies.
It is also often the case that the HCC accepts both structural and behavioural remedies. For example, in 2017, the HCC accepted both struc - tural and behavioural measures when granting clearance to the acquisition by supermarket Sklavenitis of sole control over the Marinopoulos supermarket chain. With respect to the structural measures, the acquiring company undertook to divest 22 supermarket stores within nine months from the publication of HCC decision (HCC Decision 637/2017). With respect to behaviour - al remedies, the acquiring company undertook to continue the commercial co-operation with Marinopoulos’ local suppliers and other mutual suppliers for a period of three years commenc - ing from the publication of the HCC decision. Likewise, in 2018, the HCC cleared the acquisi - tion of Hellenic Seaways by Attica Group (HCC Decision 658/2018 – Hellenic Seaways/Attica Group ), subject to both behavioural and struc - tural commitments. As per the commitments undertaken, the Attica Group was bound not to increase ticket prices in certain itineraries, to proceed with the divestiture of certain boats, add routes to certain island connections, and to facilitate the entry of competitors in the relevant markets. 5.3 Legal Standard Similar to the EC’s practice, the HCC deems the proposed remedies to be acceptable when these are: • appropriate; • comprehensive; • of a lasting character; and • capable of being implemented effectively without requiring further medium- or long- term monitoring mechanisms and heavy HCC involvement.
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