GREECE Law and Practice Contributed by: Ilias Anagnostopoulos and Alexandros Tsagkalidis, Anagnostopoulos
liable from a tax point of view; however, they are entitled to initiate procedures for an amicable (tax) settlement, which can significantly reduce any fines to be imposed. Where leniency or immunity measures are provided for, the extent to which they apply depends on the type of information submitted to the authorities. As a rule, effective and complete exposure of illegal practices may lead to lesser penalties or immunity from criminal prosecution or administrative sanctions. Immunity would usually be granted when the reporting of illegal practices is of such significance that it contrib - utes substantially to the exposure of illegal activ - ity or perpetrators. 6.3 Self-Disclosure Procedures There is no specific framework stipulating the content or format of the disclosure, eg, a final report of an internal investigation or a statement of an individual. Such a report/statement shall contain details about the subject under exami - nation, the procedure that has been followed, the evidence that has been collected and any other information that is linked with the scope of the case. For reasons of clarity and precision, a report of this type shall be in written form. How - ever, due to the absence of elaborate regulations on this matter, a written report might be used as aggravating evidence against legal or natu - ral persons or be handled in inconsistent ways across multiple jurisdictions. 6.4 Protections Afforded to Whistle- Blowers Law 4990/2022 was passed by the Parliament, which transposed Directive (EU) 2019/1937 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 23 October 2019 on the protection of persons who report breaches of Union law. This is the first law that creates a framework for the pro -
tection of whistle-blowers in Greece and aims to establish a system of internal and external reporting of violations of Union law, to speci - fy the procedure for submitting, receiving and monitoring such reports, to offer broad protec - tion to the persons who report such violations, and to provide for sanctions in case of violation of its provisions. In relation to the protection whistle-blowers enjoy, the said law provides for the prohibition of retaliation against whistle-blowers (eg, their employment or business status should not be negatively affected, disciplinary measures can - not be imposed, and they should not be sub - jected to discrimination, disadvantageous or unfair treatment), measures for their support (eg, legal aid and psychological support), and measures for protection against retaliation (eg, they shall not be considered to have breached any restriction on disclosure of information and shall not incur liability of any kind in respect of such a report or public disclosure provided that they had reasonable grounds to believe that the reporting or public disclosure of such informa - tion was necessary for revealing a breach, sus - pension of any criminal, administrative or civil proceedings that may have been initiated due to the whistle-blower’s disclosure of information). As these are new provisions, there is not yet enough information to comment on their appli - cability and effectiveness. 6.5 Incentives Provided to Whistle- Blowers There are no financial incentive schemes for whistle-blowers.
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