GREECE Law and Practice Contributed by: Anna Manda and Maria Kallidopoulou, Karatzas & Partners
cy due to the risk of serious and irreparable harm to competition. The HCC′s decisions imposing interim measures can be appealed before the Administrative Court of Appeal of Athens. Lastly, for the fines the HCC may impose for non-cooperation with its requests or for provid - ing inaccurate or misleading information, see 2.7 The HCC takes the following steps when calcu - lating a fine to be imposed on undertakings or associations of undertakings. • First, it sets the basic amount of the fine for each undertaking or association of under - takings based on the gravity, duration and geographic scope of – as well as the type of participation in – the infringement of each party involved. Furthermore, it may increase or decrease the basic amount, depending on aggravating or mitigating circumstances. • The basic amount of the fine is set as fol - lows: a percentage of up to 30% is set on the undertaking’s annual gross turnover from products or services in the markets directly Non-Cooperation . Calculation of fines or indirectly affected by the infringement, and extra is calculated for each year of the infringement, cumulatively. • In addition, and regardless of the duration of an undertaking’s participation in the infringe - ment, the HCC will – for preventative reasons – include in the basic amount of the fine an amount ranging between 15% and 25% of the undertaking’s gross turnover from prod - ucts or services in the markets affected by the infringement. In any event, the maximum total fine cannot exceed 10% of the undertaking’s aggregate
worldwide turnover of the financial year prior to the issuance of the HCC decision. Criminal sanctions The HCC does not have the power to impose criminal sanctions; this lies within the compe - tence of the criminal courts. The GCA imposes an obligation on the HCC, when the HCC finds an Article 1 infringement, to report it to the com - petent prosecution authority within no more than ten days following the issuance of its decision. In this respect, the executives of the undertak - ings involved are subject to criminal sanctions ranging between EUR15,000 and EUR150,000. In addition, a punishment of at least six months’ imprisonment is imposed on: • anyone who obstructs or hampersinvestiga - tions carried out by the HCC, in any manner (albeit, in particular, by posing impediments or concealing evidence); • anyone who refuses or prevents the provision of information; • anyone who knowingly provides false infor - mation or conceals evidence; and • anyone who refuses ‒ after having been duly summoned by an HCC official ‒ to make a sworn or unsworn statement before the HCC or who, during their statement, knowingly provides false information or denies or con - ceals any facts. Lastly, imprisonment from two to five years and fines ranging from EUR100,000 to EUR1 million may be imposed by the criminal courts if the illegal collusion concerns cartel activities taking
place between competitors. 1.3 Private Enforcement
The Damages Law transposed into the Greek legal system the EU Antitrust Damages Directive
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