GREECE Law and Practice Contributed by: Anna Manda and Maria Kallidopoulou, Karatzas & Partners
to appeal before the Athens Court of Appeal. The review performed by the Athens Court of Appeal covers both factual and legal points. In turn, the decision of the appellate court may also be appealed before the Greek Supreme Court, which only examines points of law. 7. Trends in Cartel Enforcement 7.1 Information Sharing as a Cartel Offence In line with the EU respective approach, pursu - ant to Articles 1 of the GCA (which mirrors Article 101 of the TFEU), the exchange of commercially sensitive information may be regarded both as supporting a cartel offence and as a hub-and- spoke cartel. Moreover, the unilateral provision of commercially sensitive information may con - stitute a cartel offence under Article 1A of the GCA (there is no equivalent under the TFEU). With regard to Article 1A of the GCA, see 1.4 “Cartel Conduct” . 7.2 Use of AI and Algorithms Although the HCC has recently expressed inter - est in the potential use of AI and pricing algo - rithms as part of cartel offences, there have been no recent investigations or enforcement actions involving the use of such tools. 7.3 Monopolisation as a Cartel Offence Monopolisation is not viewed as a potential car - tel offence in Greece. 7.4 Focus on Certain Industries/Sectors During the past year, the HCC has focused its cartel enforcement proceedings in the following sectors:
• coffee, chocolate and infant nutrition; • pet food; • ferry services; • waste management; • smart water meter systems; • IT; and • travel. 7.5 Use of Messaging Applications and Chat Platforms Severe fines are imposed by the HCC if it comes to its attention that messages/emails are deleted, for example, during a dawn raid. As mentioned in 2.7 Non-Cooperation , the HCC imposed a fine of EUR1 million on a natural per - son and EUR200,000 on the relevant undertak - ing for obstructing the on-site inspection and for hindering evidence by (inter alia) deleting emails during a dawn raid (HCC Decision ALTER EGO MEDIA SA 745/2021). The HCC also has the necessary tools to retrieve such deleted mes - sages/emails. 7.6 “No Poach” and Labour Market Allocation Conduct In assessing “no poach” agreements and labour market allocations, the HCC fully abides by the standards and criteria established by the EC. That said, there have not been any investiga - tions in Greece involving such practices, nor are such agreements widespread in practice so far. 7.7 Leniency v Ex Officio Investigations Based on publicly available information, there have been no leniency applications during the review period. The HCC has in any event been very active in conducting an increasing number of dawn raids during the last pew years (see 2.2 Dawn Raids/Search Warrants ).
• financial services; • maritime transport;
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