By its Decision No. 616/2015, the Hellenic Competition Commission (HCC) updated its case prioritisation system for case handling by the Directorate-General for Competition (DGC), previously defined by Decision No 539/2012, in the light of the experience gained in the last three years of its implementation. The prioritisation system, adopted for the first time by law 3959/2011, aims at enhancing efficiency in the DGC’s handling of pending cases (complaints and ex officio investigations), on the basis of a set of objective criteria, with the ultimate goal of a more targeted and coherent application of national and EU rules on the protection of free competition.

The new Point System modifies and  further specifies the existing criteria (taking into account, in particular, the nature and the extent of the alleged infringement, the type of the products and services concerned, the importance of the point of law on legal certainty and cooperation with other Competition Authorities within the European Competition Network, the probative value of the evidence in the file and the existence or non-existence of a leniency application), but also weighs additional factors which lead to the non-continuation of the case (in particular, with respect to complaints being subject, already at the time of their submission, to a limitation period of five years pursuant to Article 42 of Law 3959/2011 and are not covered by the transitional provisions of the same law).

The Point System is used exclusively for the internal organisation of the HCC and proritisation is not made public (according to the provision of Article 14 par. 2, subparagraph (o) of Law 3959/2011). Complaints that receive a low score (less than or equal to three (3)) are rejected by a decision of the President of the Competition Commission, following a proposal by the DGC. Rejection decisions due to low scores shall be reasoned and notified to the complainant within thirty (30) days of their adoption.