The Plenary Session of the Hellenic Competition Commission (HCC) will convene on December 1st, 2021 to examine, upon the relevant Statement of Objections, an alleged infringement of Article 1 of Law 3959/2011 (“Greek Competition Act”) by the following association of undertakings active in the market of the installation and maintenance of elevators, SYSEVE, following an ex officio investigation by the HCC’s Directorate General for Competition.
The other association under investigation has settled the case with the HCC under the respective settlement procedure (see previous press release here).
The investigation focused, in particular, on potential minimum remuneration rates for the members of SYSEVE as per the relevant statutory provision.
According to the Statement of Objections SYSEVE has infringed Article 1 of the Greek Competition Act. In particular, according to the Statement of Objections, in light of the evidence collected in the course of dawn raids as well as from other measures of inquiry, it is established that the above-mentioned association has violated article 1 of Law 3959/2011 for the period from 31-03-2006 to 15-12-2020. It is noted though that SYSEVE has not implemented the relevant statutory provisions.
In view of the above findings, it is suggested that SYSEVE omits similar practices in the future; and that the association is threatened with a fine, in case the HCC decides in the future that the above-mentioned infringements continue or are repeated.
In addition, in order to inform all the members of the association, as well as consumers, it is proposed to adopt a package of measures such as (a) the publication in two (2) newspapers with local circulation, (b) publication on the website and at the respective offices, (c) the announcement at the General Assembly and (d) the sending of electronic and registered letters to all the members, informing them of the already introduced amendment of its Articles of Association and the deletion of problematic clauses, as well as about its obligation not to engage in any initiative that will involve the direct or indirect setting of prices. These letters should explicitly refer to the decision of the HCC.
It is noted that the Statement of Objections is not binding on the HCC, which will decide on the case after it has taken into consideration all evidence, as well as the arguments put forward by all implicated parties.
