Legislative regulations of the Ministry of Internal Affairs for the more efficient operation of the Competition Authority

In the last three years, the Minister of Development and Investments, Adonis Georgiadis, made important legislative arrangements for the better and more efficient operation of the Competition Commission.

These arrangements concerned:

– The incorporation of Directive 2019/1/EUwhich strengthened the guarantees of independence and resources of the Competition Commission, as well as the independence of the Commission in the application of the legislation on the protection of competition and the imposition of the relevant sanctions and fines,

-The further strengthening of financial resources of the Competition Commission through:

a) provision of a minimum limit of annual own resources as a fixed percentage of GDP (0.004%) (Article 17 of Law 3959/2011 – Article 16 of Law 4753/2020),

b) provision of additional resources from subsidies, grants, funding of research programs or any other income coming from the European Union and non-profit institutions, such as international organizations, scientific and research organizations (Article 17 of Law 3959/2011 – Article 16 of Law 4753/2020)

– The strengthening of human resources of the Competition Commission with amendments to article 21, and additions of articles 21A, 21B and 21C to law 3959/2011 and in particular through:

a) provision for the utilization of qualified personnel and internationally renowned scientists with experience in issues of competition economics and technology or data science, in order to be able to deal with complex economic issues that arise in research cases on the distortion of competition (Article 21A Law 3959 /2011 – article 238 of Law 4782/2021),

b) to change the method of selection and appointment of Heads of the Competition Commission in order to apply the principle of meritocracy based on the special qualifications and knowledge that should be possessed by the persons who head the Commission’s organic units (article 21B law 3959/2021 – article 71 of Law 4795/2021),

c) the provision for attracting Heads of the Competition Commission from the private sector for a term of office (Article 21C of Law 3959/2021 – Article 18 of Law 4886/2022),

d) abolishing exceptional secondments by all the country’s independent authorities, including the Competition Commission (Article 68 of Law 4954/2022).

-Strengthening of independent project evaluation procedures of the Competition Commission by assigning it to a special group of experts of recognized international prestige and credibility and the provision of Central Performance Indicators (article 22 of Law 3959/2011 – Article 17 of Law 4753/2020).

-Strengthening of responsibilities of the Competition Commission with new tools to deal with prohibited agreements and concentrations and in particular:

a) the mapping of competition conditions, in all markets or all sectors of the economy, when this is required for the effective exercise of its powers (Article 14 of Law 3959/2021 – Article 12 of Law 4886/2022),

b) the introduction of measures to deal with invitations to prohibited collusion and announcement of future pricing intentions for products and services between competitors (Article 1A of Law 3959/2021 – Article 4 of Law 4886/2022).