PRACTICES
- Administrative & Environmental Law
- Agency & Distributorship
- Arbitration, Litigation & Mediation
- Aviation Law
- Banking & Finance
- Capital Markets
- Corporate & Commercial Law
- Data Protection
- Digital Law
- Employment & Immigration
- Energy Law
- EU, Antitrust/Competition & State Aid
- Intellectual Property
- Investigations & White Collar Crime (incl. FCPA)
- Investment in Greece (Structuring, Protection, Grants, Permits & Operation)
- M&A
- Pharmaceutical
- Project Finance
- Public Procurement, Privatisations, Concessions & Public Private Partnerships
- Real Estate
- Regulatory & Compliance
- Tax
- TMT
PRACTICES
- Administrative & Environmental Law
- Agency & Distributorship
- Arbitration, Litigation & Mediation
- Aviation Law
- Banking & Finance
- Capital Markets
- Corporate & Commercial Law
- Data Protection
- Digital Law
- Employment & Immigration
- Energy Law
- EU, Antitrust/Competition & State Aid
- Intellectual Property
- Investigations & White Collar Crime (incl. FCPA)
- Investment in Greece (Structuring, Protection, Grants, Permits & Operation)
- M&A
- Pharmaceutical
- Project Finance
- Public Procurement, Privatisations, Concessions & Public Private Partnerships
- Real Estate
- Regulatory & Compliance
- Tax
- TMT
EU, Antitrust / Competition & State Aid
Competition and antitrust laws around the world are evolving rapidly. Authorities are increasingly using a wide range of powers to investigate mergers, markets, cartels and other behaviors. The commercial landscape has been shifted by enhanced digitization and the use of integrated platforms and B2B services. Thus, the range of business practices spawning antitrust enforcement is likewise expanding and fines for antitrust infringements are on the rise.
Our leading Competition Law practitioners have extensive experience and have handled a wide spectrum of cases spanning on all practice areas of Antitrust Law. Our Competition Law team gets to grips quickly with the market dynamics lying at the heart of the Antitrust issue providing strategic advice to ensure the best possible outcome. Our department is acclaimed for its commercially oriented solutions, by developing optimal synergies with the other practices (Corporate & Commercial Law, Tax, Banking & Finance, TMT, Energy etc.) of Koutalidis Law Firm, in order to help our clients navigate this constantly evolving landscape.
Our Competition and Antitrust practice is involved in transactions from their very early stages and analyses, anticipates and deals with all possible Competition Law risks for the clients of our Firm. We use our extensive knowledge of Competition Law and enforcement to help get the deal done, resolve a dispute or solve a business challenge.
Moreover, we have a close and well appreciated cooperation with the competent authorities domestically and at EU level.
We also litigate cases, where necessary, assisted by our partners in the Administrative & Environmental Law practice or Civil Litigation department of our Arbitration, Litigation & Mediation practice. We are often referred cases from international firms being part of their national council panel for Competition Law cases.
Services
Our team is equipped with the experience and expertise to provide a wide spectrum of EU, Antitrust / Competition & State Aid services.
Antitrust
- cartel investigations – dawn raids – leniency/settlement programmes
- compliance – exchange of information – clean teams
- horizontal agreements – cooperative joint ventures and alliances
- vertical agreements – distribution systems and agency – franchising – technology transfer
- abuse of dominance – pricing and non-pricing abuses – interface with IP rights – interface with exclusive rights
- sector specific competition rules (e.g. Electronic Communications, Electricity and Gas, Transport, Broadcasting) – ex ante regulation
- sector inquiries – public consultations
Merger Control
- merger filings – full function JVs – multijurisdictional filings
- substantive analysis with – where necessary – collaboration with economists
- third interested parties – merger opposition – market surveys
- advise on integration planning
State Aid rules
- individual aid and aid schemes – notifications – complaints
- interface with privatisation and public procurement matters
- implementation of recovery orders
Litigating Competition Law cases (before Greek and EU courts):
- actions for annulment against Hellenic Competition Commission’s decisions before the Administrative Court of Appeal of Athens or before the Supreme Administrative Court – defenses
- actions for annulment against European Commission decisions before the General Court of EU
- referrals to the Court of Justice of the EU for preliminary rulings
- actions for damages (or respective defence) before Greek civil Courts for violations of antitrust rules
- actions for damages before Greek administrative courts (illegal state aid cases)
View Practice Highlights
With a practice that covers all aspects of EU and Greek Competition Law, including state aid and competition litigation, our Competition practice has broad experience in advising companies before the Hellenic Competition Commission and the European Commission, and representing clients before EU and Greek courts. Our clients include financial institutions and companies from the energy, pharmaceutical, telecommunications and postal, food, retail, electronic platforms and construction sector.
Examples of our practice work include representation of or advice to:
- Hellenic Post S.A. (ELTA) re compliance with Competition Law.
- Skroutz S.A in connection with the sale of a minority stake to CVC Capital Partners.
- Eurobank Ergasias S.A. in connection with the sale to DoValue S.p.A. of 80% of its subsidiary Eurobank Financial Planning Services.
- The 4 systemic banks of Greece, i.e. Alpha Bank, Eurobank, National Bank of Greece and Piraeus Bank in the sale of their shareholdings in “Nireus Aquaculture S.A.” and “Selonda Aquaculture S.A.” (two major fish farming companies in Greece) to an entity controlled by “Mudabala Investment Company” and “Amera Capital Management LLC”, following a bidding process.
- The four systemic Greek banks – Alpha Bank, Eurobank, National Bank of Greece and Piraeus Bank on their entry into a servicing agreement with Italian credit institution doValue S.p.A. for the management of common non-performing loans extended by the banks to small- and medium-sized enterprises and its compliance with competition law rules.
- Adidas Hellas on competition law issues arising from the day-to-day business, including the compliance e.g. of the terms and conditions of distribution agreements, of e-commerce policy, of standalone commercial relationship with distributors, of the set-up of the distribution system, with competition rules. The competition department has also conducted competition law trainings to the sales and legal teams.
- Ravago S.A. on merger control issues.
- Colgate Palmolive Company (US) on appealing successfully against Hellenic Competition Commission (HCC) decision No 610/2015 before the Administrative Court of Appeals of Athens.
- Public Power Corporation (PPC), the Greek electricity incumbent with regard to the implications of the judgments of the CJEU in case C‑553/12 P and of the General Court in Case T‑169/08 RENV concerning PPC’s rights in lignite fields and also, in obtaining a positive state aid decision on the basis of article 106(2) TFEU for Services of General Economic Interest in the non-interconnected islands of Greece (case SA.43168).
- Vodafone Hellas on merger control and antitrust issues.
- Vodafone Hellas in its network sharing agreement with Wind Hellas.
- Alpha Bank on merger control and state aid issues.
- Novartis Hellas on evaluation of its commercial policy vis-à-vis its wholesalers from a competition perspective.
- Ministry of Infrastructure with regard to Services of General Economic Interest and regional airports.
- Major undertaking in the construction cartel investigation launched by HCC.
- Assistance to the Legal Service of the European Commission in Article 272 TFEU cases before the EU General Court in Luxembourg.