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Wednesday, 24 September 2014

Decision 591/2014

Decision on the ex-officio investigation of the Directorate-General for Competition following the complaint under ref. no. 3265/06.06.2007, submitted by the dentists (…) and (…) against the Association of Dental Technicians of Crete.

Decision 591/2014
File (PDF) Decision 591/2014
Date of Publication of Decision September 24th , 2014
Issue Number of Government Bulletin
Relevant Market

Market of Dental Services and Products

Subject of the Decision

Anti-competitive Decision of an Association of Undertakings

Legal Framework

Article 1 L. 3959/2015

Operative part of the Decision

Finding an infringement

Complainant(s)

Ex-officio investigation

Respondent(s)

Association of Dental Technicians of Crete

Summary of Decision

The Hellenic Competition Commission found, by its unanimous decision, that the Association of Dental Technicians of Crete infringed Article 1 of former  L. 703/1977 (current article 1 L. 3959/2011), as it adopted decisions aiming at the direct or indirect fixing of minimum fees for its members, through (a) the inclusion of specific provisions in the Statute of the Association for the period 1988 to the date of adoption of this decision, and (b) the adoption and notification of price lists with minimum fees to its members for the period 2001 to 2010.

According to the decision, these actions demonstrate the clear and consistent intention of the association to coordinate the pricing policies of its members, in violation of existing national anti-trust provisions. For this infringement, the HCC imposed on the Association of Dental Technicians of Crete a symbolic fine (calculated on the association’s turnover, due to lack of financial data on the turnover of its members). In addition, the HCC ordered the Association a) to eliminate from its statute the anti-competitive clauses, b) to inform in written form all dentists and dental technicians that fees are to be decided independently by them and c) to publish the press release of the HCC in local newspapers of the prefectures of Heraklion and Lassithi, where the infringement took place.

Judicial Means Final. No appeal.
Decisions by the Court of Appeal of Athens (Administrative Division) -