In incorporating the most innovative solutions and tools to address anti-competitive practices that harm the Greek economy and consumers, the Hellenic Competition Commission (HCC), proceeds to create a secure digital environment for the reporting/submission of anonymous information, following the standards of the respective digital tools (whistleblowing) used by the European Competition Commission, as well as other Competition Authorities in the EU (e.g., Germany, Sweden, Denmark).
Anti-competitive practices directly harm the public interest as they affect the economy and consumers, hindering competition between businesses resulting in increased prices for products and services, poor quality, less innovation and limited choices to consumers. Up to the present, if a citizen found through his position an action or activity threatening the proper functioning of competition, the economy and -ultimately- the public interest, he hesitated to report these practices for fear of being targeted and the likelihood of being put out of the labor market. The ‘fear factor’ also exists for small and medium-sized producers that are commercially related to buyers which hold significant bargaining power.
Citizens or producers who have identified illegal practices that harm competition, can now provide information in the public interest, under complete anonymity. The HCC's new digital service offers complete security of anonymity for those who want to report information regarding illegal practices (cartels, abuse of a dominant position, etc.), through an accredited company located abroad (ISO / IEC 27001, ISAE 3000, WCAG 2.1), with which other Competition Authorities are already cooperating with, and which has absolutely no relationship with the HCC. The information is stored in a secure environment without the registration of the user ID, and the HCC receives only the text of the information.
Such kind of information is a powerful tool for uncovering anti-competitive practices, as well as for speeding up the HCC's investigations, and may concern practices such as:
- bid-rigging of tenders and offers
- fixing prices of products / services between competitors
- market sharing / customer allocation among competitors
- limitation or control of production, markets or technical development
- exclusion of competitors and products off the market, etc.
- anti-competitive behavior by dominant firms that impose unfair prices or other unfair trading conditions, etc.
- infringements related to unfair commercial practices by companies with significant bargaining power in business supply chain relationships (e.g. with regard to agricultural products and food and other consumer products)
For more information, visit the HCC’s website for the anonymous reporting of information at the following link (in Greek).
For direct access to the platform for anonymous reporting of information, please click on the following link.
