On December, 23rd 2020, the Hellenic Competition Commission (“HCC”) has decided ex officio to launch a market investigation in the press distribution sector pursuant to Article 11 Law 3959/2011. Press Release January 14, 2021.
On March, 23rd 2020, the HCC has issued its first interim report with respect to the conditions of competition in this sector and launched a public consultation inviting interested parties to comment.
According to the interim report, in the press distribution sector and in particular in the market for printed press distribution, there is a lack of effective competition, which cannot be remedied with the application of Articles 1,2 and 5-10 Law 3959/2011.
The interim report focused on the monopolistic market structure and the existence of a single press distribution agency and applied the theory of vertical common ownership to the shareholder structure of the agency. In particular, according to the interim report, the structure of the single press distribution agency with the participation of publishers-shareholders in its share capital may create incentives for potential coordination and possible unilateral behaviour benefiting the publishers-shareholders over rival shareholders.
The interim report is available here in greek.
The public consultation lasts from 24-3-2021 until 22-4-2021. Interested parties are invited to submit their comments (in editable format) to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. until 22-4-2012.
Please note that any submission beyond this deadline will not be accepted.
For more details on the market investigation in the press distribution sector according to article 11 Law 3959/2011 read here.