The Hellenic Competition Commission (HCC) will convene, in plenary, on 20 September 2021 to examine, upon the relevant Statement of Objections, alleged infringements of Articles 1 and 2 of Law 3959/2011 (“Greek Competition Act”) and Articles 101 and 102 TFEU by SARANTIS, a company active in the import, production and distribution with an extensive portfolio of products, which includes (amongst others) cosmetics, sanitary products, cleaning products and food packaging products.
The investigation focused on possible infringements which according to the complaints included:
- obligations to follow promotional activities,
- imposition of discounts,
- indirect fixing of prices and profit margins,
- obligation to purchase specific quantities and maintain a specific stock,
- obligation not to handle competing products,
- obligation to install specific software,
- obligation to resell within a specific territory, and
- exclusive supply obligations.
In particular, according to the Statement of Objections, in light of the evidence collected in the course of the dawn raid at SARANTIS premises as well as from other measures of inquiry, the complaints should be rejected as unfounded regarding possible infringements of Articles 1 and 2 Greek Competition Act and therefore there is no need for further action in the present case with respect to the aforementioned company under Articles 101 and 102 TFEU.
It is noted that the Statement of Objections is not binding on the HCC, which will decide on the case after it has taken into consideration all the evidence, as well as the arguments put forward by all implicated parties.