The inclusion 9 basic school supplies, as well as water heaters and other hot water production products, in products for which a ceiling is imposed on the gross profit margin, provides for a Decision signed today Thursday by the Minister of Development, Kostas Skrekas.

There are a total of 10 categories of products that fall within the scope of Article 54 of Law 5045/2023 and are detailed as follows:

  • School bags,
  • Caskets
  • Notebooks,
  • Wooden or mechanical pencils,
  • Coloured markers,
  • Pen,
  • erasers,
  • scrapers,
  • Diabets/Rulers
  • Domestic hot water production products (water heaters, boilers and the like).

For the products in question, Law 5045/2023 provides that “from the entry into force of this and until December 31, 2023, gross profit is prohibited from the sale of any product or the provision of any service necessary for the health, nutrition, living, movement, heating, production of hot water for use and the safety of the consumer, as well as from the sale of school supplies and agricultural products and food, in particular raw materials for the production of fertilizers, animal feed, raw cereals of all kinds, flour, sunflower vegetable oils, when the gross profit margin per unit exceeds the corresponding gross profit margin per unit before December 31, 2021″.

The 9 school supplies will also form the basis for the “School Supplies Basket”, which will come into force in August, with a Ministerial Decision, which will also include improving changes to the “Household Basket”.

The Minister of Development, Mr. Kostas Skrekas stated:

“With today’s decision we are actually supporting the Greek family. We impose a ceiling on the profit margin both on the most basic school items, in view of the new school year, as well as on water heaters, boilers and hot water production products in general, before the implementation of the “Change Water Heater” program begins.

Our goal is for school items to be affordable and even lower than last year’s corresponding period. In this direction, in addition to the ceiling on the profit margin, we are creating for the first time the “Basket of School Supplies”, an initiative in which both supermarket chains and large chains that sell a significant volume of school supplies have committed to participate , while of course other shops active in the sector in question can also participate.

With regard to the “Change Water Heater” program, our goal is for thousands of households to benefit from the significant subsidy in its entirety and to replace one of the most energy-consuming devices, achieving a significant reduction in the electricity bill.

We are fully aware of the difficulties faced by especially the most vulnerable families, which is why we use every available means to support them as long as necessary.”