The control procedure for reduction of unfair profitability in an endemic period, or another crisiswith new decision issued by the Minister of Development and Investment Adonis Georgiadeswhile at the same time, the fines that will be imposed on the violators of the relevant provisions are determined.
In detail, in an article on its website Athens Chamber of Commerce The legal advisor of the chamber, Stathis Stamatelopoulos, states the following:
“… According to the ministerial decision no. for the sale of hygiene-related goods to reduce it pandemic of coronavirusbut also sales companies fuel.
According to the explanatory memorandum of the decision, the purpose of this decision is the need to protect the consumer public from the occurrence of cases unfair profitabilitydue to the combination of the geopolitical crisis caused by the military invasion of the Russian Federation in Ukraine and the health crisis of the COVID-19 pandemic.
As provided by article 58 of L.4818 / 2021, by whose authorization the above ministerial decision was issued, if there is an immediate risk of spreading the coronavirus COVID-19, the conclusion, or the receipt of property benefits, related to the sale is prohibited. any product, or service, necessary for the health, nutrition, living, mobility and safety of the consumer, in particular medicinal products, antiviral tests, or any other equivalent measure, personal protective equipment and personal hygiene, such as surgery masks, antiseptics and other disinfectants, if these benefits exceed the value of the service, or product, so that the gross profit margin is greater than the corresponding margin before 1 September 2020 for the above products and services, while at the same time, as a competent authority, for the receipt of complaints and the detection of the relevant infringements, the General Secretariat for Trade and Consumer Protection of the Ministry of Development and Investment.
According to article 1 of the above ministerial decision, for the determination of violations of par. 1 of article 58 of L.4818 / 2021 (Government Gazette A ‘124) an administrative or on-site inspection may be carried out, ex officio, or upon termination, by the bodies of the competent authorities, ie the General Secretariat of Commerce of the Ministry of Development and Investment, the Inter-Service Market Control Unit (DIMEA), and the competent control services of the Regions.
Article 2 of the decision stipulates that the competent authorities may exercise the powers of par. 3 of article 58 of L.4818 / 2021, by issuing an order for the provision of information and data to the auditee. In case, at the discretion of the auditing bodies, there is a need for an on-site presence of auditors at the auditee, then the competent services shall set up audit ladders, consisting of at least two (2) bodies, which shall bear the form entitled “CONTROL ORDER”, confirming their competence to carry out the audit.
The audited entities should be able to prove that the way of their invoicing is compatible with the provisions of article 58 of L.4818 / 2021. For this reason, they are obliged to supply, or inform the competent authorities, at least, with the following information:
– the quantity of stocks (sold or not) of the product under control during the Reference Period and the Control Period.
– the value of the above stocks of the Product in both Periods.
– the total sales in quantity and value of the Product in both Periods.
– all the documentary evidence of the correctness of the above figures.
The supervisory authorities may request, in addition to the above, any necessary information at their discretion, as well as facilitate the auditee by providing model tables. The purpose is to determine the Gross Margin, both during the Reporting Period and during the Audit Period. If the Gross Profit Margin of the Audit Period is greater than that of the Reference Period, then there is a violation of article 58 of L.4818 / 2021 and the administrative sanctions are imposed, which are provided in the same ministerial decision.
After the processing of the collected data, an AUDIT REPORT is prepared with the final findings of the auditing bodies and is submitted to the respective competent control authority. In case, according to the conclusion of the Audit Report, a violation of article 58 of L.4818 / 2021 occurs, then a copy of the Report is notified immediately to the auditee by any appropriate means. The auditee may submit his views within five (5) days from the notification to him of the copy of the previous paragraph, in order to exercise the right of prior hearing of par. 2 of article 6 of L.2690 / 1999 (Government Gazette A ’45), on the Code of Administrative Procedure.
The set of data and its conclusions Audit Report and the views of the auditee shall be made available to the competent body for the imposition of the sanction, in the form of an introductory note. The competent body with its decision imposes the administrative sanctions, provided by the ministerial decision.
Anyone who obstructs, or obstructs the control in any way, the administrative sanctions of par. 5 of article 58 of L.4818 / 2021 are imposed, without affecting the imposition of criminal sanctions.
In the Article 3 The decision stipulates that if the audit is carried out by bodies of the General Secretariat of Commerce, or by bodies of the Inter-Service Market Control Unit (DIMEA), the competent body for the imposition of the present fines is the Minister of Development and Investments, while if the audit is carried out by bodies of the control services of the Region, the body responsible for the imposition of the fines hereof is the relevant Regional Governor.
In the Article 4 The ministerial decision provides for the escalation of the imposed administrative fines and in particular it is stipulated that, whoever violates par. Articles 5 and 6 of the Decision. The fine in question may not be less than five thousand (5,000) euros and more than one million (1,000,000) euros. If the violation of par. 1 of article 58 of L.4818 / 2021 concerns very small quantities of products, or quantities of particularly low value, available for sale, or if the deviation from the maximum permissible percentage of gross profit margin does not exceed one percentage and if this is the first time an infringement has been confirmed in the auditee, the competent auditing authority may make a recommendation to the auditee, with a view to .
In the Article 5 The decision provides the rates on the basis of which the maximum allowable profit margin for companies is defined, so that there is no unfair profitability, and the relevant rates are listed.
Also at Article 6 The decision provides, on the basis of specific rates, for the fixing of the maximum permitted selling price of certain fuels, in particular for the handling and sale of 95-octane unleaded petrol, diesel and heating oil, at all stages of distribution, final consumer and the selling price (TP) of the above products is set in such a way that its difference from the refinery price (TD) of the previous day is not greater than the corresponding difference, which was valid on 31/8/2021 and especially for heating oil from the corresponding difference that was valid on 30/4/2021, which are also the Reference Dates.
Finally, at Article 7 The ministerial decision stipulates that, against the decision to impose a fine, an appeal can be lodged before the administrative courts, within the deadline of par. days, while article 8 of the decision stipulates that the imposed sanctions are collected in accordance with the Public Revenue Collection Code (KEDE) and are attributed to the state budget “.
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