The new draft bill introduced by the Ministry of Economy and Finance under the title "Organisational and Procedural Provisions for Development, interventions to strengthen fair development transition and other urgent provisions", which has been under public consultation from 1.12.2023 and will continue until 8.12.2023, provides for the extension of the validity of the measures regarding the "household basket" and "combating of unfair profiteering phenomena".
Household basket
A six-month extension of the “household basket” initiative is foreseen, which will be in force until 30 June 2024. This measure, which normally expires on 31 December, had already been extended last summer and provides for the obligation of super markets with an annual turnover of more than EUR 90,000,000 per year to provide the Ministry of Development with a list of consumer products ("household basket") that are essential for decent living and, in particular, at least one product from specific product categories, with a view to stably offering the respective products at a low price.
Combating of unfair profiteering phenomena
The same draft bill provides for the extension for another semester, i.e. until June of 2024, of the validity term of par. 1 of article 54 of Law 5045/2023 regarding the combating of unfair profiteering phenomena.
Specifically, according to the draft bill, until 30 June 2024, the making of gross profit from the sale of any product or the provision of any service essential for the health, nutrition, living, transport, heating, production of hot water and 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 oil is prohibited, when the gross profit margin per unit exceeds the corresponding gross profit margin that the seller had before 31 December 2021.
Permanent price reduction by -5% initiative
Finally, the Ministry's "Permanent Price Reduction" initiative provided for in Article 16 of Law 5055/2023 regarding the commitment of suppliers to sell products to consumers at a price permanently reduced by-5% remains valid for the next 6 months and more specifically until 31.05.2024.