Competition & Consumer
SEV consistently highlights the importance of an open and well-functioning competitive environment, as stronger fair competition facilitates growth, encourages innovation, increases productivity, creates jobs, and generates multiple benefits for consumers, businesses, and the State. We promote compliance and self-regulation, while supporting the independence of competition authorities and sectoral regulatory bodies, as well as the need to limit excessive state intervention in market regulation.
- Well-functioning market with clear rules for consumer protection: The objective is to foster trust between consumers, businesses and the state, through clear regulations governing the way businesses communicate with consumers that promote transparency, strengthen consumer safety and facilitate the fair and competitive functioning of the market.
- Effective market surveillance: Conducting more frequent and efficient inspections, so as to protect compliant businesses from unfair competition practices on the one hand, and to ensure the protection of health, safety, consumers and the environment from the placing on the market of non-compliant products and services on the other.
- Modern quality and accreditation infrastructure: The objective is to ensure the smooth functioning of the competent public bodies for quality infrastructure and the country’s accreditation system (ESYP, ELOT and ESYD), so as to support the needs of businesses in quality-related matters, as well as to promote the value of certification as a tool for enhancing competitiveness and market confidence.
- Abolition of restrictive measures that hinder the development of the free market under conditions of fair competition, by increasing compliance costs and limiting business flexibility, without delivering meaningful benefits to consumers.
- Revision of the rules governing the distribution of products and provision of services, with a view to modernising and simplifying requirements in alignment with contemporary business practices and consumer trends.
- Alignment of the national framework with European developments in consumer protection, with a view to ensuring legal certainty, avoiding unnecessary bureaucratic obstacles, achieving transparent and reliable consumer information and transitioning to a model of sustainable consumption, circular economy and waste reduction.
- Strengthening inspections of industrial products: Establishment of a new body for market surveillance in the field of “Product Safety and Compliance”, as well as the creation of an Inspectors Registry to reinforce specific inspections, with the participation of natural and/or legal persons meeting clear and stringent criteria of technical competence, objectivity and impartiality.
- Reform of the European framework for product safety and compliance and market surveillance: We actively participate in European processes concerning the revision and modernisation of the regulatory framework for product safety and compliance and market surveillance, including key regulations and initiatives such as Regulation (EU) 1020/2019, the New Legislative Framework, the European Product Act initiative and the General Product Safety Regulation (GPSR).
- Upgrading quality infrastructure and the accreditation system: We advance specific and substantiated proposals for upgrading the country’s quality infrastructure and accreditation system. At the same time, we work systematically to promote the value of certification and, among other initiatives, organise — in collaboration with the Hellenic Association of Accredited Inspection and Certification Bodies (HellasCert) — thematic workshops entitled “Product Safety at the Forefront” (SEV4ProductSafety).
Market Operation & Consumer Committee: The Committee serves as the technical advisory body of the SEV Board in the formulation, substantiation and consultation of policy positions and proposals with public administration or other competent authorities, on matters relating to Consumer Protection, Competition, Market Surveillance, Quality Policy and Public Procurement.
