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Published: 04 Nov 2008 05:18:33 PST

Greece

Business Environment

Business practices

For further information: Worldwide-tax
For further information: Kwintessential
For further information: E-diplomat
Closed hours and days: Banks are open Monday to Thursday from 8 am to 2.30 pm and on Friday from 8 am to 2 pm. Public administrations are open from Monday to Friday from 8 am to 1 pm.
Shops are open from Monday to Friday from 9 am to 2 pm and 5 pm to 9 pm, and on Saturday from 9 am to 3 pm. Supermarkets open from 8 am to 8 pm in the week, and from 8 am to 6 pm on Saturday.

Public holidays

New Year's Day	1 jan
Epiphany	6 jan
Orthodox Shrove Monday	10 mar
Independence Day	25 mar
Orthodox Good Friday	25 apr
Orthodox Easter Monday	28 apr
Labour Day	1 may
Orthodox Whit Monday	16 jun
Assumption	15 aug
Ochi Day	28 oct
Christmas Day	25 dec
Boxing Day	26 dec

Compensation day: If a free day is during the week end, Monday is not free to compensate.

Periods when companies usually close

Christmas holidays	2/3 days for Christmas
Summer holidays	2/3 weeks in August
Easter holydays	2/3 days for Easter

Standards

National standards organizations: ELOT
Integration in the international standards network: Greece is a member of ISO (International Organization for standardization).
Classification of standards: CE is the European certification mark. It is compulsory for a country to be able to sell on the market.
Online consultation of standards: Visit ELOT website.
Certification organizations: ELOT

Legal framework

Independence of justice: The Greek Constitution divides state authority into the three functions of executive, legislative, and judicial (Art. 26). It grants the Judiciary independence from the other functions and the power to control and even annul acts of the public administration and to examine the constitutionality of acts of Parliament and refuse to apply statutes if they are found to be unconstitutional. The Constitution also grants to all citizens the right to seek judicial protection whenever their rights are infringed (Art. 20).
Equal treatment of nationals and foreigners: Yes. But corruption continues to be a problem. Greece was ranked 56 out of 180 countries surveyed in Transparency International's 2007 Corruption Perceptions Index.
The language of justice: Greek.
Having recourse to an interpreter: Possible
Sources of the law and legal similarities: .The Greek legal system is a member of the family of European laws and is especially influenced by German and French law. For the most part, Greek law is codified and, unlike Anglo-American common law, only enacted laws either in the form of codes or other statutes are the sources of law in addition to custom and international law (Civil Code, Art. 1).
Consulting national laws online: Ministry of Justice

Intellectual Property

National organizations: The Hellenic Industrial Property Organisation (OBI).
Regional organizations: For the protection of patents: the European patent office.
To control trademarks, designs and models: the Office for Harmonization in the Internal Market.
International membership: Member of the WIPO
Signatory to the Paris Convention
Membership to TRIPS

National regulation and international agreements

Type of property	Law	Validity	International agreements signed
Patent	Patent Law : Law No 1733/1987 as amended by Article 18 of Law No 1739/1987, Law No 1883/1990 ratifying the Patent Cooperation Treaty.	20 years	Patent Cooperation Treaty Strasbourg agreement concerning the International Patent Classification
Trademark	Law on Trademarks, No 2239/94, Presidential Decree No 353/1998, supplementing Law on Trademarks No2239/94Ministerial Decision No. K4-307/2001, implementing regulations of the Madrid Protocol as ratified by Law No 2783/2000	20/25 years	Trademark law treaty Nice agreement concerning the International classification of goods and Services for the Purposes of the registration of Marks Protocol relating to the Madrid Agreement concerning the International Registration of Marks
Design	Law No.1733/1987 Presidential Decree No.259/1997,regulations on the ratification of the Hague Agreement under 1960 Act	5 years renewable
Copyright	Law on Copyright and Neighboring Rights No 2121/ 1993 as amended by Article 8 of Law No 2557/1997 for harmonization with the Council Directive 93/83	70 years after the death of the author	Berne convention for the protection of Literary and Artistic Works Convention for the Protection of Producers of Phonograms against unauthorized duplication of their phonograms Rome convention for the protection of performers, producers of phonograms and Broadcasting organizations WIPO copyright treaty WIPO performances and Phonograms treaty
Industrial Models

Tax rates

Consumption taxes

Nature of the tax: As of January 1st, 1987, value-added tax (hereinafter VAT) applies in Greece. The VAT system was introduced to bring Greek law in line with the Sixth EEC Directive.
Tax rate: 19%
Reduced tax rate: 9% and 4,5%. The reduced rate of 9% indicatively applies to food products, pharmaceuticals, medical equipment and ancillary goods, transportation of persons, etc. The low rate of 4,5% applies to books and printed material as well as entries to theatres etc.
Other consumption taxes: Real Estate transfer Tax, Real Estate Tax, Inheritance and gift tax.

Corporate taxes

Tax rate

The capital gains resulting from a disposal of specific securities such as bonds are treated as interest	:	10%
The gain arising from the transfer of fixed assets is taxable at the corporate income tax rate as part of the annual income tax liability.	:	25%
- The goodwill, if any, upon transfer of a going concern or an entire business; - Gains arising from the transfer of intangible assets, such as trademarks, patents, leasing rights and any other rights pertaining to the operation of an enterprise or profession; - Gains from the transfer of quotas in limited liability companies.	:	20%

Tax rate for foreign companies

Greek corporations are subject to income tax on their worldwide annual income. Foreign entities are taxable in Greece only on their Greek-source income. In addition, where such entities maintain a “permanent establishment” in Greece, they are taxed on income attributed there too. Generally, corporations’ gross income is reduced by their allowable expenses for the purpose of arriving at their net income. The tax rate applies on corporations’ net income.

Capital gains taxation

25%

Main allowable deductions and tax credit

There is no exhaustive listing of deductible business expenses in Greek tax law. In principle, all business expenses are deductible to the extent they fulfill the criteria set by the law.
For more information consutl Deloitte Tax Guide.

Other corporate taxes

Capital gains Taxation, Real Estate Transfer Tax, Real Estate transfert Duty, etc. For more information consutl Deloitte Tax Guide.

Individual taxes

Tax rate

0 - 11.100 EUR	:	0%
11.100 - 13.000 EUR	:	15%
13.001 - 23000 EUR	:	30%
23001 EUR	:	40%

Allowable deductions and tax credit

- 20% of the rental paid annually by the taxpayer in respect of his principal residence, up to 1100 EUR,
- 20% of the expense incurred for private lessons delivered to the taxpayer and/or his/her spouse and/or their children either at home or in private institutions, including foreign language courses up to 1100 EUR,
- 20% of the interest paid on mortgage-loans or loans guaranteed by means of a mortgage pre-note entered into by the taxpayer for the purpose of purchasing his/her first-ever private residence not exceeding 120 square meters,
- 20% of the total annual amount of medical and hospitalization expenses incurred by the taxpayer for the purpose of his/her own or his/her dependants’ treatment; the overall amount to be allowed cannot, however, exceed 6000 EUR.

Special expatriate tax regime

Individuals not resident in Greece are taxed only on their income derived from a source therein.Foreign tax residents who generate income in Greece are taxed on the basis of the abovementioned progressive tax scale; however, they receive no relief in the first bracket of income, which is taxed at 5%.

Double taxation treaties

Countries with whom a double taxation treaty have been signed: List of the double taxation treaty sugned by Greece
Whithholding taxes
Bilateral agreement

Sources of fiscal information

Tax Authorities: Ministry of Economy and Finance
Other domestic resources

Accounting rules

Tax year

The tax year begins on 1 January and finishes on 31 December of the same year.

Accounting standards

Community accounting legislation is mainly based on two Directives « Company Law »: the fourth directive (78/660/CEE) which obliges all limited liability companies to draw up annual accounts; its aim is not to achieve complete harmonization of accounting rules but rather to ensure better comparison of financial information; the seventh directive (83/149/CEE) which obliges parent companies to prepare consolidated accounts and a consolidated annual report which detail the financial situation of the group.

Accounting regulation bodies

International accounting standards

Accounting reports

Rules for evaluating the accounts which appear in the annual accounts are founded on principles such as the principle of caution, the principle of the invariability of methods of evaluation, etc.

The annual report must contain a faithful presentation of the evolution of business and the situation of the company. In addition, it must contain information about the important events which have occurred since the closing of the financial year, the foreseeable evolution of the company and the company’s research and development activities.

Publication

Every year companies are bound to publish a financial statement including a balance sheet, an annual report, a table of profit distribution and notes. It must be audited, sent to the register of public limited companies and published in the official government journal.

In addition, the European Directive of 19 July 2002 obliges all European companies listed on the Stock Exchange to draw up, starting with the 2005 financial year, their consolidated annual accounts on the basis of IAS standards. Concretely, the company councils of Belgian listed firms and consolidated Belgian subsidiaries of listed Belgian firms or listed firms under the jurisdiction of the law of another member State are thus, from the financial year starting on 1 January 2005 or after this date, i.e. from 2006, confronted systematically with consolidated accounts drawn up in compliance with IAS/IFRS standards and which are therefore different in their form and content from those which had been sent to them up to now.

Professional accountancy bodies