Code of Conduct for Electronic

Purpose and Scope of Application

1. The Code sets out the general principles and defines the minimum rules of professional ethics and ethical conduct to be observed towards consumers by businesses.

2. It applies to transactions in the context of contracts for the sale of goods or the provision of services concluded between consumers and suppliers for consideration entirely over the Internet, i.e. by electronic means at a distance without the simultaneous physical presence of both parties being necessary (B2C transactions).

3. The Code concerns self-regulatory rules for businesses engaged in electronic commerce aimed at consumers and is without prejudice to EU and Greek legislation on electronic commerce and consumer protection, which it does not in any way replace.

Definitions

1. For the purposes of the Code, the following terms shall have the meaning given to them below:



a) “business, operating in the field of “e-business”, (hereinafter referred to as “business”) means legal or natural persons established in Greece that provide products and/or services to consumers in Greece and/or abroad, operating legally directly and/or as intermediaries for the provision of services for a fee, directly or indirectly, by electronic means at a distance and at the personal choice of the consumer.

b) ‘By electronic means at a distance’ means services and products provided by businesses and accepted by consumers via electronic processing equipment which is provided, transmitted and received entirely via the Internet and/or mobile networks/text applications).

c) For the remaining terms, the definitions contained in Act No. 2251/1994, as in force, in P.D. 131/2003 and in the Consumer Code of Conduct of Article 7 of Law No. 3297/2004, as in force.

2. In case of doubt, the definitions of the legislation in force shall prevail.

General principles and obligations of online shops

Α. General principles

The Code shall be governed by the principles of consumer protection, transparency, impartiality, technological neutrality, professional ethics, ethical conduct and respect for privacy, protection of personal data and protection of vulnerable groups as set out in particular in Articles 4 and 5 herein.

Β. Minimum consumer information

1. The undertaking shall ensure that the consumer is informed in advance of the contract so that he can be fully, accurately and clearly informed of the following:

• i. Full company name, registered office, postal address, VAT number, contact telephone numbers/e-mail address.
• ii. Registration number in the General Register of Companies.
• iii. Main characteristics of the products it sells and quality of the services provided (e.g. total price including VAT or other taxes, shipping costs, or any return costs of the product any extra charges, terms and methods of payment, guarantees, size-dimensions of the product), as well as on the means of payment.
• iv. Availability of the services and products and the time limit within which the supplier undertakes to deliver the goods or provide the services.
• ν. Characteristics of charges, possible discount packages or special offers.
• vi. Terms of withdrawal from the contract as well as termination or cancellation of the contract, as more particularly referred to in Article 6 hereof.
• vii. the possibility of out-of-court dispute resolution and information on the recognized alternative dispute resolution bodies for consumer disputes which suppliers are committed or obliged to use for the resolution of disputes. In the absence of such a commitment or obligation, suppliers shall in any event also specify whether they will make use of the relevant bodies.
• viii. the possibility for electronic alternative dispute resolution as more specifically referred to in Article 8 herein.
• ix. The terms of after-sales service, any commercial guarantees (content, duration and extent of territorial validity), and the seller’s liability for actual defects and lack of agreed properties, in accordance with Articles 534 et seq. A.K.
• x. The possible need for frequent maintenance of the products or the existence of spare parts of particularly high cost in relation to the current price of these products.
• xi. The purpose of the processing, the recipients or categories of recipients of the data and the existence of the right of access and objection, as referred to in Article 5B/par. 5 hereof.
• xii. The codes of conduct or any Trustmark that bind them.
• xiii. The above information to the consumer must be comprehensible, legal, true, up-to-date, easily accessible to all, including persons with disabilities, and verifiable, and must be provided in Greek and optionally in another language.

2. The terms and conditions of the contract for the provision of services and/or sale of products must be posted on the website of the business at a place easily accessible to the consumer.

3. In cases where the consumer submits an order request, the business is obliged to deliver/send immediately a receipt of the order request which clearly indicates the date of receipt and confirmation of the order.

4. Under the responsibility of the business, it shall be made clear to the consumer the time at which the contract is deemed to have been concluded, as defined in the applicable legislation The basic contractual terms should be made available to consumers in advance and in such a way that the order cannot be registered unless the user is aware of them beforehand. Once the contract has been concluded, the undertaking should refrain from any action entailing a modification of its terms, in particular by changing the price or by informing the consumer of the unavailability of the product or service ordered.

5. The consumer is adequately informed of the progress of his order.

6. The business, in the event that it finds that the consumer was not properly informed or that the conclusion of the contract was not made with the consumer’s express consent, shall make every effort to resolve the matter within a reasonable time.

7. The staff of e-commerce businesses who contact consumers for the provision of services and/or the sale of products must be fully informed about the above and answer consumers’ reasonable questions clearly and accurately.

Γ. Advertising – Promotion

1. Advertising and promotion must be in compliance with the applicable legislation.

2. In any case, the following should apply:

• i. Advertising messages and all information provided by undertakings must be characterized (where appropriate and as far as possible by virtue of the medium used) by clarity as to the identity of the undertaking, the qualities and the final price of the product advertised or, where this is not possible, the method of calculating it, in language which is simple and comprehensible to the consumer, so that the latter is able to evaluate the information provided and to make what he considers to be the correct decision
• ii. advertisements or other promotions shall refrain from misleading or aggressive practices before, during and after a commercial transaction relating to a particular product or service which directly or indirectly is likely to mislead the consumer about the product or service being promoted.
• iii. The personnel of the business who communicate directly with the consumer do not mislead or seek to mislead in any way by any act or omission to mislead consumers by giving a false impression of the service and/or product provided.
• iv. The business does not provide incomplete or inaccurate information about the possibility of providing the service or selling the product to the consumer.
• v. Any advertising and promotional activity specifically directed to an audience of minors shall not incite them, directly or indirectly, to acts of violence, the use of alcohol, tobacco products, toxic substances or any form of behavior dangerous to their safety and health.
• vi. Businesses shall comply with the age restrictions laid down in the legislation in force with regard to the promotion and sale of certain categories of products.
• vii. All advertising and promotional activities aimed at persons with disabilities shall ensure that they are accessible to them.

Protection of minors and other vulnerable groups of the population

1. The staff of the enterprise shall not take advantage of the vulnerability of consumers belonging to vulnerable groups, such as elderly persons, minors, persons who do not understand Greek well, or persons with disabilities. Businesses shall provide careful, accurate and objective descriptions of products and services specifically targeted at such persons in a way that is understandable, comprehensible and fully accessible to them, so as not to mislead them as to the true size, value, nature, purpose, durability, performance and price of the advertised product or service.

2. In particular for underage consumers, businesses shall ensure – as far as possible – that appropriate conditions of access to their websites are established in accordance with the provisions of the laws in force in each case.

Security of transactions and protection of personal data

Α. Security of transactions

1. Undertakings shall ensure the security of transactions carried out using Information and Communication Technologies (ICT).

2. In this context and in accordance with the provisions of the legislation in force, businesses shall make every effort to use, themselves or their partners, appropriate tools and measures depending on the category and type of their business activity and the type of data (personal or not) they collect and process, and shall apply all appropriate measures to ensure the legally required security of electronic transactions (in proportion to the different stages of their completion) and data (personal or not) that they collect and process.

3. Undertakings shall use appropriate technical and organizational measures to ensure the confidentiality of the data they collect and process to the extent legally required and proportionate to the nature of the products and services they provide.

Β. Protection of personal data

1. Businesses shall have and apply an understandable, truthful, lawful, easily accessible and up-to-date Privacy Policy and inform consumers as required by the relevant legislation and the instructions of the Data Protection Authority regarding this Privacy Policy.

2. The collection, storage or processing of data that the law classifies as sensitive, i.e. data concerning racial or ethnic origin, political opinions, religious or philosophical beliefs, membership of an association, union or trade union, health, social welfare and data concerning criminal prosecutions or convictions is not permitted unless the terms and conditions set by the law and the Personal Data Protection Authority are met.

3. The collection, processing, maintenance and use of other personal data is only carried out when permitted by the applicable legal framework and always in accordance with the conditions provided for by it.

4. In particular, with regard to the use of “cookies of any kind”, their installation should be carried out after proper information of the consumer and on the basis of his/her consent, in accordance with the law and the relevant instructions of the Personal Data Protection Authority.

5. In case of non-consent/acceptance of “cookies”, the companies shall allow, if technologically feasible, the continuation of the use of the website by the consumer, without sending the cookies.

6. Businesses shall ensure that the personal data collected are not disclosed or transmitted to third parties without the prior information or consent of the person concerned, and/or in the cases provided for by law, always in accordance with the provisions of personal data protection legislation.

7. Businesses shall respect the wish of consumers not to be included in records intended for unsolicited commercial communications with human intervention (call) for the purpose of promoting and supplying products or services, provided that they have declared this to the provider of publicly available.

8. Businesses shall provide consumers with the possibility to choose whether they wish to receive promotional messages and any kind of newsletters and, if they accept, to have the possibility to freely withdraw their consent and businesses shall have the obligation not to re-send new promotional messages and any kind of newsletters from now on (unless there is renewed consent or the statutory provisions are again fulfilled).

9. The consumer has the right to have direct access to information on the issues of his/her personal data, to object to their use in future promotional activities, to request and confirm their partial or total deletion from the company’s records, to request their correction or completion, to be informed of the time and manner of the original acquisition of his/her personal data by the company and to be informed of the methods applied for the protection of personal data.

Right of withdrawal for consumers

1. The consumer has an inalienable right of unjustified and unjustified withdrawal in accordance with the provisions of the applicable legislation.

2. Before the consumer is contractually bound, the supplier must inform the consumer, in a clear, distinct and comprehensible manner, in the consumer’s own language, of his right to exercise his right of unjustified and unjustified withdrawal within the legally prescribed period of fourteen (14) days, starting from the point in time determined by law, as well as the terms, conditions, exceptions and procedure for exercising the right of withdrawal, and the consequences of exercising it, taking into account the specificity of each product/service and providing him with a model withdrawal form.

Consumer service

1. The enterprise shall ensure that it has appropriate mechanisms (by telephone and/or e-mail) and sufficient staff dedicated to consumer service, making reasonable efforts to inform consumers of their requests within the legal time limits on a case-by-case basis.

2. Where the communication is made through a call centre, the undertaking shall ensure that the consumer is not kept on an excessive waiting list and in any case the call charge shall not exceed the charges applicable to local calls.
Where the communication is made by means of an online contact form or an e-mail address of the undertaking, care shall be taken to ensure that a response is sent within a reasonable time after receipt of the customer’s request.

Electronic Alternative Dispute Resolution for consumer disputes

1. Businesses shall inform consumers about the possibility of alternative resolution of consumer disputes arising from contracts for the electronic sale of goods or provision of services by using the ADR entities registered in the Registry in accordance with Joint Ministerial Decision 70330/2015.

2. Businesses, whether they are committed to using ADR or not, shall provide in an easily accessible manner, through their websites, an electronic link to the pan-European platform for the electronic resolution of consumer disputes (EDR platform), in application of the provisions of Regulation (EU) 524/2013) through which consumers submit their complaint, subsequently forwarding it to the relevant ADR entity.”