On February 28 2023, national Gazette No 1136 B was published, approving Decision No 95/2021 of the Supreme Chemical Council, which designated as a new national tracer for the labeling of heating oil, the substance 1, 3, 5 triisopropyl-benzene with CAS No 717-74-8 with the trade name Tracerco FT 39. The above Official Gazette in its provisions, while it mentioned the national tracer by its commercial name, i.e. by the name of the product marketed only by a specific supplier company, does not mention in its provisions the obligations of the dominant supplier company towards the other suppliers of the above substance 1,3,5 triisopropyl-benzene with CAS No 717-74-8, so as not to violate Article 102 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union, but also the rules of free competition and the rules on unfair competition. In fact, it is not mentioned in its provisions whether the dominant supplier company is covered by a patent in Greece or not.
The same happened on March 8, 2023, when Official Gazette No 1339 B was published, approving Decision 94/2021 of the Supreme Chemical Council, which designated as a new national trace for the labeling of marine fuel oil and marine diesel the substance 1,3,5 tris(1,1-dimethylethyl)-benzene with CAS No 1460-02-2 with trade name Tracerco FT36. The above Official Gazette in its provisions, while it mentioned the national tracer by its commercial name, i.e. by the name of the product marketed only by a specific supplier company, does not mention on the other hand in its provisions the obligations of the supplier company as a dominant vis-a-vis the other suppliers of the above substance 1,3,5-tris(1,1-dimethylethyl)-benzene with CAS No 1460-02-2, so as not to violate Article 102 of the Treate on the Functioning of the European Union, but also to not violate the rules of free competition and the rules on unfair competition. In fact it is not mentioned in its provisions whether the dominant supplier company is covered by a patent in Greece.
Earlier the above the EU with executive decision no 197 of the Commission on 17-1-2022, defined a common indicator for the tax marking of diesel oil and lighting oil in the countries of the Union, the product ACCUTRACE PLUS, which contains butoxybenzene. In the above decision it is explicitly stated that the availability of ACCUTRACE PLUS is covered by a patent within the Union but the dominant supplier company is obliged to enter into licensing agreements and in any case is obliged to comply with Article 102 of the Treaty of the Functioning of the European Union which expressly stated that : Article 102 Any abuse by one or more undertakings of a dominant position within the internal market or in a substantial part of it shall be prohibited as incompatible with the internal market in so far as it may affect trade between member States. Such abuse may, in particular, consist in a) directly or indirectly imposing unfair purchase or selling prices or other unfair trading conditions; b) limiting production, markets or technical development to the prejudice of consumers; c) applying dissimilar conditions to equivalent transactions with other trading parties, thereby placing them at a competitive disadvantage; d) making the conclusion of contracts subject to acceptance by the other parties of supplementary obligations which, by their nature or according to commercial usage, have no connection with the subject of such contracts.
Following all the above and in relation to the consultation of the specific text with notification no 2023/94/GR we have the following observations:
1) According to the above article 102 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union it has to be made a relevant amendment to page 2 in order the trade name Tracerco FT36 to be removed otherwise a relevant circular should be issued by the relevant ministries regarding the obligations of the dominant supplier company to grant exploitation licenses to the other suppliers of the substance 1,3,5-tris(1,1-dimethylethyl)-benzene with CAS No 1460-02-2, in order the rules of the the law of free competition, unfair competition and the above article 102 of the European Union not to be violated.
2) Article 7 should be completely changed because it violates the rules of Article 102 of the Treaty on the functioning of the European Union.
3) Article 5 does not mention anywhere a machine certified for on-site inspection, while this machine was a necessary condition and indeed in the minimum requirements for the participants in the tender of the year 2019.
