Review of decades-old laws to help firms
The checks that regional officials have to conduct on businesses’ paperwork before they can be uploaded on the General Electronic Commercial Registry (GEMI) are to be reduced to a minimum with the aim of reducing bureaucratic holdups.
The changes will brought in as part of a review and codification of the pieces of legislation (2190/1920 and 3190/1955) that relate to societes anonymes and limited liability companies. It is expected that this process will be completed by the end of 2017.
According to the current legislation, all corporate actions, such as the issuing of budgets, changes to the board and alterations to company charters have to be approved at a regional level before they can be published by GEMI.
The government has agreed to review the two laws in question – one of which has been in existence for 97 years, while the other was passed 62 years ago – as part of its bailout commitments. Both of these laws have been modified numerous times over the years, creating further confusion.
