As energy costs are rising to unprecedented levels dragging up prices of all products due to the war in Ukraine, the Greek parliament passed an amendment in an effort to prevent shortages in basic products in the supply food chain.

Some supermarkets have begun to impose restrictions on a range of products affected due to the war in Ukraine , such as sunflower oil. This led to the Greek government voting in the amendment to the bill of the Ministry of Finance on support measures, which requires close monitoring of stocks in seven main product categories.

Specifically, the companies at all stages of the supply chain must submit within two days from the publication in the Official Gazette the stocks they have in:

• raw materials for the production of fertilizers
• fertilizers,
• animal food,
• raw cereals of all kinds, in particular wheat or semolina, barley, oats, maize, edible buckwheat,

• sunflower and
• vegetable oils other than olive oil and in particular sunflower oil, palm oil, and corn oil.

Businesses are mandated to provide the following information:

• the quantity of stocks, in kilograms or liters and pieces where appropriate
• the country of origin of the products
• the location of the stocks and in particular the address and TC
• the contact details of the law non-submission or submission of an inaccurate declaration, incur penalties, such as the seizure of the reported items to the extent that they have not been declared or have been declared incorrectly and an administrative fine of 1,000 to 100,000 euros depending on the gravity of the violation.

These obligations are valid for a period of 3 months, while by decision of the Minister of Rural Development and Food the period is extended up to three more months.

A similar measure was used by the government in the outbreak of the pandemic when there was a shortage of protective equipment and medical supplies.

According to government sources, the measure, in addition to providing information centrally to the country’s reserves, is also a key to preventing speculation and profiteering.