11. 6. 85 Official Journal of the European Communities No L 152/25 COMMISSION DECISION of 24 April 1985 concerning the insurance in Greece of public property and loans granted by Greek State-owned banks (Only the Greek text is authentic) (85/276/EEC) THE COMMISSION OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES, Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European Economic Community, and in particular Article 90 (1) and (3) thereof, Whereas : By Article 13 of Law No 1256/1982 of 28/31 May 1982 ('), Greece amended Law No 400/1970 of 13/17 January 1970 (3, and in particular Articles 31 (1) and 54 (1) thereof. Article 13 (2) of Law No 1256/1982 provides that all public property, including the assets of Greek public undertakings, must be insured exclusively with public-sector insurance companies. Paragraph 4 of the same Article requires the staff of State-owned banks to recommend in writing to their customers that they take out insurance with an insurance company owned and controlled by the public banking sector. Neither circular K 3-3494 from the Greek Ministry of Trade to the State-owned banks stressing the non-bin- ding nature of the recommendation nor the procedure introduced by circular B/147 from the National Bank of Greece simplifying the procedure to be follwed should the borrower wish to take out insurance with an insurance company other than that controlled by the said Bank is likely to modify substantively the laws in force laying down the obligation in question. Upon conclusion of the insurance contract through the agency of the State-owned bank, the public-sector insurance company is, pursuant to Article 13 (4) of Law No 1256/1982, required to deposit the commis- sion for the service rendered in a special account ‘opened by the State-owned bank for the benefit inter alia of its employees’ insurance fund. This constitutes a further incentive to the staff of State-owned banks to (1) Official Journal of 'the Hellenic Republic A’6S. (9 Official Journal of the Hellenic Republic A’10. ensure that the obligation to recommend a public- sector insurance company is fulfilled. The Greek Association of Insurance Companies has drawn attention to the distortions of competition resulting from the two amendments introduced now by Law No 1258/1982 for private-sector insurers, and in particular for the agencies, branches and subsidia- ries of undertakings from other Member States. This point of view has also been expressed by the Govern- ments of two Member States. By reserving access to the public property insurance market to Greek public-sector insurance companies alone, Greece has introduced new restrictions on esta- blishment in its territory, as this measure makes it impossible for insurance companies from other Member States to set up in business in Greece as ~ public property insurers while Greek public-sector insurers can continue to insure such risks and at the same time' acquire new business previously written by private companies. The Greek public property insu- rance market accounts for approximately 25 % of annual premium income in Greece, which is a large proportion of the total. The loans made by Greek State-owned credit banks account for same 80 % of the credit market in Greece. By requiring the staff of State-owned credit banks to recommend their customers to take out insurance with a public-sector insurance company, Greece favours the latter to the detriment of non-public-sector insurance companies and hence also of insurance companies from the other Member States. As a result of this reservation of access to the market for the insurance of certain risks to the public sector, not only do distortions of competition at the expense of, among others, insurance companies from other Member States arise in the market in question, but there is also a risk that they will arise in all insurance activities.