Goods and services (Directive 2004/113)

AuthorPanagiota Petroglou
Pages115-118
115
9Goods and services (Directive 2004/113)461
9.1General (legal) context
9.1.1Surveys and reports about the difficulties linked to equal access to and supply of
goods and services
In 2019, an article on the prohibition of discrimination in the provision of insurance and
credit products and services analysed the CJEU Test-Achats judgment and the relevant
provisions of Directive 2004/113. Although in this field an explicit prohibition of
discrimination is provided only on the grounds of sex and race, the author argues that
providers of such services are not free to take into account other characteristics that
interfere with the narrow core of the personality of the individual to a lesser (age) or a
greater grade (religion, sexual orientation) when fixing the price of relevant products and
services and that a complex balancing of the different interests should take place in each
particular case.462
9.1.2Specific problems of discrimination in the online environment/digital
market/collaborative economy
There are no signs of emerging problems of discrimination concerning access to and supply
of goods and services in the online environment/digital market/collaborative economy.
9.1.3Political and societal debate
There has been no political and/or societal debate on this topic.
9.2Prohibition of direct and indirect discrimination
Greek law prohibits direct and indirect discrimination on grounds of sex in access to goods
and services in Act 3769/2009.463
The new Criminal Code in Greece,464 which was introduced by Law 4619/2019465 and came
into force on 1 July 2019 by replacing the previous Code of the year 1950, abolished Article
361B that concerned punishment of provision of goods and services in cases where this
provision was based on grounds of discrimination. Article 361B had been introduced in the
previous Criminal Code by Article 29 of Act 4356/2015.466Specifically, Chapter 21 of the
current Greek Criminal Code abrogates Article 361B of the previous Code which stated
that whoever supplies goods or offers services or announces through a public call the
supply of goods or provision of services by excluding out of disdain individuals based on
characteristics of, inter alia, gender identity or gender characteristics, shall be punished
with imprisonment of a minimum of three months and a fine of at least EUR 1 500Σ.
However, it should be highlighted that this repeal does not affect the general interdiction
of discrimination regarding access to goods and services enshrined in Act 4443/2016. In
461 See e.g. Caracciolo di Torella, E. and McLellan, B. (2018) Gender equality and the collaborative economy
European network of legal experts in gender equality and non-discrimination, available at:
www.equalitylaw.eu/downloads/4573-gender-equality-and-the-collaborative-economy-pdf-721-kb.
462 Papikinou, A. (2019), ΡH 
Σ (The prohibition of discrimination in the provision of insurance and credit
products and services) in:  () (Centre for
International and European Economic Law) (ed.), iigkjjigggijk
hgji (Contractual freedom and the prohibition of discrimination), Sakkoulas, pp. 55-89.
463 Act 3769/2009, OJ A 105/1.7.2009.
464 EELN flash report (Greece) of 15 July 2019, ΡAbolition of punishment of activities of discriminatory provision
of goods and servicesΣ, available at: https://www.equalitylaw.eu/downloads/4940-greece-repeal-of-article-
361b-of-the-greek-criminal-code-pdf-79-kb.
465 Act 4619/2019, OJ A 95/11.6.2019.
466 Act 4536/2015, OJ A 181/24.12.2015.

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