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Winter sales in Greece will begin next Monday, 11 January and will continue until the end of February. In parallel, shops across Greece will be open on 17 January, as this is the first Sunday during the sales period.

Most of the shops have started to offer significant discounts in commodity prices since the beginning of this week. The National Confederation of Greek Commerce reminds traders that they are required to indicate both the previous and new prices of goods. In addition, they can indicate the percentage of discount for each item.

If over 60% of the goods in a shop are offered at a discount, the discount rate should be displayed in the shop window. If the discount rate is different for different types of goods, the description must include all of them, stating, "discount from ...% to ...%". In all other cases, it must be stated that the discount is for certain types of goods and its rate indicated.

The reduced price has to be calculated and presented in an accurate manner. In case of inspection, retailers must be able to prove that the previous label price was actually in force before the discounted one.

Offenders are subject to strict penalties. In particular, if the controlling bodies established a violation of the sales regulation, they would impose a fine of 0.5% of the annual turnover of the shop and the amount cannot be less than 5,000 euro. If a fine for the same violation is re-imposed within a period of five years, it increases to 3% of the annual turnover of the particular shop.

If the announced reductions are not accurate or mislead customers about the discount rate, prices indicated, the quantity of goods at a discount, and in each case of concealment of information or deception, the penalty is 1% of the annual turnover of the commercial site. The amount cannot be less than 10,000 euro and depends on the severity and frequency of the violation. In repeating the same violation, the fine for the retailer increases to 3% of annual turnover.