Article 4 Operational independence

1. Members of the Authority shall only be bounded by the law and their conscience during the exercise of their duties. The President and the ordinary members of the Authority shall be employed on a full-time and exclusive basis, therefore they are under suspension of engaging in any paid or pro bono public office or legal office or any other professional activity, with the exception of teaching duties as a faculty member of a higher education establishment, in the case of the President. Full-time members that hold any paid public office, are relieved, during their term, of the obligation to exercise their office’s duties.
The deputy members of the Authority shall not be engaged in any paid or pro bono public office or any other professional activity which is incompatible with their status as members of the Authority. In particular, they shall not provide services on a freelance basis to contracting authorities or to natural or legal persons participating in tenders or are awarded public contracts. It is not incompatible for the deputy members of the Authority to teach as full or part-time faculty members of a higher education establishment and to serve as members of the Legal Council of State. Ordinary and deputy members of the Authority, for a period of three years following the termination of their term, shall not provide services on a retainer or under any other legal relation to companies or undertakings on matters which they personally handled or on which they helped to reach a decision during their term of office.

2. Article 3 par. 5, fourth sentence and par. 8 of Law 3051/2002 shall also apply to the members of the Authority, subject to the provisions of Article 2 of Law 3833/2010 and the third article of Law 3845/2010.

3. The Authority’s budget shall be appended to the General State Budget. The issues of financial management shall be regulated by a special financial management regulation drafted by the Authority and approved by presidential decree issued at the proposal of the Minister for Finance. Until said presidential decree is issued, the Authority’s personnel payroll and the operating costs shall be covered by the funds of the Ministry of Development, Competitiveness, Infrastructure, Transport and Networks. Following its issue and until the end of year 2013, the Authority will be supported by the economic and administrative services of the General Secretariat of Commerce of the Ministry of Development, Competitiveness, Infrastructure, Transport and Networks.
During the fiscal years 2013 and 2014, in order to meet its requirement, the Authority may be subsidized by the funds of the Ministry of Development, Competitiveness, Infrastructure, Transport and Networks. In order to participate in the Public Investment Programme or European or co-financed programmes, such as the National Strategic Reference Framework (NSRF) 2007-2013, the Authority may be funded under a collective project decision by the Ministry of Development, Competitiveness, Infrastructure, Transport and Networks.

In order to meet the Authority’s operational needs, contracts over 1.000 euros (VTA excluded) subject to this law, notwithstanding of their source of funding, which are concluded after the entry into force of the present law, shall be subject to duty of 0.07%, estimated on the value of each payment, net of VAT or other duties, of the initial or any additional or amended contract. The said duties shall fully cover the Authority’s operational needs. The duty shall be withheld by the contracting authority in the name and on behalf of the Authority and deposited in a special bank account held by the Authority in accordance with the provisions of the special financial management regulation. Matters pertaining to the time, manner and procedure for withholding the above duty as well as any other necessary detail for the application of the duty may be regulated by decision of the Minister for Finance, at the Authority’s proposal. Revenue gained as such during the year 2011 may be transferred and regarded as revenue of the year 2012 by joint decision of the Minister for Development, Competitiveness, Infrastructure, Transport and Networks and the Minister for Finance.

If the Authority’s financial management leads to a positive net operating result at the end of each fiscal year, a percentage of this outturn, up to 80 %, shall be allocated to the General State Budget, by joint decision of the Minister for Development, Competitiveness, Infrastructure, Transport and Networks and the Minister for Finance. The above provision will be in force from the fiscal year of 2015 onwards.

4. The structure and remit of the Authority’s services and any other matters pertaining to its organization shall be stipulated and new staff positions may be established by presidential decree issued at the proposal of the Minister for Finance, the Minister for Development, Competitiveness and Shipping and the Minister for Administrative Reform and e-Governance, following an opinion from the Authority.

5. The Authority appears on its own in in all legal proceedings pertaining to its acts or omissions. The Ministers referred to in Article 3 par.1 may appeal against enforcement acts issued by the Authority.

6. The President, the ordinary members and the deputy members of the Authority shall submit per year the statement of financial situation of Law 3213/2003 (A’ 309).