European CommissionThe Second Economic Adjustm<strong>en</strong>t Programme for Greece. Fourth ReviewGraph 14.4: Changes in producer price index of selected business services(change from 2008 to Q3-2013)CargohandlingArchitectureand <strong>en</strong>gineeringAccountingand auditingFreighttransportWarehousingand storageSource: Eurostat-10 -5 0 5Chart 25 Graph 14.4. Changes in producer price index of selected business services (change from 2008 to Q3-2013)Finally, the Ministry of Finance has compiled a list of monitoring indicators for the liberalisation of some 20 professions,including changes in the number of professionals since 2011 (see table below). The number increased for most professions,such as accountants, tax consultants or travel ag<strong>en</strong>ts, in spite of the economic crisis, indicating that reforms helped to op<strong>en</strong>access for new professionals.Greece has advanced in the liberalisation of profession in rec<strong>en</strong>t years, as confirmed by the improvem<strong>en</strong>t of professionalservices indicators and the increase in the number of professionals for some key professions. However, the liberalisation wasunev<strong>en</strong> across professions. Further progress will dep<strong>en</strong>d on tackling remaining rigidities, <strong>en</strong>suring a swift implem<strong>en</strong>tation oflegislation and monitoring the effectiv<strong>en</strong>ess of reforms to id<strong>en</strong>tify needs for further adjustm<strong>en</strong>ts.Table: Number of ProfessionalsProfessions2011 2012 2013Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4Auditors 983 1,049 1,050 1,050 1,050 1,012 1,037 1,037 1,037Audit firms 2839 42Accountants and tax consultants 66,072 68,21268,849 69,507 70,293Energy inspectors of buildings 5,453 5,466 7,763 8,250 8,412 8,479 8,505 9,292Energy inspectors of heating systems 3,598 3,598 5,339 5,708 5,822 5,872 5,892 6,033Energy inspectors of air conditioning systems 3,370 3,371 5,071 5,439 5,552 5,600 5,620 5,735Travel ag<strong>en</strong>ts 4,105 4,094 4,128 4,124 4,079 4,107 4,235 4,279 4,328Tourist guides 1,904 1,909 1,913 1,915 1,915 1,916 1,920 1,990 1,997Private labour consultancy offices 93 95 88 89 89 89 86 86 85Custom brokers 2,3692,211 2,108Real estate ag<strong>en</strong>ts 5,050 5,066 5,047 5,039 4,986 5,001 5,015 5,029 5,053Actuaries 74 74 77 77 77 77 81 81 81Chartered valuers 11 11 11 11 9 81 158 201Geo-technicians (agronomists) 19,597 19,518 19,705 19,844 19,952 20,089 20,198 20,296Source: Ministry of FinanceRefer<strong>en</strong>cesIOBE (2010). The Greek Economy, Vol. 1/10, IOBE, Ath<strong>en</strong>s.KEPE (2013). Impact Evaluation of Deregulation of Professions with Significant Contribution to the Greek Economy. C<strong>en</strong>treof Planning and Economic Research, Ath<strong>en</strong>s.OECD (2011). OECD Economic Surveys: Greece 2011. OECD Publishing.58
Chart 26 Graph 15.1. Greek Courts Performance in 20133. Programme implem<strong>en</strong>tation3.5.4. Reforming the judicial system to support economic activity107. The work on the improvem<strong>en</strong>ts of the functioning of the courts progressed well. The datacollection on court activity continues to improve allowing a better assessm<strong>en</strong>t of the situation of thecourts.108. In administrative justice, past measures have restored the structural balance betwe<strong>en</strong> inflows andoutflows of cases. Analyses of the data confirm that this holds for all courts. However, the newimproved clearance rates will not be suffici<strong>en</strong>t to reduce significantly the stock of outstanding caseswithin a reasonable timescale. New measures have therefore to be designed to address this problem, asa report from the Ministry on the effect of past measures points out. Over time, the effect of theadministrative review of cases the Ministry is proposing to put in place should help reducing the inflowof cases.109. For civil justice, the authorities are preparing the reform of civil procedure. A report of theMinistry of Justice pres<strong>en</strong>ts the existing strategy and proposes some new ways forward. Reforms ar<strong>en</strong>eeded since, contrary to the administrative courts, the civil justice courts are still not able to balancethe number of cases registered with suffici<strong>en</strong>t closure of cases. The main new action will take placethrough a fundam<strong>en</strong>tal reform of civil procedure. The draft of the code of civil procedure has be<strong>en</strong>submitted to public consultation in March and is expected for adoption by May 2014. The strategy alsoincludes the developm<strong>en</strong>t of out of court settlem<strong>en</strong>t mechanism, and the full op<strong>en</strong>ing of the mediatoractivity to all professions, voted in April. This should help over time to reduce the number of casesgoing to court.Box 15. Greek courts performanceAdministrative justice has restored its structural balance with outflows more than matching inflows. The tr<strong>en</strong>ds are reliable,ev<strong>en</strong> though some courts did not submit complete data, including Piraeus (which accounts for 12% of cases), and thus, th<strong>en</strong>umbers are not complete per se. The issue now is to take care of the backlog of p<strong>en</strong>ding cases. The authorities committed toprovide a proposal to this effect in April.On the contrary, civil justice still has structural problems, mainly in districts courts. The Code of civil procedure (CCP), to bevoted in May, should address the structural balance. After the CCP is voted, it will be possible to tackle the stock of p<strong>en</strong>dingcases. This may be done in parallel with insolv<strong>en</strong>cy cases, since part of the problems of the magistrate's courts come fromthese cases.180%160%Chart 15.1. Greek Courts Performance in 2013Council of StateClearance Rate140%120%100%80%Appeal Civil Courts1st Instance Civil CourtsSupreme CourtDistrict Civil CourtsAppeal AdministrativeCourts1st InstanceAdministrative Courts60%40%0.00 0.50 1.00 1.50 2.00 2.50 3.00 3.50P<strong>en</strong>ding Cases / Annual OutflowNote: Tripoli (ΤΡΙΠΟΛΗ) Appeal Administrative Court, Plomari-Lesvos (ΠΛΩΜΑΡΙ-ΛΕΣΒΟΣ) DistrictCivilCourtaswellasPiraeus(ΠΕΙΡΑΙΑ),Livadeia (ΛΙΒΑΔΕΙΑ) , Mesonloghi (ΜΕΣΟΛΟΓΓΙ) andKavala(ΚΑΒΑΛΑ) 1st Instance Administrative Courts did not provide complete data andtherefore, were removed from the calculations for all the quarters | Source: Ministry of Justice Quarterly Data59
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