Citizens-borrowers and especially consumers are very concerned about the unfair practices of the so-called "collection companies", which, often, in violation of the relevant legislation, blatantly insult their personality, their personal data, while disturbing the spiritual and mental their health. Condemnation decisions have already been issued condemning these unfair behaviors (see among others 1437/2014 EfAthina, 2828/2014 Brath, 3383/2013 IrATH), but not enough, with the result that - to date - only one very small part of the real problem.
For the information of the citizens, we attach the basic Law 3758/2009, "Debtor information companies for overdue claims and other provisions" (N 3758.2009), where among others it states:
"Article 5
Unfair and misleading practices of Companies towards debtors.
Companies are prohibited from engaging in unfair and misleading practices towards debtors, such as:
1. The, when communicating with the debtor, the appearance of their employees in capacities that they do not have such as employees of creditors, lawyers or bailiffs.
2. Exercising physical violence, psychological pressure about endangering the profession, assets or life of the debtor or his relatives.
3. The demonstration of offensive behavior or the use of offensive expressions against the debtor or his relatives.
4. Defamation or the threat of defamation of the debtor in his family or work environment.
5. The exploitation of circumstances of objective weakness of the debtor.
6. The threat of taking an illegal measure against him.
7. The debtor's misleading information.
8. The debtor's home or workplace
visits, as well as visits to other strictly personal places, such as hospitals.
9. The disturbance of his relatives in the sense of case 4.
10. The misleading use and presentation of documents that falsely create the impression that they are court documents.
11. Any communication that contains inaccurate information about the consequences of default.
12. The communication for debts arising from general terms of transactions that have been deemed unusable by irrevocable court decisions, as well as the terms referred to in the ministerial decisions issued under the authority of paragraph 21 of article 10 of Law 2251/1994, as applicable from time to time".
Law 3758/2009 has since been amended by article 36 of Law 4038/2012 with the amendments to the following articles:
"Article 4
Principles Governing Notification of Debtors for Overdue Claims
4. (….) The telephone communication from the Company to inform the debtor of an overdue claim is allowed to take place after ten days from the day it became overdue, afrom 9:00 to 20:00 and only on working days. Lenders provide the Companies with only the debtors' information necessary for communication. The Companies use the data of the debtors for the purposes for which the data was transmitted by the lender in accordance with this law, as well as for the defense of their right before the courts or other public authority. The Companies are prohibited from transmitting the data to third parties, with or without compensation, as well as using them for other purposes. As third parties, within the meaning of this law, the subsidiaries of the Companies are also considered. The General Consumer Secretariat of the Ministry of Labor and Social Security has access to the data to check compliance with the provisions of this law, other public authorities and the judicial authorities in the exercise of their statutory powers. The provisions of article 10 of Law 2472/1997 (A' 50) on the privacy and security of the processing are applied accordingly to the files containing data of debtors who are legal entities.
Article 6
Special obligations of Companies
(…) 7. The Companies keep an electronic file in which the details of all telephone communications to the debtor are recorded, and in particular the date, time and debt for which the communication was made. At the start of the communication, the debtor is informed about the recording of the above data and the duration of their compliance. Ta these data are destroyed after one year has passed since the last communication, unless the debtor requests their retention for the data concerning him or the General Consumer Secretariat for the control of compliance with the provisions of this law. The above data may not be used for any purpose other than the control of the execution of the contract by the lender, the observance of the provisions of this law and the defense of the right of the Companies before the courts.
The Companies must provide, at the request of the debtor or at the request of the General Consumer Secretariat for the exercise of its powers, within ten days and without charge a copy with the details of the telephone communications concerning the particular debtor.
Responsible for processing in the sense of article 2 item g of Law 2472/1997 of the file of this paragraph is defined the Company, which is exempted from the notification obligation of Article 6 of Law 2472/1997.
8. The providers of telecommunications services available to the public must, if they comply with them for the purpose of charging for their services, grant without charge to the debtor or for the execution of its responsibilities the General Secretariat for Consumers, and within ten days from the date of submitting the application, status with the relevant traffic data of the telephone connections, as well as the identifying information of the identity of the subscriber of the telephone connection from which the communication with the debtor was carried out before; text to review a complaint for violation of the provisions of this law.
Article 8
Privacy protection
(…)2. The Companies must record the content of every telephone communication with the debtor. The content of the recording may not be used against the debtor, judicially or extrajudicially, and is kept by the Companies mandatorily for one year from the communication. Over the course of a year, the record is destroyed unless the debtor requests its preservation or after a complaint by the General Consumer Secretariat. At the beginning of the communication, the debtor is informed about the recording of the conversation, the duration of its observance and that the recording is done to ensure his own rights only. The Companies are required to provide electronic copies of the recorded communications with the debtors to the debtor himself for the data concerning him or to the General Secretariat of the Consumer in the context of the control of relevant complaints or ex officio control of the Companies within ten days from when they are requested.
Responsible for processing in the sense of article 2 item g of Law 2472/1997 of the file of this paragraph is defined the Company, which is exempted from the notification obligation of Article 6 of Law 2472/1997.
3. The recording of paragraph 2 is allowed, when the Companies proceed, in the context of an assignment by the lenders, to arrange or settle a debt, after informing the debtor, to be used for the purpose of providing evidence of the commercial transaction carried out. In this case, the Companies are obliged to notify the debtor of the settlement within ten days. It is not allowed to enter into an arrangement or arrangement that worsens the position of the debtor in the above manner. The communication with the debtor and the settlement with him do not lead to recognition of the debt on the part of the debtor".
Thomas Kalokiris
Lawyer
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