New Covid-19 measures and suspension of employment contracts for March 2021

1. New restriction measures

By virtue of Joint Ministerial Decision 13805/03.03.2021, being in force from Thursday 4^th of March until Tuesday 16^th of March:

(a)  Especially for service providers, mandatory teleworking has been set to 60%.

(b) New restrictions apply for movements with SMS codes 2, 3 and 6. Specifically, SMS codes 2 (super markets) and 3 (banks) can be only used within the municipality of the citizen or within 2 kilometers from his home, while with SMS code 6 (sport or pet walking) citizens may only move on foot or by bicycle.

(c) Curfew at weekends has been set in Attica and Thessaloniki from 7pm until 5am.

2. Suspension of Employment contracts for March 2021

Submission of applications to the ERGANI system for the suspension of employment contracts for March 2021 began on Thursday 4^th of March and will last until Monday 8^th of March, 16:00.

Employers who have been severely affected by the pandemic:
a. May extend the suspension of the employment contracts of their employees who have already been suspended;
b. or may suspend for the first time the employment contracts of part or all of their employees, who have been hired until the 31^st of January 2021.

Employees whose employment contracts are suspended, are entitled to a State Aid of 534,00€ for a period of 30 days.

Furthermore, according to the Joint Ministerial Decision 9500/322/2.3.2021 and the respective announcement followed by the Ministry of Finance and Ministry of Labor, severely affected Companies which:

(i) Have started their operations before January 1, 2018 and,

(ii) Were subject to VAT for the entire period from 1 April 2019 until 31 December 2020 and,

(iii) Have not opened a branch from 1 April 2019 until 31 December 2020, in order to be eligible for the suspension of their employees' contracts, they must:

• Have submitted all periodic VAT returns for the entire period from 1 April 2019 until 31 December 2020; and

• Not have an increase in their turnover for the period from 1 April 2020 to 31 December 2020 compared to the period of 1 April 2019 to 31 December 2019.

3. New movement declarations from Tuesday, 9th of March 2021

It is reminded that as of Tuesday 9^th of March 2021, companies are required to re-issue movement permits for the employees who are working with physical presence. Said movement permits may be valid for up to 14 days.