Application “Start Atomic Business via gov.gr” was presented by the Secretary General of the Digital Governance and Facilitation Division, Leonidas Christopoulos, at the presentation “National Policy on Administrative Procedures”, which took place today at 10:00 am at the Miltiadis Evert Amphitheater – Technopolis of the Municipality of Athens.

As Mr. Christopoulos said, “From today, citizens who wish to set up an individual business can do so with a few clicks within five minutes via Gov.gr.” There have already been 8 individual business start-ups. As he pointed out, “Now individuals who wish to be active in the commercial sector based in Greece can use the application “Opening a sole proprietorship through Gov.gr” from today without any preparatory steps,” adding that “ the launch can also be carried out by a third party, provided that he is authorized through this application.

It is worth noting that this application can only be used by those citizens who start an individual business with commercial activities. As Mr. Christopoulos emphasized, “only the physical procedure applies to individual non-profit enterprises (for example, lawyers). The goal is to enable those who are required to register in the said register to use the new application even after the introduction of the Register of Non-Commercial Economic Activities (RVED).

In fact, Mr. Christopoulos also referred to administrative costs, which according to 2019 data were 17,400,000 euros per year, and with the new procedure through gov.gr, the cost is now estimated at 7,691,000 euros, so it will be reduced. by 56%.

He explained that “until today, a citizen wishing to start a sole proprietorship with commercial activities had to apply to the competent chamber and submit a number of supporting documents for the issuance of a pre-registration certificate from GEMI. It goes without saying that he must do the same today if he chooses the path of lifelong service. Subsequently, he had to apply to the EFKA store, providing a number of new supporting documents, in order to obtain a certificate of pre-registration from EFKA. As he pointed out, “in order to open an individual business, a citizen had to visit 5 services, excluding the services necessary to draw up the necessary supporting documents.”

In about two years, the following legislative acts were amended:

1. Law 4892/2022 (A’28) abolished the obligation to pre-register with e-EFKA for citizens who start self-employment. It also established ex officio registration through e-EFKA, which will be technically implemented in the 2nd version of the application for opening a sole proprietorship through Gov.gr.

2. Law 4919/2022 (A’71) created a clear and simplified basis for registration and publication in the General Commercial Register (GEMI) and established the Register of Non-Commercial Economic Activities (MMEOD) separately from GEMI.

3. After the cooperation of the General Secretariat of Telecommunications and Posts of the Ministry of Digital Management with AADE, the decision was made by the commander of AADE to redefine the territorial jurisdiction of all DOUs, according to which the postal code (TQ) now corresponds to a unique DOU.

How the app will work

To use the service, a citizen must:

• have a Greek VAT number
• be an adult citizen of Greece or a citizen of another member state of the European Union
• you don’t have a sole trader yet
• and the headquarters of the company is located in Greece

Details that the user will need to know as they will be asked to fill them out:

• your personal Taxisnet passwords
• Property identification number for a private office, or contract number and year for a leased office, provided you include the postal code of the office address on the lease
• company details such as CAO and business name.

In the event that an individual does not initiate actions on his own, but decides to authorize a third party, it is enough to know the TIN of the authorized person.

The process was successfully completed with the creation of a Certificate of Starting a Business. The document has gov.gr security features with advanced electronic seal and timestamp, code number and QR code to verify it.

It can be distributed both electronically and in printed form, while in printed form it does not need to be validated, as it is confirmed by the gov.gr document guarantee attachment. The certificate can be obtained from the myAADE page.

As soon as the certificate of commencement for a sole proprietorship is issued, the citizen must register and be included in the eEFKA insurance through the appropriate digital service through gov.gr. If this step is skipped and the application is not submitted, registration will be carried out ex officio by an act of the competent insurance authority.

The new procedure for creating an individual entrepreneur through gov.gr has already been registered in the Mitos National Register of Administrative Procedures. All citizens should be able to see information about the process, such as how it is implemented, responsible authorities, institutional framework, prerequisites and more, as well as determine how many digital steps are taken within the 5 minutes it takes to start their own business.

As noted, in the near future, the necessary actions will be taken to:

• a specific application can also be used by foreign citizens of third countries who, on the basis of a residence permit, have the opportunity to carry out independent professional activities and
• It will implement an interface with e-EFKA for automatic registration.

Source: APE/MEB