In early February, the Greek government launched a long-awaited digital platform designed to simplify business licensing and streamline administrative procedures. Touted as a milestone in cutting bureaucratic red tape, the platform—officially known as OPS ADE—was introduced as part of a broader effort to modernize the country’s regulatory environment.
Yet, despite its promise, a key piece of the reform remains conspicuously absent: regulatory oversight.
While the platform is fully operational for licensing procedures, the mechanisms for supervision and enforcement were left out of the initial rollout. Inspections, which are essential for ensuring compliance with safety and legal standards, continue to be carried out—or often not carried out at all—using traditional methods. These methods are widely regarded as outdated, time-consuming, and frequently ineffective.
The omission is not due to technical limitations. The platform was designed to accommodate both licensing and oversight functions. The problem lies in the lack of supporting legislation and the insufficient preparedness of public administration. According to the government's own timeline, the legal framework required for oversight should have been in place by November 2023. However, seven years after a 2018 law established general principles and responsibilities for supervisory authorities, the necessary secondary legislation has yet to be completed for many regulatory areas.
This gap has serious consequences. Without a clear and unified regulatory framework, different government agencies often duplicate efforts or, in some cases, fail to act entirely. This overlap—or absence—of jurisdiction not only wastes time and public resources but also allows for inconsistent enforcement and increases the risk of corruption. Perhaps most critically, it creates situations where there is no accountability when something goes wrong.
If an accident were to occur at a business today, there is no centralized system in place that tracks which authority was responsible for oversight or whether inspections were carried out at all. This could lead to a scramble among ministries and regulatory bodies, each pointing fingers at the other in an attempt to shift blame. In such scenarios, any prior claims of reduced bureaucracy and faster licensing will be of little comfort to those affected.
The issue extends beyond institutional inefficiencies. Some types of businesses—despite posing potential public health risks—currently operate without any specific regulatory standards. Tanning salons, non-therapeutic massage parlors, and stand-alone saunas are all permitted to open with nothing more than a tax ID number, even though their operations could have serious health implications. These activities are eventually meant to be included in the new system, but standards for their operation and oversight have yet to be established. Ministry officials admit that, realistically, these will only be put in place at the last minute, under the pressure of meeting deadlines imposed by the European Union's Recovery and Resilience Facility.
OPS ADE is not just a national reform—it’s part of a wider commitment stemming from Greece’s bailout era. Originally conceived in 2016 during the country’s memorandum years, the platform is now being funded through the EU Recovery Fund. It represents a significant investment in modernizing Greece’s public sector and is intended to serve as a model of digital governance.
Plans are underway to extend the platform to cover additional business sectors such as daycare centers, nursing homes, conference halls, exhibition spaces, internet cafes, boat parking facilities, and mobile food vendors. However, without a fully implemented legal framework, the risk remains that the system will function as a digital facade—efficient on the surface, but lacking the transparency and accountability that true oversight requires.
