Trade with Greece
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Greece boasts a total of 59 chambers:
●Four Chambers of Commerce and Industry
(Athens, Piraeus, Thessaloniki and Komotini).
●Three Chambers of Small & Medium Industries
(Athens, Piraeus, and Thessaloniki).
●Three Professional Chambers (Athens, Piraeus,
and Thessaloniki).
●One mixed Professional & Small and Medium
Sized Industries Chamber (Komotini).
●Forty eight mixed Chambers, with at least four
basic departments (commerce, industry, small
& medium sized industries and professional) in
the remaining forty eight prefectures of the
country (excluding those of Attica, Thessaloniki
and Rodopi).
The aforementioned 59 independent and self-
sufficient chambers, which cover the entire
Greek territory and whose membership compris-
es almost 800,000 small, medium-sized and
large enterprises from almost all sectors, have
formed a coordinating body, the Union of Hellenic
Chambers, which represents this network abroad
through its membership in Eurochambres –the
coordinating body of European chambers– and
organizes joint chamber activities within the coun-
try (keeping the General Commercial Register
etc.), promotes the chambers’ common demands
and presents the government of the day with gen-
erally accepted economic policy proposals.
Greek chambers have, since their very inception
–the first chambers of the country (Athens,
Piraeus, Patras and Syros) started operating in
February 1919–, taken the form of Public Law
Entities, with two distinctive characteristics that
shape their identity and mission:
●Their administrations are not state-appointed,
but are elected through democratic procedures
by their own members, thus accurately repre-
senting the productive fabric of each area and
having firsthand knowledge of the enterprises’
problems, in all their dimensions. This is why
the chambers’ opinions and proposals are,
admittedly, distinguished for their comprehen-
siveness, functionality and realism.
●The chambers do not finance their operation
through government resources, but with the
registration fees and subscriptions of their
members, in other words a small fee that busi-
nesses pay in return for the manifold services
offered them by the chambers. For this reason,
chamber interventions are always character-
ized by the objectivity, reliability and integrity of
an agency that has no bonds of dependence
with the central authority.
In this context, Greek chambers try really hard to
efficiently fulfil their double role: as advisors to the
state on economic and social policy issues, to
ensure the steady improvement of the investment
climate and social cohesion; and as supporters of
the business world, to ensure the continuous
increase of its contribution to serving the interests
