Clarifications regarding engineers’ fees and other contributions for the issuance of building permits by EETEM

Specifically:

A) With regard to the obligation to submit a report on remuneration to the electronic system of the Technical Chamber of Greece (TEE), we would like to point out the following:

1) According to Law 4030/2011:

In Article 3 (paragraph 1c) on building permits, as a prerequisite for the completeness of the file, the engineer is required to submit “Proof of payment of contributions and deductions for engineering services” (no reference is made to the obligation to pay fees).
In Article 3 (paragraph 2(i)) on building permits, as a condition for the completeness of the file, the engineer is required to submit “Proof of deposit of retainers and payment of fees by the designers” (no reference is made to the obligation to deposit fees).
The law makes no reference to the obligation to check and “certify” the legal remuneration by the Technical Chamber of Greece (TEE).
Article 5 (paragraph 1.b) clearly states that “The required information for building approval is checked by officials authorized by the Head of the Service…”, who are responsible for enforcing the law, and not by any other body, e.g. the Technical Chamber of Greece (TEE).
The requirement to “submit a fee report to the TEE electronic system” is unlawful because, on the one hand, Law 4030/2011 does not provide for such a requirement and, on the other hand, according to Law 3230/2004 (Article 10, paragraph 2) “The requirement to submit certificates or other supporting documents from public services, public entities, and local authorities for the issuance of an administrative act is permitted only if this is provided for in provisions of laws or other regulatory acts of the Administration.”

2) Pursuant to Article 7 of Law 3919/2011, in conjunction with the repealed provisions, the calculation of fees and the use of the TEE fee management information system are not required.

Specifically:

The engineer is entitled to conclude a valid written remuneration agreement (in quadruplicate), which becomes valid once it is submitted to the competent tax office.
Of the four copies of the agreement, one is kept by the tax office, one by the owner, one by the engineer, and one is submitted to the town planning department on behalf of the client.
After signing the “valid private agreement” between the client – Engineer, no deposit is required or provided for at the National Bank through the “TEE fee form”, but the agreed fee is paid to the Engineer in any manner provided for in the agreement.
The Engineer calculates the “legal” fee in any way (e.g., software from a specialized company or free fee calculation software).
The verification of the calculation of the legal fee and deductions for the Engineer & is the responsibility of the competent officials of the Building Services appointed by the administration, who are not authorized to request the “Payment Code” from the TEE system.
Care should be taken when calculating the budget on the basis of which the legal fee is determined, in the absence of a valid agreement.
The prices set by the Ministry in accordance with No. Δ17α/03/8/ΦΝ 460 (Government Gazette 56B, 25-1-2012) Ministerial Decision, according to which €112.5/m² should be used as the E.T.A. and not €118/m² as determined by the T.E.E. and used in its information system.
It is not mandatory to submit the “extra” to the Building Services (copy of the deposit slip with the reason “Engineer’s Fee”), but only the valid private fee agreement between the Engineer and the Client, as well as the payment of the 10% F.E.M. (Fee for the Engineer’s Services) relating to the fee.
With this method the following is ensured:

a) collection of the fee (for the engineer’s study or supervision) in the event of customer dissatisfaction, and provided that there is no valid agreement.

b) the refund of advance taxes (F.E.M., VAT), provided that there is no valid agreement.

c) urban planning in this manner (submission of a valid written agreement) may control the engineer’s fee (Article 7 of Law 3919/2011, which amends Article 59 of Legislative Decree 17/7/16. 8.23, as it was in force) and, on this basis, control the deductions in favor of the State.

We remind you that Article 7 of Law 3919/2011 stipulates that: “13. The provisions of paragraphs 1, 2, and 3 of Article 2 of the Royal Decree of 30/31.5.1956 are repealed.”

B) Regarding the 1% contribution to the National Technical University of Athens, we note the following:

Law 4393/2016 abolished the obligation to contribute 2% of remuneration to TSMEDE. Law 546/1943 “On the Revenue of the National Technical University of Athens” explicitly states that:
“The resources of the National Technical University of Athens are supplemented by:

a) Through additional deductions and payments as specified in Article 7, paragraph 1, under items b, c, e, f, g, h, i, j, k, l, m, and n of Emergency Law No. 2326/1940, but set at half the amounts specified in those provisions. However, these additional resources shall be collected together with the initial resources by the Pension Fund for Engineers and Contractors, in accordance with the provisions of Law No. 2326/1940. These additional resources shall be collected together with the initial resources by the Pension Fund for Engineers and Contractors in accordance with the provisions of Law No. 2326/1940 and shall be paid to the NTUA at the end of each quarter of each year after withholding one percent for certification and collection expenses…”.

From the above, it is clear that the contribution to E.M.P. is directly linked to the contribution to T.S.M.E.D.E. and in fact constitutes half of it.

Therefore, since the contribution to T.S.M.E.D.E. was abolished on June 6, 2016 (date of publication of Law 4393), this means that the contribution to E.M.P. has also been abolished from the same date.

Special mention should be made of the following: following the abolition of contributions to TSMEDE and EMP, there is no longer any reason to use the TEE’s system for calculating and managing engineers’ fees.

In addition to the above, we would like to inform you of the obligation of T.E.I. Engineers to submit E.E.T.E.M. certificates to the Y.D.O.M.

Specifically, in document no. F.4/290/11-01-2017 of the Ministry of Justice, Transparency & Human Rights, the Body of Inspectors-Auditors of Public Administration (SEEDD) refers to the obligation of private individuals to Human Rights, the Body of Inspectors-Auditors of Public Administration (S.E.E.D.D), it is stated that private engineers are obliged to submit to the competent YDOM, among other things:

“a) a recent certificate from the Technical Chamber of Greece (TEE) confirming registration in its registers and the payment or settlement of its members’ debts, or a recent certificate from the Greek Chamber of Architects (EETE) M. regarding registration in its Registers and the settlement or clearance of its members’ debts, as applicable, and

b) a recent certificate from the Technical Chamber of Greece (TEE) regarding the professional conduct of University-educated Engineers (P.E.), or a recent certificate from the EETEM (Technical Chamber of Greece) regarding the professional conduct of Technological Engineers (T.E.), with reference to any disciplinary sanctions imposed on them.

ka General Secretary,

Taking the above into account, we urge you to immediately correct your document by removing the requirement to submit a “remuneration report to the TEE electronic system” and “retention in favor of EMU” and at the same time adding what is set out in the document of the SEEDD.