Archibald Theocliste
First Post
Well, well... While checking the Mmcafe website today here is what I found on the News page :
*** From www.Mmcafe.com ***
At first I thought it was a bad joke, but it seems to be true: Videogames are now banned in Greece.
According to one Greece based videogames site "Gameland", Arcade games, home consoles, and PC games are all Banned by the Greek Government, escalating from a movement to control modified arcade sets used as gambling machines. Details can be found in the [ Site ] , so check it out for more details. (note: the site runs ona 128K line, so reaching it might be a bit hard.)
Special thanks to George Anastasiadis for the news. - Henry A. Moriarty
***
It was so unbelievable that I decided to check the Site
*** From www.Gameland.gr ***
August 31, 2002
A fight has began!
First of, I will have to introduce myself. My name is Costa Sgantzos (aka: Whacker) and I am the webmaster of this page. This is an eponymous answer to several people who (anonymously) dispute our thesis on such an important matter. We are no insane (well, not just yet anyway...) and we are not posting lies! The law EXISTS and every arcade store in this Country is closing; one after another. And there are worse things that will follow... Console and Computer games will be their next target, sooner or later.
***
There was a petition on the site and a copy of the law...
***
START OF LAW 3037
***
LAW NR 3037
Banning of games
The President of Democracy
We present the following law which was voted by the Parliament
---------------------
Article 1
Game categories
---------------------
According to notion of the commands of the current law:
a. Mechanical games are those, for whose operation it is necessary to use muscle force.
b. Electrical games are those, for whose operation it is necessary to be dependent on electrical mechanisms.
c. Electromechanical games are those, for whose operation it is necessary to be dependent on electrical
mechanisms AND use muscle force.
d. Electronical games are those, for whose operation it is necessary to be dependent on electrical
mechanisms that also have some calculating (accounting) program.
e. Entertainment "technical" games are those, whose result depends exclusively on the ability and skill of the
player, and its use is solely for entertainment.
The Entertainment "technical" category also includes all card games which had been characterised as
"technical" games, according to the statement of law F.E.K A21.
----------------------------------------------
Article 2
Banning of use or installation of games
----------------------------------------------
1. It is prohibited the operation of games of type "b", " c" and "d" of Article 1 (including in personal computers)
placed in public places such as hotels, cafeterias, organization halls and inside any other public or PRIVATE
place.
2. The Mechanical games, are only permitted to be Entertainment "technical", as defined in the previous Article.
Regarding those games, it is prohibited to make any bets between any persons or to include any financial gain
for any of the players involved. Such bets will attract penalties described in Articles 4 and 5.
-------------------------
Article 3
Internet organizations
--------------------------
The prohibition of using computers described in Article 2 does not affect internet companies, as long as none
of the games (described in Article 2) are being operated.
To be able to run an Internet company, a special permit is required from the municipal or the state (where the
company belongs) and from its starting point (port) if it is a boat based company. According to the first
application of this measure, the company should be equipped with this permit before the end of three months
after the start of this law.
----------------------
Article 4
Criminal sanctions
----------------------
1. Any persons who manage or depend on centres or other places as described in paragraph 1 of Article 2
where games prohibited by the previous Articles are in use or even exist, will be penalised with at least
three months of jail plus a fine of at least 5,000 Euros. If this offense is repeated, the penalty will be at least
one year of jail plus a fine between 25,000 and 75,000 Euros. The court will also command the confiscation
of all those games.
2. The orders for the games of type "c", in paragraph 1, paragraph 3 and 4 of Article 7 of the coded command
29/1971 are followed accordingly.
-----------------------------
Article 5
Administrative sanctions
-----------------------------
1. Apart from the criminal sanctions, if it is found that a prohibited game, according to the commands of the previous
articles, there will be a fine of 10,000 Euros for every such game and permanent taking away of the business
license, according to the orders of Article 7.
2. The fine will be based on the decision of the corresponding authority, in paragraph 1 of Article 6, who had
found the violation. In this decision the violation will be described, the fine will be underlined, as well as the
order in use. Together with this decision, a copy of the violation report will be notified towards the violator.
-----------------------------------------
Article 6
Report of confirmation of violations
------------------------------------------
1. The police authorities are responsible to enforce this law. The port authorities are responsible for boats
traveling domestically, and for any other boats staying at the corresponding port.
2. If the authorities for the "body for fighting financial crime" find violations of the law for the games, they
will impose the sanctions and will proceed to actions described in the previous article.
----------------
Article 7
Authorization
----------------
1. The terms, conditions, procedures and permits for Internet companies are determined by the common decision
of the Ministry of Finance, Ministry of Internal Affairs, Ministry of Public Administration, Ministry of Public Order
and Ministry of Trading.
2. A similar decision establishes the authority which enforces the taking away of business licenses, the
procedure of taking it away as well as any other necessary details for applying the orders of this law.
--------------
Article 8
Tax returns
--------------
Whoever has already paid " tax for running businesses with entertainment technical games" for 2002 for
electronical, electrical or electromechanical games, will have their tax returned corresponding to the time
of the publication of the law in the Government's Paper until the end of the year. No returns will be made
in the case of violation of the law for games and there is no awaiting court case in front of the Committee
in paragraph 4 of article 15 of law 2753/1999 (FEK 249 A').
---------------------------------------
Article 9
Maintained and transitive orders
---------------------------------------
1. With the orders of this law, there are no complications with the orders of the law 2206/1994 (FEK 62 A')
as well as the rest of the orders regarding casinos.
2. From the start of the enforcement of this law, the three-member game committees which are established by
the orders in paragraph 4 of article 15 of law 2753/1999, cease to exist. They will still exist though, until the
finish of check up of the game machines that had been binded by the auditor authorities and for which there
had been a reserve.
--------------------------
Articles 10, 11, and 12 describe the changes in the laws only for card games and are not relative with the
game machine orders.
--------------------------
ATHENS 29th of July 2002
***
END OF LAW 3037
***
Ok I know this has nothing to do with D&D, but I just feel like I could share with you this great text of law... Sometime you realize that politicians in your country are not the most impulsive you could find.
What next, will the Greek government ban all home videogames, forbid any newspaper publication, start to hunt and burn witches, or something worse?
Oh, I really feel tired today
PS : I'm not sure I can post the links to the other websites on a thread, please tell me if I have to Edit.
*** From www.Mmcafe.com ***
At first I thought it was a bad joke, but it seems to be true: Videogames are now banned in Greece.
According to one Greece based videogames site "Gameland", Arcade games, home consoles, and PC games are all Banned by the Greek Government, escalating from a movement to control modified arcade sets used as gambling machines. Details can be found in the [ Site ] , so check it out for more details. (note: the site runs ona 128K line, so reaching it might be a bit hard.)
Special thanks to George Anastasiadis for the news. - Henry A. Moriarty
***
It was so unbelievable that I decided to check the Site
*** From www.Gameland.gr ***
August 31, 2002
A fight has began!
First of, I will have to introduce myself. My name is Costa Sgantzos (aka: Whacker) and I am the webmaster of this page. This is an eponymous answer to several people who (anonymously) dispute our thesis on such an important matter. We are no insane (well, not just yet anyway...) and we are not posting lies! The law EXISTS and every arcade store in this Country is closing; one after another. And there are worse things that will follow... Console and Computer games will be their next target, sooner or later.
***
There was a petition on the site and a copy of the law...
***
START OF LAW 3037
***
LAW NR 3037
Banning of games
The President of Democracy
We present the following law which was voted by the Parliament
---------------------
Article 1
Game categories
---------------------
According to notion of the commands of the current law:
a. Mechanical games are those, for whose operation it is necessary to use muscle force.
b. Electrical games are those, for whose operation it is necessary to be dependent on electrical mechanisms.
c. Electromechanical games are those, for whose operation it is necessary to be dependent on electrical
mechanisms AND use muscle force.
d. Electronical games are those, for whose operation it is necessary to be dependent on electrical
mechanisms that also have some calculating (accounting) program.
e. Entertainment "technical" games are those, whose result depends exclusively on the ability and skill of the
player, and its use is solely for entertainment.
The Entertainment "technical" category also includes all card games which had been characterised as
"technical" games, according to the statement of law F.E.K A21.
----------------------------------------------
Article 2
Banning of use or installation of games
----------------------------------------------
1. It is prohibited the operation of games of type "b", " c" and "d" of Article 1 (including in personal computers)
placed in public places such as hotels, cafeterias, organization halls and inside any other public or PRIVATE
place.
2. The Mechanical games, are only permitted to be Entertainment "technical", as defined in the previous Article.
Regarding those games, it is prohibited to make any bets between any persons or to include any financial gain
for any of the players involved. Such bets will attract penalties described in Articles 4 and 5.
-------------------------
Article 3
Internet organizations
--------------------------
The prohibition of using computers described in Article 2 does not affect internet companies, as long as none
of the games (described in Article 2) are being operated.
To be able to run an Internet company, a special permit is required from the municipal or the state (where the
company belongs) and from its starting point (port) if it is a boat based company. According to the first
application of this measure, the company should be equipped with this permit before the end of three months
after the start of this law.
----------------------
Article 4
Criminal sanctions
----------------------
1. Any persons who manage or depend on centres or other places as described in paragraph 1 of Article 2
where games prohibited by the previous Articles are in use or even exist, will be penalised with at least
three months of jail plus a fine of at least 5,000 Euros. If this offense is repeated, the penalty will be at least
one year of jail plus a fine between 25,000 and 75,000 Euros. The court will also command the confiscation
of all those games.
2. The orders for the games of type "c", in paragraph 1, paragraph 3 and 4 of Article 7 of the coded command
29/1971 are followed accordingly.
-----------------------------
Article 5
Administrative sanctions
-----------------------------
1. Apart from the criminal sanctions, if it is found that a prohibited game, according to the commands of the previous
articles, there will be a fine of 10,000 Euros for every such game and permanent taking away of the business
license, according to the orders of Article 7.
2. The fine will be based on the decision of the corresponding authority, in paragraph 1 of Article 6, who had
found the violation. In this decision the violation will be described, the fine will be underlined, as well as the
order in use. Together with this decision, a copy of the violation report will be notified towards the violator.
-----------------------------------------
Article 6
Report of confirmation of violations
------------------------------------------
1. The police authorities are responsible to enforce this law. The port authorities are responsible for boats
traveling domestically, and for any other boats staying at the corresponding port.
2. If the authorities for the "body for fighting financial crime" find violations of the law for the games, they
will impose the sanctions and will proceed to actions described in the previous article.
----------------
Article 7
Authorization
----------------
1. The terms, conditions, procedures and permits for Internet companies are determined by the common decision
of the Ministry of Finance, Ministry of Internal Affairs, Ministry of Public Administration, Ministry of Public Order
and Ministry of Trading.
2. A similar decision establishes the authority which enforces the taking away of business licenses, the
procedure of taking it away as well as any other necessary details for applying the orders of this law.
--------------
Article 8
Tax returns
--------------
Whoever has already paid " tax for running businesses with entertainment technical games" for 2002 for
electronical, electrical or electromechanical games, will have their tax returned corresponding to the time
of the publication of the law in the Government's Paper until the end of the year. No returns will be made
in the case of violation of the law for games and there is no awaiting court case in front of the Committee
in paragraph 4 of article 15 of law 2753/1999 (FEK 249 A').
---------------------------------------
Article 9
Maintained and transitive orders
---------------------------------------
1. With the orders of this law, there are no complications with the orders of the law 2206/1994 (FEK 62 A')
as well as the rest of the orders regarding casinos.
2. From the start of the enforcement of this law, the three-member game committees which are established by
the orders in paragraph 4 of article 15 of law 2753/1999, cease to exist. They will still exist though, until the
finish of check up of the game machines that had been binded by the auditor authorities and for which there
had been a reserve.
--------------------------
Articles 10, 11, and 12 describe the changes in the laws only for card games and are not relative with the
game machine orders.
--------------------------
ATHENS 29th of July 2002
***
END OF LAW 3037
***
Ok I know this has nothing to do with D&D, but I just feel like I could share with you this great text of law... Sometime you realize that politicians in your country are not the most impulsive you could find.
What next, will the Greek government ban all home videogames, forbid any newspaper publication, start to hunt and burn witches, or something worse?
Oh, I really feel tired today
PS : I'm not sure I can post the links to the other websites on a thread, please tell me if I have to Edit.
Last edited: