There is no legal or institutional framework in this area and no opening clause was used before 2008. It should be noted that in Cyprus, the social partners prefer to refer to specific/ad hoc agreements or provisions in an existing agreement which, due to the economic crisis, take the form of a stringency clause. The EPO stated that, since 2012, most extensions have been carried out under such agreements concluded for a short period, usually for a period of one year. In substance, these special/ad hoc agreements concern almost exclusively remuneration and working time. In practice, ad hoc agreements serve as framework agreements to derogate from the original agreement, while individual derogations take place at company level, depending on the particular conditions faced by each company. . . .