GREECE Law and Practice Contributed by: John Dryllerakis, Claire Sergaki and Vasileios Plakoulas, Dryllerakis Law Firm
5.2 Circumstances for Court Intervention In general, Greek courts respect the jurisdictional rul - ings of arbitral tribunals while also retaining the power to intervene when necessary to correct jurisdictional overreach. The circumstances under which a state court can address issues of the arbitral tribunal’s juris - diction are as follows. • Action before the civil courts: Article 12.1 of Law 5016/2023 provides that if an action is brought before a civil court in a dispute that is the subject of an arbitration agreement, then the court shall refer the dispute to arbitration following a party’s relevant request, unless it holds that the arbitration agreement is invalid, ineffective or unenforceable. • Set-aside proceedings: Article 43.2.a.aa of Law 5016/2023 stipulates that an arbitral award may be set aside by the civil three-member court of appeals if such court holds that the arbitration agreement was invalid, that a party lacked capac - ity to execute such agreement or that the arbitral tribunal declined its jurisdiction notwithstanding a valid arbitration agreement. • Enforcement proceedings: as per Article 43.7 of Law 5016/2023, even if a party has waived its right to set aside the arbitral award, it maintains the right to raise objections that constitute setting-aside grounds in the context of enforcement proceed - ings, including objections relating to the arbitral tribunal’s jurisdiction. • Petition for annulment of an administrative act before an administrative court: as per settled case law (based on judgment no 24/1993 of the Supreme Special Court), when an administra - tive court is called to annul an administrative act on the basis of a relevant arbitral award, it shall also examine whether or not the arbitral tribunal has exceeded its jurisdictional boundaries. In this context, the 2nd Chamber of the Hellenic Coun - cil of State has held in a series of decisions that a tribunal may be deemed to have exceeded its jurisdiction if it adjudicates an investment dispute potentially involving the interpretation or applica -
shall be raised no later than the lapse of the dead - line for the submission of the statement of defence, unless this belated submission is deemed justified by the arbitral tribunal. A distinction should be made with respect to the time limits applicable to court challenges against the tribu - nal’s jurisdiction, as follows. • If the arbitral tribunal ruled on its jurisdiction through a preliminary decision, that decision upholding its jurisdiction may only be challenged together with the final award on the merits, unless the parties have agreed otherwise or the tribunal has consented to a separate application to set aside this preliminary decision. In this case, the challenge against the preliminary decision should be filed within 30 days from either the tribunal’s consent or the service of the award, in accordance with Article 23.4 of Law 5016/2023. • If the arbitral tribunal ruled on its jurisdiction by its final award, an application to set aside shall be filed within three months from the service of the award to the party seeking to challenge it, as per Article 43.3 of Law 5016/2023. If a request for cor - rection or interpretation of the award is pending, the three-month deadline begins from the service of the decision on that request. 5.4 Standard of Judicial Review for Jurisdiction/Admissibility Law 5016/2023 does not expressly define the stand - ard of judicial review for questions regarding the jurisdiction of the arbitral tribunal. The court where an application to set aside is pending is not bound by the arbitral tribunal’s decision regarding its own jurisdic - tion, and has the right to conduct a full review of the arbitration agreement to determine the existence and validity thereof. 5.5 Breach of Arbitration Agreement As per Article 12.1 of Law 5016/2023, if an action is brought before a court in a matter that is covered by an arbitration agreement, the court must refer the par - ties to arbitration upon request, provided that such request is made no later than the first hearing, unless the court finds that the arbitration agreement is null and void, ineffective or incapable of being performed.
tion of EU law provisions. 5.3 Timing of Challenge
Article 23.2 of Law 5016/2023 stipulates that an objec - tion to the lack of jurisdiction of the arbitral tribunal
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