GREECE Law and Practice Contributed by: John Dryllerakis, Claire Sergaki and Vasileios Plakoulas, Dryllerakis Law Firm
State Immunity According to Article 94.4.c of the Greek Constitution, enforcement proceedings may be validly initiated against the Greek State on the basis of court judg - ments. Arbitral awards can also be enforced against the Greek State; however, in both cases, only the state’s private property can be the object of enforce - ment proceedings and not any property or bank accounts destined to serve a public purpose. It is also noted that, pursuant to Article 923 of the Greek Code of Civil Procedure, any entity wishing to initiate enforcement proceedings against a foreign state shall not do so unless it has been granted prior permission from the Greek Minister of Justice. 12.3 Approach of the Courts Generally, Greek courts refrain from recognising a for - eign arbitral award as enforceable in Greece in cases where its enforcement would contravene fundamental political, moral, social, legal or economic perceptions that prevail in the country. That said, a conflict is not automatically established because the award to be recognised or enforced applied a foreign provision that is unknown or inapplicable under Greek law. 13. Miscellaneous 13.1 Class Action or Group Arbitration Unlike some jurisdictions that explicitly allow for class actions or group arbitration, Greek arbitration law does not contain any such provisions. There are mechanisms for collective redress in judicial or media - tion proceedings, such as group actions under con - sumer protection laws, but these mechanisms do not Apart from the principles of impartiality and independ - ence described in 4.1 Limits on Selection and 4.4 Challenge and Removal of Arbitrators , there are no mandatory ethical codes for arbitrators under Greek law. An exception to this general rule exists in arbi - tral proceedings conducted in accordance with the Arbitration Rules of the Thessaloniki Bar Association (Presidential Decree No 68/2020), as arbitrators are extend to arbitration. 13.2 Ethical Codes
ervations entail that a foreign arbitral award may be recognised if the foreign seat of arbitration belongs to a jurisdiction that has signed the New York Conven - tion (“reciprocity”) and the dispute at hand is commer - cial (“commerciality”). It is noted, however, that Article 45.1 of Law 5016/2023 stipulates that the recognition and enforcement of foreign arbitral awards shall pro - ceed in accordance with the New York Convention without reference to the existent reservations. As per the explanatory report of said law, “[i]t goes without saying that the reservations of reciprocity and com - merciality do not apply”. 12.2 Enforcement Procedure Recognition and Enforcement Proceedings Article 3 of the New York Convention stipulates that each contracting state is obliged to recognise the validity of a foreign arbitral award and allow its enforcement in accordance with the procedural rules of the jurisdiction where enforcement is sought. Con - sequently, recognition and enforcement of foreign arbitral awards may be sought before the civil single- member court of first instance in accordance with Articles 903, 905 and 906 of the Greek Code of Civil Procedure. Recognition and enforcement are also subject to the conditions outlined in Article 4 of the New York Convention – ie, the party seeking recognition and enforcement must submit an application along with a duly certified original arbitral award, or a copy of the award that meets the authenticity requirements of the New York Convention and the original arbitra - tion agreement, or a copy that meets said authenticity requirements. If the previous supporting documents are in a foreign language, they should be accompa - nied by an official translation into Greek. In accordance with Article 5.1.e of the New York Con - vention, the award may not be enforced if it has been set aside or suspended by the competent authority of the country where the award was issued (or in accord - ance with the law of which the award was issued), whereas Article 6 of the New York Convention pro - vides that the court may suspend the proceedings if the setting aside of the award has been requested in the country where the award was issued (or in accord - ance with the law of which the award was issued).
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