GREECE Law and Practice Contributed by: John Dryllerakis, Claire Sergaki and Vasileios Plakoulas, Dryllerakis Law Firm
for appointment as arbitrator shall disclose any fact or circumstance that may give rise to reasonable doubts as to their impartiality or independence. 4.2 Default Procedures If the parties have not agreed on the nomination of arbitrators and the arbitration has not been submitted to the rules of an arbitral institution, Article 15.4 of Law 5016/2023 shall apply, which provides as follows. • In the case of a three-member tribunal, each party may appoint one arbitrator and the two party- appointed arbitrators shall select the president of the tribunal. If a party fails to appoint an arbitra - tor or the selected arbitrators fail to appoint the president, then the civil single-member court of first instance shall proceed with the appointment following a request of any of the parties. • In the case of a one-member tribunal, the arbitrator shall be appointed upon request of a party to the competent civil court. • In the case of a multiparty arbitration, the claimants or the respondents shall jointly appoint one arbi - trator as per Article 16 of Law 5016/2023. Should they fail to do so, the relevant appointment shall be made by the civil single-member court of first instance. Lastly, if for any reason an arbitral tribunal has not been appointed within 90 days of the submission of the request for arbitration, the civil single-member court of first instance may appoint all the members of the tribunal following a party’s relevant request. 4.3 Court Intervention The civil single-member court of first instance located in the region of the seat of the arbitration or in the dis - trict where the applicant is domiciled is competent to appoint, remove or replace arbitrators. If the applicant has no domicile in Greece, jurisdiction is conferred on the civil single-member court of first instance of Athens. When appointing an arbitrator, the civil single-member court of first instance must consider the qualifications specified in the parties’ agreement, ensure the arbi - trator’s independence and impartiality and, in some instances, take into account the parties’ nationality.
Lastly, all decisions issued by said court in the con - text of these proceedings are not subject to means of recourse. 4.4 Challenge and Removal of Arbitrators Article 18.2 of Law 5016/2023 sets out the grounds upon which to request a challenge of an arbitrator. A petition for the challenge of an arbitrator is valid where there are circumstances giving rise to reason - able doubts as to the impartiality or independence of the arbitrator or if the arbitrator lacks the qualities agreed to be necessary by the parties. An arbitrator may be challenged even by the party that appointed them if the grounds for challenge become known to said party after the appointment. Furthermore, Article 19 of the same law regulates the procedure to be fol - lowed in the case of a petition for challenge, unless the parties have agreed otherwise or the relevant rules of institutional arbitration apply. With respect to the removal/replacement of arbitra - tors, Article 20.1 of Law 5016/2023 provides that an arbitrator’s mandate is terminated if they become de jure or de facto unable to perform their functions or otherwise fail to act within a reasonable time. Any arbitrator removed from their duties as per the provisions of Article 19 or Article 20 is replaced in accordance with the procedure set out in Article 21 of Law 5016/2023. 4.5 Arbitrator Requirements Article 18 on the grounds of challenge of an arbitra - tor refers to “justifiable doubts of an arbitrator’s inde - pendence and impartiality”. The same holds for the rules of the principal arbitral institutions. Apart from the relevant case law, the updated IBA Guidelines on Conflicts of Interest in International Arbitration of the International Bar Association of 2024 provide use - ful guidance by listing specific circumstances (des - ignated under “Red”, “Orange” and “Green” Lists), intending to illustrate the General Standards, assisting arbitrators in making their disclosures and aiding par - ties in assessing whether disclosed information may be such as to create doubts with respect to the arbi - trator’s independence and impartiality.
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