GREECE Law and Practice Contributed by: John Dryllerakis, Claire Sergaki and Vasileios Plakoulas, Dryllerakis Law Firm
exclude or limit the scope of a petition for setting aside, provided that the agreement is ratified by law. When such exclusion or limitation is clearly stated in the agreement, the law that ratifies the agreement and permits the waiver will be regarded as lex specialis. This specific law will take precedence over the general provision prohibiting the waiver of the right to petition to set aside. 11.3 Standard of Judicial Review In accordance with the principle of the “prohibition of revision au fond ”, the court of appeals may not pro - ceed with a de novo review of the merits of the case when ruling on an application for the setting aside of the arbitral award. In a similar vein, it is settled case law that the Greek courts are not allowed to delve into the substance of the case by reviewing it anew, even in recognition proceedings of foreign arbitral awards. Greece has ratified the 1958 New York Convention on the Recognition and Enforcement of Foreign Arbitral Awards (the “New York Convention”) by virtue of Leg - islative Decree No 4220/1961 “Regarding the ratifica - tion of the Convention signed in New York on 10 June 1958 on the recognition and enforcement of foreign arbitral awards” (published in Government Gazette Journal A’ 173) (the “Legislative Decree”). The New York Convention entered into force on 14 October 1962. 12. Enforcement of an Award 12.1 New York Convention Ratification of said Convention proceeded under the reservations set forward in Article 1.3 in accordance with Article 2.1 of the Legislative Decree. These res - 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 existing 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 to allow its enforcement in accordance with the procedural rules of the jurisdiction in which enforcement is sought. Consequently, recognition and enforcement of for - eign 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 Con - vention. The party seeking recognition and enforce - ment of a foreign arbitral award must submit an appli - cation along with the award in a duly certified original form or a copy of the award that meets the authentic - ity requirements of the New York Convention and the original arbitration agreement or a copy thereof that meets said authenticity requirements. If the previous supporting documents are in a foreign language, they should be accompanied 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). In contrast, 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). State Immunity Article 94.4.c of the Greek Constitution permits enforcement proceedings against the Greek State based on court judgments. 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 enforcement proceedings and not any
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