GREECE Law and Practice Contributed by: Dimitris Emvalomenos, Bahas, Gramatidis & Partners LLP
Public Funding This is regulated by Law 3226/2004 on the provision of legal aid to low-income citizens (implementing Direc - tive 2003/8/EC), together with Articles 194–204 of the GCCP. According to Law 3226/2004 (as in force), beneficiar - ies of legal aid are low-income citizens of the EU, as well as of a third state, provided that they reside legally within the EU. For civil and commercial cases, low-income citizens are those with an annual familial income that does not exceed two-thirds of the mini - mum annual income provided by law. Beneficiaries may also be the victims of certain crimes and citizens suffering 67% disability or more, irrespective of the level of their income. Legal aid is granted on the con - dition that the case, subject to the discretion of the court, is not deemed unjust or uneconomical. Legal aid in civil and commercial matters entails an exemption from the payment of all or part of the court’s expenses, the submission of a relevant peti - tion by the beneficiary, and the nomination of a law - yer, notary and judicial bailiff, in order to represent the beneficiary before the court. The exemption primarily includes stamp duty payment and judicial revenue stamp duty, and, generally, the remuneration of wit - nesses and experts and the lawyers’, notaries’ and judicial bailiffs’ fees. Contingency Fees and Other Conditional Payment Arrangements These are allowed between clients and lawyers under the following basic restrictions: they must be made in writing, and the maximum fee percentage agreed may not exceed 20% of the subject matter of the case at issue (or 30% if more than one lawyer is involved). Further detailed regulation is provided by the Lawyers’ Since this is not specifically regulated, it may be con - sidered as informally permitted; however, concerns have been raised on its legality, ethical risks and potential conflicts of interest. Some insurance com - panies offer to cover litigation expenses. However, this is neither common nor really “culturally” accepted. Code (Article 60 of Law 4194/2013). Third-Party Litigation Funding (TPLF)
Also, the lack of a legal framework may raise issues of transparency. As of 26 June 2023, TPLF is specifically prohibited regarding representative actions (new Article 10n of Law 2251; see 2.16 Existence of Class Actions, Rep- resentative Proceedings or Co-Ordinated Proceed- ings in Product Liability Claims ). On a related matter, the general regulation on the financial means of qualified entities (QEs) that may bring representative actions as of 26 June 2023 is expansive vis-à-vis the previous regime, and includes grants or concessions from the Greek state and lim - ited dues collected from consumers wishing to be rep - resented in a specific representative action seeking redress measures (new Articles 10c, paragraph 4 and 14, paragraphs 4d and 4e of Law 2251). At EU level, on 13 September 2022 the European Parliament passed a resolution proposing a direc - tive “on the regulation of third-party funding” (P9 TA(2022)0308; “Responsible private funding of litiga - tion”). The European Commission undertook to run a mapping in the EU on the TPLF status and on 21 March 2025 issued a study on “Mapping Third Party Litigation Funding in the European Union”, which maps legislation, practice and debate on TPLF within the EU and four non-EU countries. The study verified the fragmental legal landscape throughout the EU and noted three alternative legislation options, namely (i) non-regulation, (ii) a light-touch regulation, and (iii) a strong regulation. Based on the results of the study, further actions by the European Commission are expected. 2.16 Existence of Class Actions, Representative Proceedings or Co-Ordinated Proceedings in Product Liability Claims Following transposition of Directive (EU) 2020/1828 “on representative actions” (RAD) made by Law 5019/2023 (“Law 5019”), a new collective redress landscape was enacted in Greece, in force as of 26 June 2023. Law 5019 modified Law 2251 (see 1.1 Product Safety Legal Framework ) by replacing the latter’s provisions on collective lawsuits former Article 10 of Law 2251) and providing for the issue of numer -
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