GREECE Law and Practice Contributed by: Dimitris Emvalomenos, Bahas, Gramatidis & Partners LLP
ous Ministerial Decisions which will specify various aspects of the new regulation (Article 14 of Law 2251). Representative actions may be only filed by QEs, either: (i) Greek QEs, being consumer associations which meet the legal prerequisites and are registered with a special registrar maintained with the General Secretariat of the Ministry (see 1.2 Regulatory Author- ities for Product Safety ); or (ii) bodies registered as QEs in other EU member states. A Greek QE must prove that it has a minimum 12-month actual public activity in favour of consumers’ interests to be quali - fied as such, among other criteria imposed by Law 5019. An assessment of whether Greek QEs meet the set criteria is made once every two years by the Gen - eral Secretariat. A newly established “Independent Authority of Mar - ket Control and Consumer Protection” (in operation as from 24 December 2025) was exceptionally added to the QE registrar as a QE of a special status by deviation of the general legal prerequisites (especially Articles 3 and 37 of Law 5255/2025 and Ministerial Decision 102633/2025). Representative actions may regard injunctive and/or redress measures, and may only be brought before a court. Apart from few exceptions, RAD provisions are followed on content, proceedings and the effect thereof, with required adaptations to the Greek legal framework (new Articles 10a–10r of Law 2251). 2.17 Summary of Significant Recent Product Liability Claims Numerous lawsuits have been filed in recent years over the so-called “ Dieselgate ” claims on a variety of legal grounds, mainly product liability/product safety, as well as on contract-for-sale and tort rules. The vast majority of the lawsuits were dismissed on a combina - tion of motives, such as vagueness, lack of legal basis or causal link or standing to be sued with respect to the defendants. Indicative court decisions that rejected such claims include: Patras First Instance Court 119/2022; Thes - saloniki First Instance Court 800/2020; Athens Justice of the Peace Nos 1940/2022, 1941/2022, 1463/2021, 325/2020, 1104/2020 and 3222/2020; Chalandri Jus -
tice of the Peace Nos 26/2022 and 145/2020; Ama - roussion Justice of the Peace No 146/2021; and Serres Justice of the Peace No 39/2020. Conversely, Athens First Instance Court No 4749/2021 and Athens Justice of the Peace No 1774/2023 upheld the claims, although only partially. 3. Recent Policy Changes and Outlook 3.1 Trends in Product Liability and Product Safety Policy Law 2251 has been amended several times, and the latest notable modifications affecting product liability and product safety are as follows. • In 2018, material changes were made to: (a) the definition of “consumer”, which was nar - rowed, having previously been extremely broad; (b) the regulatory authorities and their enforce - ment duties; (c) the funding of consumer associations; and (d) administrative proceedings and sanctions im - posed (Articles 1a.1, 7 and former Articles 10, 13a and 13b of Law 2251). • In 2022–2025, further changes were enacted regarding: (a) the new legal framework on collective redress in force as from 26 June 2023 (see 2.16 Exist- ence of Class Actions, Representative Pro- ceedings or Co-Ordinated Proceedings in Product Liability Claims ); and (b) a new set of rules on compliance supervision, enforcement measures and sanctions (new Articles 10a–10r, 13a–13i and 14 of Law 2251). Overall, there is a continuing trend towards increased and broader consumer rights, as well as sanctions for relevant breaches. 3.2 Future Policy in Product Liability and Product Safety Future policy developments in product liability and product safety are expected from the EU legislator involving new digital technologies and, in particular, artificial intelligence (AI). In this context, (i) a new PLD (Directive (EU) 2024/2853) to replace the current PLD
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