GREECE Law and Practice Contributed by: Anastasios Virvilios, Evangelia Sgountzou and Eirini Tsalapati, Machas & Partners
• interim acts that result in the adoption of a final enforceable administrative act.
disputes to civil courts by law in special cases and in order to achieve uniform application of this legislation. 6. Standing 6.1 Requirements for Administrative Law Challenges One of the prerequisites for an admissible chal - lenge to acts/decisions taken by the administra - tion is that the claimant has a legitimate interest. A legitimate interest is an interest that: • is not contrary to law (a conflict with the law occurs in particular where the interest invoked is contrary to a prohibitive provision of law or to the provisions on good faith and abuse of procedural rights); • is recognised by the court as deserving legal protection. Deserving legal protection includes an interest based on a right, as well as an interest in respecting the limits of the administration’s discretionary powers. Neither the simple expectation of financial benefits nor a general interest in political or social life constitutes an interest deserving legal protec - tion; and • is in need of this legal protection. The legitimate interest must meet the following criteria. • It must be directly attributable to the claimant and not to a third party. • It must be an interest that is linked to the claimant by a special connection by reason of the claimant’s relationship to the legal and/or factual situation adversely affected by the act or omission challenged. • It exists cumulatively at the time:
4. Nature of the Decision-Maker 4.1 Judicial Review of Commercial and Non-Governmental Decisions It is possible to take legal action in the courts against a person or entity engaged in commer - cial or non-governmental activities. However, this is only possible, where: • the person or body is not acting under public authority; and • the act or activities do not serve a public purpose and are not related to the exercise of a public service. The dispute in question will be brought before the civil courts and not before the administra - tive courts. 5. Ouster 5.1 Legislative or Contractual Limits on Judicial Review The competence of the ordinary administrative courts and the Council of State to hear admin - istrative disputes is enshrined in Article 94(1) of the Constitution. The jurisdiction of administra - tive courts cannot therefore be abolished by law or by contract. Both express and implied agreements by the opposing parties to extend the jurisdiction of the court, either in terms of substance or locality, is prohibited. However, Article 94(3) of the Consti - tution provides that it may be possible to entrust the hearing of private disputes to administrative courts by law or of substantive administrative
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