GREECE Law and Practice Contributed by: Dimitris Emvalomenos, Bahas, Gramatidis & Partners
court. The exemption primarily includes stamp duty payment and judicial revenue stamp duty, and, generally, the remuneration of witnesses and experts and the lawyers’, notaries’ and judi - cial 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 per - centage agreed may not exceed 20% of the sub - ject matter of the case at issue (or 30% if more than one lawyer is involved). Further detailed regulation is provided by the Lawyers’ Code (Article 60 of Law 4194/2013). Third-Party Litigation Funding (TPLF) Since this is not specifically regulated, it may be considered as informally permitted; how - ever, concerns have been raised on its legality, ethical risks and potential conflicts of interest. Some insurance companies offer to cover litiga - tion expenses. However, this is neither common nor really “culturally” accepted. Also, the lack of a legal framework may raise issues of transpar - ency. As of 26 June 2023, TPLF is specifically pro - hibited regarding representative actions (new article 10n of Law 2251; see 2.16 Existence of Class Actions, Representative Proceedings or Co-Ordinated Proceedings 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 limited dues collected from consumers wishing to be represented 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 Euro - pean Parliament passed a resolution propos - ing a directive “on the regulation of third-party funding” (P9 TA(2022)0308 “Responsible private funding of litigation” ). The European Commis - sion 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 regula - tion and (iii) a strong regulation. 2.16 Existence of Class Actions, Representative Proceedings or Co- Ordinated Proceedings in Product Liability Claims Following transposition of Directive (EU) 2020/182 “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 pro - visions on collective lawsuits former Article 10 of Law 2251) and providing for the issue of numer - ous Ministerial Decisions which will specify vari - ous aspects of the new regulation (Article 14 of Law 2251). Representative actions may be only filed by QEs, either: (i) Greek QEs, being consumer associa - tions which meet the legal prerequisites and are registered with a special registrar maintained with the General Secretariat of the Ministry (see
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