CYPRUS Law and Practice Contributed by: Kyriacos Scordis, Alexandros Gavrielides, Chara Pieri and Demetris Yiannakou, Scordis, Papapetrou & Co LLC
5.2 Discovery and Third Parties A party may file an application to the court requesting a Special Disclosure Order against a person who is not a party to the proceedings. Such application shall provide sufficient details/ description of the requested document(s) or the specific category of documents and shall be supported by evidence stating the reasons why the requested document(s) is material for the outcome of the claim, that such document(s) is not in the possession of the applicant and the reasons why it is believed that the requested document(s) is in the possession of the respond- ent. The court may grant such order if it is sat- isfied that the application meets the above- mentioned criteria and that there are no valid grounds for objection (ie, legal privilege, con- fidentiality, privilege against self-incrimination). In addition, the Cypriot courts have the power to grant “Norwich Pharmacal Orders” ordering third parties who became mixed up in some form of wrongdoing against the applicant to disclose documents and information in their possession if such disclosure is shown to be necessary in order to enable the applicant to identify the wrongdoers and/or take legal action to protect their rights. 5.3 Discovery in This Jurisdiction Each party must disclose all documents which are or were in its possession, custody or control and on which it intends to rely, or which are nec- essary to enable the other parties to understand the disclosing party’s case. The disclosing party is obliged to file a witness statement in accord- ance with the specific form provided by the CPR and serve a copy thereof together with copies of the disclosed documents to the other par- ties. The witness statement shall state the date, title or description, author, sender and receiver of each disclosed document.
nature of the application, the specific circum- stances surrounding each case, and the work- load and efficiency of the judge. Generally speaking, applications made with notice in the context of civil proceedings may take three to eight months, or possibly longer, to be deter- mined. In cases of genuine urgency, a party may file an application on an ex parte basis, without notify- ing the other party. Such applications are usually dealt with within a few working days from the date of filing. The CPR make a distinction between “General Disclosure” (covering documents on which the disclosing party intends to rely or which are nec- essary to enable the other parties to understand the disclosing party’s case) and “Specific Dis- closure” (covering documents which are in the possession or control of the disclosing party and which may support or adversely affect the case of any other party). All parties to claims in excess of EUR10,000 must provide a “General Disclosure” at least 14 days before the case is fixed for case manage- ment conference by filing a statement of witness in accordance with the specific form provided in the CPRs and serve a copy thereof together with copies of the disclosed documents to the other parties. Except if the court gives other direc- tions, a party may provide “Supplementary Gen- eral Disclosure” at any time but no later than six months before the case is fixed for hearing. The parties cannot submit as evidence any docu- ment which they failed to disclose and produce. 5. Discovery 5.1 Discovery and Civil Cases
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