In early 2018, a radical change to civil procedure was
introduced as a result of Law 4512/2018. The change relates to
compulsory mediation as an obligatory pre-trial stage for
certain civil and commercial disputes. IP-related cases are
included in these. Thus, before the filing of any IP-related
main action lawsuit, the claimant must follow the designated
mediation process, so that there is no procedural impediment to
the trial. These legal provisions were scheduled to apply to
any main action lawsuits filed from October 17 2018.
Criticism was voiced against these provisions. Critics noted
that the mandatory nature of the mediation contradicts the
fundamental right of access to justice. In relation to access
to justice, objections also arose regarding compulsory
mediation costs, as well as the fact that the mediator who is
appointed should not necessarily be a lawyer. In light of this
criticism, the Plenary of the Greek Bar Associations filed a
request before the Greek Supreme Court in order to decide on
the constitutionality of the compulsory mediation
provisions.
In its Decision No. 34/2018, the Plenary of the Greek
Supreme Court ruled by majority that the compulsory mediation
provisions contradict the Greek Constitution (Article 20.1),
the European Convention on Human Rights (Articles 6.1 and 13)
and the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union
(Article 47), namely by restricting the fundamental right of
access to justice.
In view of the above, and as a result of a recently filed
amendment to the Law, the application of compulsory mediation
has been suspended until September 16 2019 in order for the
above provisions to be in accordance with the decision of the
Plenary of the Greek Supreme Court. It will be interesting to
see whether, in the meantime, mandatory mediation for
IP-related cases is eliminated.
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| Georgios Panagopoulos |
Patrinos
& Kilimiris
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GR-11528 Athens
Greece
Tel: +30210 7222906, 7222050
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7222889
info@patrinoskilimiris.com
www.patrinoskilimiris.com