Administrative law consists of the statutory provisions that govern the organization and functioning of public administration. Public administration comprises all state services as well as legal entities that exercise public authority.
The rule of law is a fundamental principle of Greek administrative law and is enshrined in the Greek Constitution. Lawful administrative action means that public authorities act in accordance with specific legal rules that are subject to judicial review.
Acts of the public administration are generally issued as administrative acts. These are categorized into regulatory acts and individual acts. Regulatory acts set out general, impersonal rules, while individual acts are personal in nature and govern only a specific case.
Greek law places particular emphasis on the judicial review of administrative acts and more broadly, on the oversight of public administration actions. The Greek legal system includes specialized administrative courts, similar to those in Germany, which have exclusive jurisdiction over administrative matters. These courts adjudicate legal disputes between the state, authorities and public bodies on one side, and citizens (natural or legal persons) on the other. The administrative court system includes the Administrative Court, the Supreme Administrative Court of Appeal, and the Council of State (Symvoulio tis Epikrateias), which corresponds to Germany’s Federal Administrative Court. The Court of Audit (Elegktiko Synedrio) is another supreme administrative court that deals exclusively with matters of a financial nature of the state (e.g., auditing state accounts or high‑value public contracts).
For many administrative disputes, a preliminary objection procedure is available before the authority that issued the contested act. This corresponds to the German “Widerspruchsverfahren”. Within this procedure, the citizen can present arguments for revoking or amending the act, allowing the authority to re-examine the conditions for its issuance. If the authority denies relief, the citizen may seek judicial recourse in the ordinary administrative courts.
(Status: November 2012. All information provided without guarantee.)