Compulsory Enforcement in Greece

Whether a payment action abroad or a cross-border order for payment procedure is the appropriate route is decided on a case-by-case basis, weighing economic considerations such as duration, costs, national particularities, and procedural and substantive legal criteria.

Recognition and enforcement: the abolition of the exequatur procedure

The enforcement of German judgments and titles in civil and commercial matters in Greece is today governed primarily by the Brussels Ia Regulation (EU) No 1215/2012, which has replaced the earlier Brussels I Regulation (EC) No 44/2001 since 10 January 2015. The key change is that the former exequatur procedure – the separate declaration of enforceability of a foreign title by a Greek court prior to its enforcement – has been abolished entirely. Under Article 39 of the Brussels Ia Regulation, a decision given in Germany and enforceable there is directly enforceable in Greece without any declaration of enforceability being required – a foreign title is enforced under the same conditions as a domestic Greek title. The same applies, in principle, to authentic instruments and court settlements.

The debtor can no longer object pre-emptively, but only after the fact: they may apply to the competent Greek court for refusal of enforcement (Article 46 of the Brussels Ia Regulation), relying essentially on the same narrow grounds that previously precluded a declaration of enforceability – in particular a breach of Greek public policy, improper or untimely service of the document instituting the proceedings on a defendant who did not appear, irreconcilability with a decision already given in Greece, or a breach of the jurisdiction rules in insurance, consumer, or employment matters. The creditor need only submit a copy of the decision and the certificate provided for under Article 53 of the Brussels Ia Regulation issued by the court of origin; legal representation is likewise mandatory in Greece for this purpose. Since Greek courts regularly require translations of the documents in practice, it is advisable to enclose these from the outset.

For matters of civil status, family law, and succession law – which are not covered by the Brussels Ia Regulation – the German-Greek Agreement of 4 November 1961 on the mutual recognition and enforcement of court decisions remains relevant.

The European Enforcement Order for uncontested claims

For uncontested claims (including judgments by acknowledgment, enforcement judgments, and default judgments, as well as notarised acknowledgments of debt), Regulation (EC) No 805/2004 on the European Enforcement Order continues to exist alongside the above, enabling direct enforcement without any intermediate procedure. However, since the exequatur procedure was abolished for all titles by the Brussels Ia Regulation, this separate instrument has lost much of its practical significance, as “ordinary” titles are now likewise enforceable without an intermediate procedure; it nonetheless remains relevant in particular for direct dealings with Denmark, which does not participate in the Brussels Ia Regulation.

Compulsory enforcement in practice

Even after the abolition of the exequatur procedure, practical obstacles remain: debtors not infrequently raise objections concerning service or formal defects and make use of every available remedy to delay proceedings. Under Article 982 of the Greek Code of Civil Procedure (ΚΠολΔ), wages, pensions, and social security benefits are, in principle, exempt from attachment by ordinary private creditors, subject to narrow exceptions including maintenance claims of minor children or the spouse, and certain claims of the state and social security institutions; the income of self-employed persons is, moreover, often difficult to ascertain. Similarly, assets are sometimes transferred to third parties in anticipation of impending enforcement, against which the creditor can then only proceed by way of ordinary court proceedings.

Practical note: Before initiating enforcement proceedings in Greece, a Greek attorney experienced in debt collection matters should always be instructed to examine the debtor’s actual financial situation, in order to ensure that realistically enforceable assets exist at all.