“Greek Law Digest – The Official Guide to Greek Law” is a useful information tool for persons and entities wishing to exploit opportunities in Greece. It presents the operation of Greek law in a systematic and comprehensible manner, offering reliable and detailed answers to all issues of concern to interested entrepreneurs and investors.
The Athens Chamber of Commerce and Industry has, from the very beginning, supported the effort to create this Guide. The product of this effort, in the form of a publication distinguished for its comprehensiveness,
scientifc accuracy, and documentation, fully justifes our expectations. This is a publication that can help Greece stand up to the greatest challenge it is currently facing: to achieve economic recovery and sustainable growth, by attracting private investment, reconstituting the country’s productive base, and utilising its comparative advantages.
This requires the establishment of a more favourable investment and business environment, the key feature of which will be the stability and clarity of the legal and institutional framework, the upgrading of the services offered by the public administration, the enhancement of competition in the markets, as well as the encouragement of investments through the provision of targeted tax, and other, incentives.
Modernising the legislation, as well as the administration and dispensation of Justice, is a main prerequisite for the creation of an ecosystem that is conducive to entrepreneurship and investment. To this end, Greece’s Chamber Community has already taken a series of initiatives, in collaboration with the Legal Community and with a focus on utilising the capabilities of Arbitration and Mediation. In the past few years, we have been systematically investing in this area, with the aim of developing reliable structures and services that will help the country’s business and legal communities produce signifcant time- and cost-savings in investment planning and realisation.
The frst actual step in this effort was the establishment of the “Mediation Centre”, which is operating since 2013, as part of the organizational structure of the Athens Chamber of Commerce and Industry. The Centre employs certifed mediators, and its services include, among other things, the provision of information and guidance, the technical organisation of mediation proceedings, the coordination of communication among the interested parties, the management of economic parameters, as well as the provision of a series of logistics services.
Moreover, in order to enrich and expand our activities in this feld, we established the Arbitration and Alternative Dispute Resolution Institute (Idemed). The Institute aims at the wider promotion of Alternative Dispute Resolution, by bringing together the scientists, professionals, and entrepreneurs who are familiar, or wish to get acquainted with, the advantages of Arbitration, as well as the other alternative dispute resolution methods, and want to take advantage of the speed, reliability, and quality solutions these methods can offer.
The Arbitration and Alternative Dispute Resolution Institute also seeks to help improve the Greek justice dispensation system by contributing to the further education and information of any interested party, and by making the knowledge and drive of its Founders available to a new and very interesting feld, which will give new impetus to Greece’s commercial activities and legal institutions.
Idemed aspires to contribute to the optimum development of alternative dispute resolution methods, on one hand by promoting the research and study of legislative, case-law, and scientifc approaches and developments in Greece and abroad, and on the other hand by facilitating collaboration and networking with agencies and scientifc societies for the realisation of information and dissemination initiatives.
We believe that the collaboration of the institutional bodies of Greek entrepreneurship with Greece’s legal community and the highly competent scientists comprising it can provide a strong impetus to the national effort to attract investment, enhancing the investors’ sense of security.
Investment in knowledge and the development of innovative tools must be at the epicentre of this joint action. The Greek Law Digest, along with the structures developed by the Greek Chamber Community in the feld of mediation, are typical examples of the benefts that can accrue to both domestic and foreign investors, as well as the Greek economy and society.Constantine Michalos
