Concluding Contracts in Greece

A contract is an agreement between parties which in a form of a document defines their rights and duties. It is intended to add a character of strict liability protected by legislation to the relationship of the partners. It is also supposed to provide legal consequences in the situation when one of the parties fails or has no intention to perform provided obligations, actually procuring the breach of the contract. In the modern society a contract is a main document establishing a variety of communication and regulating economic relations between individuals, between individuals and entities or between entities. Thus, according to law, transactions of purchase and sale, object rent, deposit, product delivery, surety, appropriation of profits, provision of various services, gratuitous transfer of property, loan and hiring employees, etc, are required to be documented in proper way by drawing up a corresponding contract. As a rule, this document is being drafted in a written form, but the legislation of different countries provides conclusion of oral contracts as well.

A contract usually contains the information about the contracting parties (personal data of the individuals or details of the legal entities), the information about their obligations, the conditions and forms of payment along with the sanctions in case of the violation of the prescribed obligations and the duration of the contract.

In Greece the contracts related to the transfer of ownership of movable and immovable property, private agreements such as marriage contract or cohabitation agreement, regularly are entrusted to a notary. The formalization of business relationship, such as drafting manufacture and supply contracts, fulfillment services arrangements, arrangements on work performance, etc., are falling within the terms of reference of a lawyer, as indeed presence at the registration of the aforementioned notarial acts. Contracts of employment are commonly managed by an accountant who serves an employing company. The employment contract form is mostly typical, as well as the one of a bank account agreement. The last one is recommended to be signed in the presence of a lawyer, especially if the potential owner of a bank account is a foreigner.

The success of a large or a small business along with other factors depends on degree of business activity. In manufacturing and trade the integral part of business development is finding new suppliers, manufacturers and consumers of all sorts of goods. In the service sector, besides ensuring quality of work, the main point is to attract more customers. The employees’ qualifications and competence is the basis of the functioning of any company.

The agreement details should be discussed by the contractors as accurately as possible in order to exclude ambiguity in interpretation of a document and its future use for a personal gain by one of the parties. Moreover, it is quite important to conceder nuances and to adhere to standards of the current legislation since the contract is a legal act. Foreigners intending to conclude an agreement or a contract in Greece in most cases tend to turn to legal advisers who are capable to provide corresponding services in a language accessible for them. Acting in such a way they are able to secure for themselves the greatest possible reliability of a transaction.

The Greek lawyer Svetlana Kasatkina-Kouskou performs services regarding assistance during transactions of any kind as well as noteworthy legal support in partnership negotiations and in drawing up contrasts of any complexity and range. Her personal professional experience jointly with long-term cooperation with highly qualified law and economics experts allow her to provide effective legal security to her clients and to represent their interests at the highest level.