Interpretation and Application of the New York Convention in the Republic of Greece

Abstract

The New York Convention is well established in Greece and courts display a clear tendency to accept applications for enforcement of foreign arbitral awards by exercising caution when applying Convention grounds that would result in a refusal of recognition and enforcement. For example, Greek courts have never considered Article V (2) of the Convention ex officio. Further,the notion of public policy (Article V (2)(b))S is interpreted so narrowly that judicial review of awards in its name is particularly weakened. As will be developed further however, Greek courts give EU law a public policy dimension and tend to situate procedural due process violations (under Article V (1) (b)) under the rubric of public policy. Still, despite Greek openness to enforcement applications, vagueness and conflicting opinions remain an issue thanks to the uneven application of Convention rules under domestic law. For example, somewhat unique to Greek law is the fact that no provision is made for the limitation periods for the enforcement of a foreign arbitral award. As detailed below, changes to the Convention, including specification of a limitation period, would enhance uniformity in domestic law.