Υπ. Of Justice: Arrangements for the smooth reopening of courts and prosecutors’ offices

Arrangements for the smooth reopening of the country’s courts and prosecutor’s offices, after the end of their suspension, due to the weather phenomena of the last week, are enacted by an Act of Legislative Content. According to the Ministry of Justice, “the purpose of the regulations is to protect the substantive and procedural rights of the parties”.

In particular, according to the Ministry of Justice, the following are provided for the areas in which the operation of the courts has been suspended:

“Arrangements for civil proceedings

1. Without prejudice to par. 3, the period from 25 January 2022 to 28 January 2022, during which the operation of courts and prosecutor’s offices was suspended due to force majeure under nos. 4034 / 24.1.2022 (ΒΔ 186) and 4035 / 26.1.2022 (ΒΔ 190) decisions of the Minister of Justice, is not counted in the legal and judicial deadlines for conducting procedural acts before courts and related extrajudicial acts, as well as other actions before courts, notaries as auctioneers, mortgage offices, cadastral offices and other third parties having their registered office or residence in the areas of the above decisions, as well as the statute of limitations for the related claims.

2. All kinds of auctions, with the exception of auctions of items that are subject to wear and tear, which have been determined to take place from 2 February 2022 to 18 February 2022 before auction officials based in the areas of the decisions of par. are not performed and are repeated on the seventh day from the originally scheduled date of their conduct, applying the procedure of par. 2 of article 966 KPold.

3. Especially for the submission of proposals and addition – rebuttal before courts, whose operation was suspended under no. 4034 / 24.1.2022 and 4035 / 26.1.2022 of decisions of the Minister of Justice, the period from 24 January 2022 until the publication of the present, is not calculated in the deadlines of articles 237 and 238, par. 2 of article 468, of in par. 1 of article 591, of par. 1 of article 524, of par. 2 of article 509, of the second paragraph of article 548 of the Code of Civil Procedure (p.d. 503/1985, A ‘182 [ΚΠολΔ]), as well as the deadlines set in Law 2915/2001 (A ‘109). The deadlines provided in the above provisions and which would expire during the aforementioned period, are extended and expire seven (7) days from the publication of this. The deadline for filing a note granted by the President of the court during the discussion of an application for interim measures, is extended and completed at the corresponding time of the third (3rd) working day from the publication of this.

4. In the pending cases of the old regular procedure of the Multi-Member Court of First Instance, as well as in the pending trials before the Court of Appeal, in the case of courts whose operation was suspended under no. 4034 / 24.1.2022 and 4035 / 26.1.2022 of decisions of the Minister of Justice and concern appeals in absentia of decisions, which had been issued in the same procedure, if the time before the trial, in which the motions and the objections must be submitted at the latest of the parties, falls within the period of suspension of the functioning of the civil courts, and the parties have not already submitted motions and objections with their relevant evidence and procedural documents, the relevant trials, which have been determined to be tried after the period from the 25 to 28 January 2022, are obligatorily postponed at the request of any of the parties, free of charge and without the obligations of article 241 of the ICCPR.

5. Regarding lawsuits before courts, whose operation was suspended under no. 4034 / 24.1.2022 and 4035 / 26.1.2022 of decisions of the Minister of Justice, in case the deadlines of article 228, of case b ‘of par. 1 of article 591, of par. 2 of article 686 and of par. 3 of Article 748 of the ECHR, as well as any other deadlines for summoning the parties have expired or are expiring within the period from 25 to 28 January 2022 and the remaining time from their publication until the discussion of the legal remedy or means is not sufficient. for the observance of these deadlines, the cases are obligatorily postponed at the request of any of the parties, free of charge and without the obligations of article 241 of the ICCPR.

6. Provisional orders of articles 691A and 781 KPold, issued by courts, whose operation was suspended under no. 4034 / 24.1.2022 and 4035 / 26.1.2022 of decisions of the Minister of Justice, as well as temporary orders or provisions of decisions on requests for suspension of execution or enforceability in cases of any nature and procedure, which were granted until the canceled due to the suspension of the trial of the relevant application or it was determined that they are valid under the condition of conducting this discussion, they are considered automatically extended until the new trial, which will be defined.

7. Regarding lawsuits before courts, whose operation was suspended under no. 4034 / 24.1.2022 and 4035 / 26.1.2022 of decisions of the Minister of Justice, when the period of time, from 31 January 2022 until the debate, is not sufficient to meet, in relation to the defined court, the deadlines for the exercise of additional reasons or of the counterclaim or additional grounds of opposition, the hearing must be adjourned at the request of the parties, free of charge and without the obligations of Article 241 of the ICCPR. In the above case, the non-exercise of the additional reasons or the objection by the party that requested the postponement, has as a consequence the imposition of a penalty order according to article 205 of the ICCPR.

8. In the pending cases before the Supreme Court, when the deadline for submission of proposals according to par. 1 of article 570 KPold or the deadline for submission of documents according to par. 3 of article 570 KPold expires or expires within the period from 25 January 2022 until January 28, 2022, but the hearing of the appeal has been determined shorter than the completion of the above deadlines, the party with the corresponding weight is entitled to submit a request for postponement of the hearing of the appeal. In these cases, the court is obliged to grant a postponement, free of charge and without the obligations of article 241 of the ICCPR. If the party does not take the actions for which he was granted the adjournment, he is sentenced according to article 205 of the ICCPR.

Arrangements for criminal proceedings

The period during which the operation of courts and prosecutor’s offices was suspended due to force majeure under no. 4034 / 24.1.2022 (ΒΔ 186) and 4035 / 26.1.2022 (ΒΔ 190) decisions of the Minister of Justice, is not taken into account for the calculation of the deadline for submitting a complaint or the deadlines for exercising all the provisions of the Code of Criminal Procedure [ν. 4620/2019, (Α` 96)] and the special criminal laws of appeals, quasi-appeals and appeals before the above courts. After the expiration of the above suspension, these deadlines continue for as long as there is time left to complete the corresponding deadline provided by law.

Arrangements for administrative proceedings

The period during which the operation of the Council of State, the Court of Auditors and the Ordinary Administrative Courts was suspended due to force majeure under no. 4034 / 24.1.2022 (ΒΔ 186) and 4035 / 26.1.2022 (ΒΔ 190) decisions of the Minister of Justice, is not counted in the legal and judicial deadlines for conducting procedural acts before the above courts and the related acts before of Management. After the expiration of the above suspension, these deadlines continue for as long as there is time left to complete the respective deadline provided by law “.

Source: AMPE