A public online consultation has been launched over the Legislative Initiative of the Ministry of Justice introducing provisions on the Hellenic Data Protection Authority, the adaptation of Greek law on the protection of individuals with regard to the processing of personal data into Regulation (EU) 2016/679 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 27 April 2016 and the transposition into national law of Directive (EU) 2016/680 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 27 April 2016.
The consultation has been running from 12 August 2019 at 22:00, and will conclude on 20 August 2019 at 08:00.

After the lapse of the six-month period from the entry into force of GDPR, namely since December 2018, the Hellenic Data Protection Authority (hereinafter referred to as H.D.P.A.) has started investigating the compliance with GDPR and the EU & national e-Privacy legislation.

Marina Perraki takes part in mock mediation on an EUTM case presented at the Piraeus Bar Association.

The Hellenic DPA issued on 26.7.2019 its first GDPR fine against the company “PRICEWATERHOUSECOOPERS BUSINESS SOLUTIONS SA” (PWC BS) for breach of art. 5 par 1 & 2, and art. 6 par 1 (a) of GDPR amounting to 150.000€ and accompanied with other corrective measures (Decision no. 26/2019).

The Greek draft law implementing the European Trade Mark Directive 2015/2436 (the Directive) was uploaded on the compenet Ministry website for public consultation on January 11, 2019, and it will remain open for public consultation until February 01, 2019 (http://www.opengov.gr/ypoian/?p=9959).

The main points of the draft law include:

On Tuesday, February 21st, 2017, the Greek Association of Civil Procedure Jurists hosted Dr. Dimitris Tsibanoulis, in the Athens Bar Association.

On Thursday, May 9^th, 2019, the German- Hellenic Chamber of Industry and Commerce (GHCIC) in collaboration with the Hellenic Union of Mediators, organised a lecture on the subject “Mediation in Intellectual Property Disputes –The New Bill for Trademarks” within the series of lectures “Mediation in a rapidly involving environment”.

In one month the Regulation (EU) 2016/679 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 27 April 2016 on the protection of natural persons with regard to the processing of personal data and on the free movement of such data and repealing Directive 95/46/EC (hereinafter as GDPR) comes into force and Greek stakeholders have launched measures for compliance therewith.

Tsibanoulis & Partners successfully represented an American multinational conglomerate corporation before the Hellenic Data Protection Authority, in obtaining a license under the Hellenic Data Protection law for the cross-border transfer of personal data from Greece to the US and other non EU countries on the basis of the group’s Binding Corporate Rules.

 WTR - World Trademark Review 2019:“Operating a sophisticated IP practice as part of its full-service operation, Tsibanoulis & Partners is a cosmopolitan firm that is always on top of the latest legal developments across the continent. The firm is especially accomplished when it comes to mandates in the food and beverages, apparel, tourism and cosmetics industries.”

By virtue of law 4512/2018 which was published on 17.1.2018, all disputes concerning trademarks, patents and industrial designs initiated before civil courts are subject to obligatory mediation.

The same obligation is introduced for family, housing, remuneration, medical, and stock exchange disputes. Hearing of the cases shall be inadmissible if the obligatory mediation process stipulated in the law has not been followed. The provisions shall start to apply as of 17.10.2018.

The European Investment Bank (EIB) today signed an EUR 15 million financing agreement with Creta Farms SA, marking the first EIB transaction in Greece that benefits from the support of the EU budget guarantee under the European Fund for Strategic Investments (EFSI), the financing arm of the Investment Plan for Europe.