The Attorney-Client Privilege, broadly referred to under Greek law, as the ‘legal professional secrecy duty’, is primarily founded on the Greek Constitution provisions regarding the legal judicial protection, the freedom of personality and the confidentiality of communication; furthermore, it is explicitly defined in the Greek Attorneys’ Code, the Greek Criminal Code and the Criminal and Civil Procedural Code. 

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As a general rule, the Greek Attorneys’ Code (art. 5, 38 and 39) explicitly provides that the attorney must keep confidential all the information obtained during the exercise of his/ her professional duties, whereas, at the same time, prohibits the seizure of any document or other element that may belong to an attorney related to a case handled by the latter. Such rule applies in both civil and criminal proceedings. Furthermore, both Criminal (art. 212) and Civil Procedural Codes (art. 400 and 401), prohibit attorneys’ examination for facts and information which they obtained in the course of exercising their professional duties.  

Greek law 4557/2018 regarding the prevention and repression of the legalization of proceeds from criminal activities and financing of terrorism, as currently in force, provides for an exemption to the legal privilege in cases of money laundering. Moreover, the Greek Financial Crime and Anticorruption prosecutors are not bound by the privilege, thus they are entitled to have full access to an attorney’s legal files. For this purpose, they may issue orders/warrants (a) for search or discovery in the attorney’s office and/or (b) seizure of documents or other material in case an investigation is undergoing for a financial crime attributed to the attorney’s client. 

Although no specific test is applied under Greek law, in cases where the client is a legal entity, the privilege applies with respect to any disputes between the legal entity and any third party; however, the confidentiality privilege is disrupted in the case of any internal disputes.

As a general rule, the privilege applies to every aspect of the legal profession, irrespective of proceedings and without differentiation between outside and in-house counsels. More precisely, the Attorneys’ Code does not make any distinction between in-house counsels and ‘independent attorneys’. In-house counsels are considered legal professionals providing legal services and are not considered ‘employees’; therefore they continue to fall under the same disciplinary rules with the outside counsels concerning privilege.

Yes, the privilege can be asserted by in- house counsels as well.  

As mentioned above, Greek Attorneys’ Code does not make any distinction between in-house and outside counsels; thus in-house counsels are allowed to be active members of Greek Bar Associations. 

It is not explicitly recognized as a special doctrine.

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It is not compulsory; however the parties may sign an agreement in order to explicitly prevent themselves and their attorneys from disclosing confidential information obtained through a joint defense procedure. 

Law 3226/2004 provides for litigation funding by the State with the aim of legally assisting low-income citizens to access the legal system and seek judicial protection. Attorneys who handle such litigation cases are bound by the general principle of privilege provided by the Greek Attorneys’ Code, the Criminal Code, and the Criminal and Civil Procedural Codes.  

No, there is no such case law published to date. 

As a general rule, the privilege covers cases where an attorney, in the framework of his professional activities, receives information regarding an ongoing or future crime or fraud. 

However, as already mentioned, Law 4558/2018 provides for an important exemption concerning the above rule, since an attorney is obliged to report any suspicious transaction and cooperate with the competent authorities with the aim of prevention and repression of the legalization of proceeds from criminal activities and financing of terrorism. 

More precisely attorneys are obliged to inform the competent authorities (Ministry of Justice), disclosing any confidential information they possess, in every case they realize that their client asks for legal advice in order to proceed to money laundering or terrorism financing, and especially when the attorney receives the mandate, among others, in order to proceed to the purchase or selling property or business, the opening or administration of bank accounts or the establishment of financial consignments and the establishment, function and administration of trusts, funds or other legal entities of similar type. The privilege is also terminated in case the attorney himself/ herself takes part in the above illegal activities. 

It is underlined that attorneys are not obliged to disclose to the authorities any information regarding money laundering or/and terrorism financing if such information is received in the framework of representing their client in civil, criminal or administrative proceedings, including any pre-trial and post-trial legal actions.
Moreover the Greek Financial Crime and Anticorruption Prosecutors are not bound by the privilege; as a result, they are entitled to have full access to an attorney’s legal files and order a research or discovery in the attorney’s office or seizure of documents or other material, in case a financial crime is attributed to such attorney’s client. 

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Although this in not provided as a doctrine per se, according to the Code of Attorneys (art. 38), the disclosure, investigation and seizure of any documents, material and electronic data that are possessed by an attorney and concern a legal case handled by the latter, including information obtained or prepared in anticipation of litigation, is explicitly and absolutely forbidden. 

It is noted that a party might seek to obtain discovery of documents (including documents prepared in anticipation of litigation or for trial by or for another party or by or for that other party's representative) asking for such discovery to be ordered by the court where the case is pending. The competent court may order such discovery should the interested party proves the existence of the latter’s legal interest and specifically refers to the material and documentation which is subject of the relevant request; however it should be underlined that such discovery proceedings are between litigant parties and an attorney may not be subject of the relevant order which will be issued by the court because attorneys are bound by the duty of professional secrecy.

According to the Greek Accountants’ Code of Ethics (art. 8), the accountant must protect the confidentiality of any information he/she obtained as a result of his/ her professional and business relationships; furthermore, he must abstain from disclosing such information to third parties without permission or when there is no legal or professional obligation to do so.

Moreover, Law 449/2017 (art. 24), which introduced the application of the International Ethics Standards Board for Accountants to all Certified Public Accountants in Greece, provides that all information and documents that are accessible by certified public accountants are protected by the privilege of professional secrecy. 

According to Law 4640/2019 (art. 16), the mediator is obliged to keep confidential any information obtained during mediation or in relation thereto,, including the fact that mediation is about to take place or has already been conducted. There is an exemption to such privilege in cases where the mediator is obliged to act differently according to law or for public interest reasons or unless the parties involved explicitly agree on the disclosure of the relevant information.

According to Attorneys’ Code of Conduct (article 32), the attorneys are not allowed to be examined as witnesses before the courts for cases and facts that were obtained during negotiations or any attempts for the settlement of disputes.