OVERVIEW
Commercial law has been traditionally one of the cornerstones of our practice for more than a century. Amidst a rapidly evolving environment, we continue to provide innovative advice to our clients as they seek to create value through maximizing opportunities in the digital economy era. We stay at the forefront of the legal developments and ensure that our clients take decisions based on commercial law aspects which are critical for their business in order to grow and thrive. We provide comprehensive support on the following generic areas: (a) Commercial agreements and (b) Consumer Protection & Market Regulation. With respect to Commercial agreements, we have extensive experience in all stages from the drafting, negotiation, and conclusion or termination of all types of commercial agreements. In the area of Consumer Protection & Market Regulation we provide thorough and business-oriented solutions in all legal matters, whether in ‘offline’ or online commerce, such as matters pertaining to e-commerce, e-signatures, regulation of online platforms, intellectual property rights, product safety & marketability and consumer protection, unfair profiteering regulations, market regulation audits and price reduction initiatives. Through their long-term business relationships with institutional clients, our competent teams are fully cognizant of the various business sectors in which those clients operate; as such, they are in the best position to assist them in making the right decisions when addressing the legal needs of their commercial departments.
Our solutions include helpdesks which allow commercial executives to quickly solve day-to-day commercial law issues related to their operations. Also, our broad experience in commercial law allows us to advise and assist clients in negotiating all necessary agreements—a fact which helps them to build successful, long-term relationships with their counter-parties. We also have significant experience in helping multinational clients to adjust their global arrangements and strategies to Greek legal requirements, while promoting their groups’ global policies and procedures in the best possible manner.
In order to represent clients comprehensively in all commercial and consumer law matters, we often join forces with our dispute resolution team and where needed we work hand in hand with our accountants and economists in order to provide a holistic approach depending on the needs of our clients.
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Experience
Our general commercial law experience covers advisory support and drafting of contractual documents in relation to the full range of commercial issues and agreements, sale, purchase and supply contracts, terms and conditions, manufacturing, logistic, warehousing and promotion agreements and commercial co-operation schemes, to licensing, advertising and marketing agreements and strategies, outsourcing agreements, service level agreements, and commercial leases.
Commercial Agreements
As a number of our foreign clients conduct business in Greece through exclusive or non-exclusive local agents, distributors or franchisees, we have developed significant experience in advising on agency, distribution and franchise agreements. This includes the provision on our end of health checks and prevention mechanisms through legal assessment and evaluation of existing distribution & agency networks, advising on the negotiation and assisting with the drafting and formation of new agreements and of course assisting and evaluating the best way forward when such agreements are to be terminated either through an out of court settlement or through the path of dispute resolution. Our distinctive advantage lies on the impeccable synergies developed with our dispute resolution teams and of course our teams of dedicated economists and accountants, enabling us to provide a holistic approach from all angles to legal and/or economic matters which make the difference in commercial agreements. Finally, our team has a practical knowledge of how the market works in several industries and can therefore be a strong ally when clients intend to acquire former agents or distributors, combining forces with our M&A and anti-trust teams at the forefront.
E-commerce & Technology
Within our commercial law practice we have highly specialised E-commerce experts. Digitalization being at the forefront of many of our clients’ portfolios, we assist our clients in addressing the legal issues involved when taking their businesses worldwide. The ever-increasing digital economy has created a complex and sometimes labyrinthine legal framework in which we have developed extensive experience to assist our clients in the formation of their online sales in and out of Greece, their interaction with other online players, such as developers, third party platforms in compliance with EU and Greek e-commerce laws. We provide legal assistance to marketplaces and other online intermediary platforms with respect to the formation of their T&Cs as well as the rights and obligations of commercial users (merchants), marketplaces and consumers within the digital environment. We offer advice on the Digital Services and Digital Markets Act, monitoring their application in the Greek reality, as well as for any developments in every aspect of e-commerce in Greece. Our experts team often work hand in hand with our data privacy teams in order to provide a 360-degree support customized to the needs of our clients.
Consumer protection & Market regulation
We have in-depth knowledge and experience in advising our business clients in relation to any product related matter until such product has reached its final consumer and after, in a vast variety of industries. Our services span indicatively from the formation and review of consumer T&Cs, labelling, language requirements, provision of guarantees, promotional offers, discounts and rebates, T&Cs, warranty terms and others. Also, we often represent our clients before consumer protection authorities and the Consumers' Ombudsman or other public authorities such as the General State’s Laboratory for the compliance of goods with respect to REACH and CLP Regulations. These include major food and beverage companies, manufacturers of consumer products, as well as industry associations, such as direct selling. We also represent clients in cases of product liability either before Court or in Court proceedings and provide assistance in relation to unfair profiteering regulations, market regulation audits and price reduction initiatives among others.
Unfair Competition Practices
We undertake the assessment, and mitigation, of risks on a wide scope of practices and advise clients on the possibility of misleading, deceptive, dishonest, fraudulent conduct between competitors in the market. Combining forces with our expert Dispute Resolution team, we handle complaints and lawsuits on the basis of Unfair Competition laws. We also deal with unfair solicitation of employees between competitors and treatment of commercial secrets, with the input of our dedicated Employment & Labour team.
