Greek Business Law
A Handbook for Businesses and Legal Practitioners
5
Issues in Civil Law
2.5. Commercial contracts
would involve financial or moral hardships that go beyond the call of duty. Such
hardship may, therefore, be treated as impossibility for which the debtor is not
accountable (art. 388, Civil Code).
2.5. Commercial contracts
Commercial contracts are normally divided into three types: (a) commercial
contracts
stricto sensu
(e.g. sale contracts); (b) service contracts (primarily work
contracts and freelance contracts); and (c) banking and finance contracts.
2.5.1. Commercial contracts stricto sensu
These contracts normally involve tangibles and their performance depends on
the existence (or absence) of actual and legal defects. Ordinary types of such
contracts are:
• contracts of sale of goods and exchange (arts 513 to 573, Civil Code),
both domestic and international; it is noteworthy that Greece has ratified
the United Nations Convention on Contracts for the International Sale of
Goods with Statute 2532/1997; and
• contracts of hire/lease of both movables and immovables (arts 574 to 647,
Civil Code).
2.5.2. Service contracts
Apart from contracts for work (arts 681 to 702, Civil Code), freelance contacts
and employment contracts (arts 648 to 680, Greek Civil Code), service contracts
include a wide variety of commercial arrangements such us brokerage (arts
703 to 708, Civil Code), carriage of goods by land, sea and air (arts 95 and 103,
Royal Decree of 1.5.1835 known as the Greek Commercial Statute the Commer-
cial Law), bailment (e.g. deposits and escrow pursuant to arts 822 to 833 of the
Greek Civil Code), voluntary agency (arts 730 to 740, Civil Code), agency and
commercial distribution (Presidential Decree 219/1991), franchising, factoring
(Statute 1905/1990) and trust.
2.5.3. Banking and finance contracts
Bankingandfinance contracts normally include loans (arts 806 to809, Civil Code),
revolving facilities (arts 361 and 874, Civil Code; art. 112, Introductory Law to the
Civil Code; art. 669, the Royal Decree of 1.5.1835 known as the Greek Commer-
cial Statute; and arts 35, 47 and 64 to 67, Legislative Decree of 17.7./13.8.1923),
money deposits, credit facilities (art. 4, Statute 3601/2007), letters of credits (arts
25 to 34, LegislativeDecree of 17.7 /13.8.1923), letters of guarantee (art. 7, Statute
440/1945), forfeiting, forward contracts, future contracts etc.
