Article
-Law 5193/2025, PART Z: "Expansion of the Criteria for Debt Settlement through the Out-of-Court Debt Settlement Mechanism and Other Provisions", Articles: 175-185
-Law 5072/2023, PART D: "Provisions for the Protection of Debtors – Amendment of Law 4738/2020", Articles: 64-89
-Law 5024/2023, PART C: "Other Urgent Regulations of the Ministry of Finance", Articles: 39-43
-Law 4738/2020, Book One: 'Prevention of Insolvency', Articles: 1-64, Book Two: 'Bankruptcy', Articles: 75-211, Book Three: 'Enhancement of Effectiveness and Monitoring Clauses - Vulnerable Debtors', Articles: 212-226, as amended by Law 4818/2021, Part III: 'Provisions for the Debt Settlement and Facilitation of Second Chance - Amendments to Law 4738/2020 and other provisions', Articles: 34-56, and Law 5043/2023, Part VIII: 'Other Urgent Provisions', Article: 75
-Article 7, 107 et seq. BC, 108 BC, 109 BC, 115, 118, 120, and 120a BC, 124 BD, 128 BC of Law 4446/2016; Articles 14 and 15 of Law 4491/2017; Articles 107-131 of Law 3588/2007; Article 12 of Law 4013/2011
Description
-Significant Amendments have been introduced to the Out-of-Court Debt Settlement Mechanism under Law 5193/2025.
Mandatory Restructuring Proposals for a Broader Category of Debtors
Under the new legal framework, financial institutions are now required to provide restructuring proposals to a wider group of borrowers. Specifically, when debtors meet up to twice the income and asset thresholds of the “vulnerable debtor” category, and their overdue debts to financial institutions do not exceed €300,000, the institutions are deemed to have consented to a counterproposal formed by the majority of creditors. This legislative change broadens the scope of mandatory creditor engagement in debt restructuring processes.
Obligation to Offer Settlement Before Foreclosure
Creditors are now legally bound to present a restructuring offer in writing to the debtor at least three months before initiating foreclosure proceedings. However, this obligation applies only if the debtor is registered in the personalised information system established under Article 13 of Law 5072/2023. Furthermore, it pertains solely to foreclosure actions initiated for the first time after the enactment of the new law, thereby excluding those that follow previous cancellations or suspensions.
Right to Submit a New Application
One of the most impactful transitional provisions introduced by Article 185 of Law 5193/2025 allows eligible debtors to reapply for debt settlement within a strict two-month window from the law's effective date. This opportunity is available to those who meet up to double the vulnerability criteria outlined in Article 14(3) and whose previous applications were rejected. This provision exempts applicants from the standard one-year waiting period typically required after rejection. Notably, if the debtor had previously settled debts owed to public entities, these will remain unaffected by the new application.
Similarly, legal entities that lost access to previous restructuring agreements due to non-payment of three consecutive instalments are now permitted, under the same two-month transitional period, to submit a new request for restructuring debts owed to the State and Social Security Institutions. This deviates from the general rule that prohibits a new application within a year of the prior one and from the rule that public debts settled through the out-of-court mechanism cannot be restructured again using the same process.
-Law 5072/2023 brought substantial changes to the regulatory framework for loan servicers and both vulnerable and non-vulnerable borrowers. It also amended provisions of Law 4738/2020 concerning the out-of-court debt settlement mechanism and bankruptcy procedures.
Key Reforms for Loan Management Firms, Borrowers, and Insolvency Procedures
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A core element of the new law is the imposition of specific obligations on debt management companies, requiring them to act in good faith and fairness when interacting with borrowers. They are now explicitly required to offer clear, truthful information and to ensure the protection of borrowers’ personal data and privacy. Communications must remain professional, without exerting pressure or harassment. Additionally, loan servicers must inform borrowers of any loan transfers, providing full details of both the acquiring party and the servicer itself (Article 13)
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A new digital information system (platform) must be launched by April 1, 2024. Through this portal, borrowers will be able to access detailed information about their debt, including outstanding balances, breakdowns of principal and interest, payment due dates, and servicing account details. Until the platform is operational, loan servicers are required to provide this information in writing within 30 days of a borrower's request (Articles 13 and 39)
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Another notable development is the introduction of a tripartite supervisory system over loan servicing firms. Previously, oversight was solely under the Bank of Greece. Now, supervision also includes the Hellenic Data Protection Authority and the Ministry of National Economy and Finance
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The law codifies the legal standing of debt servicers to act in court, including initiating enforcement actions—even for loans transferred under Law 3156/2003. This aligns with Supreme Court ruling 1/2023, which clarified this right.
Significant changes were introduced to enhance the functionality and accessibility of the out-of-court debt settlement mechanism:
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Expanded eligibility: Third parties who are jointly liable for debts—such as partners in general partnerships—can now apply for settlements on behalf of dissolved or defunct legal entities, provided the debts concern the public sector or social security institutions (Article 64)
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Mandatory creditor reporting: Financial institutions must submit detailed data to the platform, including co-debtors, guarantors, collateral, and account information, within set deadlines. Non-compliance exceeding 60 days may result in fines up to €300,000 (Article 65)
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Binding outcomes for vulnerable debtors: When a vulnerable debtor (as certified) applies through the platform, the resulting settlement proposal becomes binding for all creditors—public or private (Article 66)
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Restrictions on debt forgiveness: The platform can no longer be used to erase social security contributions (Article 68).
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Extended legal effects: Debt arrangements now apply not only to the applicant but also to any third parties who are jointly liable, further strengthening the legal force of these agreements (Article 68)
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Advance payment to halt foreclosures: Creditors may request a down payment of up to 10% of the outstanding principal if a foreclosure is pending—provided the debtor is not classified as vulnerable—as a condition to suspend the auction process (Article 116).
Amendments to Bankruptcy Procedures:
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Redefined criteria for small-scale bankruptcies: Entities must now meet all three criteria simultaneously (assets ≤ €350,000, revenue ≤ €700,000, and ≤10 employees) to qualify for small-scale procedures. Previously, meeting two out of three sufficed (Article 70)
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Flexibility in application process: Incomplete or incorrect filings will no longer render an application inadmissible; applicants may correct documents up until the hearing date (Article 71). Courts are also required to explicitly confirm both the objective and subjective conditions for declaring bankruptcy (Article 72)
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Change in discharge procedure: Previously, debt discharge followed automatically after a specific period (one or three years). Now, it requires a formal request and a judicial decision by the bankruptcy judge (Article 86)
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Discharge from debts despite criminal convictions: A pivotal reform allows bankrupt individuals to be discharged from public debts even if they have been criminally convicted for failing to pay such debts—a major shift from prior practice where such convictions blocked discharge (Article 88).
-Law 5024/2023, along with the subsequent Ministerial Decisions No. 40953/2023 (OGG 1610 A/16.03.2023) and 40992/2023 (OGG 1610 A/16.03.2023), introduced several significant changes to the operation of the out-of-court debt settlement mechanism in Greece.
Key Amendments to the Extrajudicial Debt Settlement Mechanism Introduced by Law 5024/2023 and Ministerial Decisions 40953/2023 & 40992/2023:
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Mandatory justification for non-consent: One of the most impactful changes is the obligation for both creditors (financial institutions) and debtors to provide a justified explanation if they reject the debt restructuring proposal generated by the algorithmic tool of the platform
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Reduction in interest rates for public creditors: A major practical improvement implemented by the ministerial decisions is the reduction in the interest rate applied to restructured debts owed to public sector entities (such as the Tax Authority and Social Security Funds). The previous floating rate (3-month Euribor + 5%) has been replaced by a fixed interest rate of 3%
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Option to exclude performing loans: Debtors are now allowed to request, upon submitting their application, that performing or already-restructured loans with financial institutions remain unaffected by the new restructuring agreement. Only other debts (to public bodies or other financial creditors) will be subject to restructuring. However, the monthly instalments of the unaffected loans must not deviate by more than 15% from the payment amount calculated by the platform's tool for those debts
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Discount for early repayment: A full waiver of unpaid interest is available for public sector debts in cases where the debtor opts to repay the entire restructured amount in a lump sum
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Inclusion of broader categories of debts: The mechanism has been expanded to include debts to third parties that are collected by public authorities — such as debts owed to municipalities — not just obligations to financial institutions, the Tax Authority, or Social Security Funds.
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Abolition of the 90% Creditor Concentration Rule: Previously, if more than 90% of a debtor’s obligations were owed to a single financial creditor, they were excluded from applying for the mechanism. This restriction has now been removed, opening the process to a broader group of applicants
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Mandatory bilateral process with the public sector: If financial creditors reject a debt restructuring proposal, the process must proceed bilaterally with the public sector (Tax Authority and Social Security Funds) to determine if a partial settlement is still possible for those debts
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Access to debt certificates: Individuals and legal entities can now request a certificate through the platform listing their verified debts to financial institutions, the State, and Social Security Funds
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Deletion of inactive applications: Applications that remain incomplete and are not under revision will be automatically deleted after 90 days and treated as if they were never submitted
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New rules on asset valuation: Changes have been made regarding how the value of movable assets is assessed within the platform's debt restructuring process.
-Law 4738/2020 (as amended by Law 4818/2021) abolishes Law 3588/2007 (known as Bankruptcy Code) and integrates into the national legislation the EU Directive 2019/1023 on preventive restructuring frameworks, discharge of debt and disqualifications, and on measures to increase the efficiency of procedures concerning restructuring, insolvency, and discharge of debt (the EU Restructuring Directive). The new Law can be categorised in two sections:
Preventive (pre-insolvency) restructuring
This includes:
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Early warning of debtors (both individuals and legal entities) via an electronic mechanism supervised by the Special Secretariat for Private Debt Management, as well as advisory practices provided by Borrower Service Centres and Professional Bodies (i.e.Chambers or Professional Associations). Debtors are classified in three levels of insolvency risk -low, moderate, high. The mechanism is activated upon a request of the interested party and not automatically on the initiative of a third party;
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Extrajudicial settlement of (natural persons and/or legal entities) monetary liabilities to the Greek State, the Financial Institutions (including servicers), and to the Social Security Institutions. The procedure is initiated, either at the request of the debtor through the Special Secretariat for Private Debt Management e-platform, or at the initiative of the creditors by notifying the debtor by a letter. For the restructuring agreement consent criteria, besides the debtor's consent, require the 60% of financial institutions and, at least, the 40% of secured creditors. Upon submitting the restructuring application and during negotiation procedures, financial institutions stay any Code of Conduct action, or any enforcement action(s). State and Social Security Institutions can restructure and write- off debts to them and, most importantly, debtors who have settled, or who have not delayed, for a period exceeding three months, their debts are eligible to a subsidy to repay their loans secured by their main residence, for five years from the date of application. For a debtor to receive the grant, the total amount of debt must be at least €20,000 and the balance of debt not to exceed €135,000 for a single-person household, increased by €20,000 for each additional member, and up to a maximum of €215,000 per debtor. Debtors with >90% to one financial institution are excluded while, debts towards third parties are not restructured under this process;
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Pre-insolvency business recovery process concerning persons with a business activity and providing for debt restructuring, with or without business transfer. The process recognises two categories of creditors -those under a special privilege, and all others (unsecured creditors and creditors with general privileges) affected by the rehabilitation agreement, the conclusion of which, requires a 50% consent (even via electronic voting) of each category, with the possibility of bypassing these majorities under certain conditions. The principle of non-deterioration of the position of creditors is explicitly stated, as it, is the deemed consent under clear conditions of the State and the Social Security Institutions. In cases not covered by the provision on deemed consent, discharge of liability for employees (for public or private bodies), who consent to the rehabilitation agreement, is provided. The rehabilitation process, contrary to bankruptcy, does not constitute grounds for termination of the debtor’s outstanding contracts and as such, it should specify its consequences on employees' employment and earnings, and should not entail employees' claims in precautionary measures except, for a good reason and for a specified time.
Bankruptcy proceedings
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Insolvency capacity, for the first time, is granted to all natural persons regardless of whether they have a commercial status, as well as to legal persons pursuing an economic purpose;
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The cessation of payments term is defined, as quantitative criteria are provided addressing the debtor categories based on the size of the bankruptcy estate and not on legal capacity – form. As such, large scale insolvencies follow the ordinary insolvency process ending, either in the liquidation of the debtor’s business or parts of it as a “going concern” or in “piecemeal liquidation” using the e-auction mechanism;
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The Bankruptcy Officer is nominated in the application for the declaration of bankruptcy, and the Court is provided with the written statement of acceptance of such nomination;
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The Electronic Insolvency Registry is established, the data of which (announcements of creditors’ claims, decisions and
acts, etc.) are publicly available;
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The declaration of bankruptcy causes the automatic and without cost termination of all pending and permanent contracts of the debtor within 60 days;
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The creditors' Assembly role is enhanced especially in the context of the tender process ratification, while limiting Court intervention;
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Insolvency proceedings are accelerated, while insolvency is automatically terminated within five years of its declaration;
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A simplified and faster process for addressing small-scale insolvencies as the application is submitted electronically through the Electronic Insolvency Registry and run by lower courts (District Civil Court -”Eirinodikio”). Targeted debtor audience consists of consumers/natural persons (with assets up to €350,000), entrepreneurs and smaller enterprises (with total assets: €350,000, net turnover: €700,000, average number of employees during the period: 10 persons).
The bankruptcy code provides for two proceedings that are relevant to the restoration of a failed enterprise to financial health; the recovery procedure that precedes bankruptcy and the reorganisation plan, which is considered after the declaration of bankruptcy.
Pre-bankruptcy recovery procedure
A debtor either in cessation of payments or in a situation of imminent cessation of payments may file for the ratification of recovery agreement already reached with the qualified majority of creditors (60% of the total claims, 40% of which should be secured). In addition, any debtor that is not in cessation of payments or in a situation of imminent cessation of payments can be subject to the recovery procedure, provided that the court considers it probable that the debtor will become insolvent, and insolvency can be lifted through implementation of the recovery procedure.
The agreement may consists of a prepack sale of all or part of the business, a disposition of assets, a debt-equity swap, or a change of the term of existing obligations, such as a write-down of the debt, extension of the repayment date, alteration of the interest rate or replacement of the obligation to pay interest by the obligation to provide the creditor with a share of the profits; such changes to liabilities may also be accomplished through a refinancing of existing debt or through the issue of a bond loan that may also include a convertibility feature. From the submission of the recovery agreement to the Bankruptcy Court until its decision there is an automatic uphold for a four-month period on all individual and collective enforcement measures against the debtor. Such automatic moratorium is granted to the debtor only once. In case the court’s decision is not published within the four-month period, the court may grant a suspension on all individual and collective enforcement measures against the debtor or any other preventive measure.
Before the submission of the recovery agreement, a moratorium may also be granted - at the request of the debtor or the creditors - if a creditors’ declaration in writing of 20% of the total claims is submitted, provided that there is an imminent danger. Such uphold can be granted by the court only once and for a maximum period of four months. There are three main criteria for the ratification of an agreement reached by the debtor and the qualified majority of creditors as set out above. First, it must result in a viable business and lift the debtor out of cessation of payments (or prevent it from reaching this state). Second, it must not leave any non-consenting creditors in a less favourable position than they would be in bankruptcy liquidation. Third, each non-consenting creditor may not be treated less favourably than any other creditor of the same rank or priority.
The Bankruptcy Court will not examine the debtor’s viability if the following conditions are met:
- contracting creditors agree with the content of the business plan;
- the recovery agreement contains listing of contracting and non-contracting creditors,
- the claims of which are expected to be effected from the materialisation of the recovery agreement; and the recovery agreement along with the business plan were served to all non-contracting creditors;
- the claims of which are effected from the recovery agreement, as for instance, when the recovery agreement, as for instance, when the recovery agreement provides for their write-off or for an extension of the repayment date.
A pre-bankruptcy recovery agreement will be judicially ratified if:
- it is signed by creditors representing a majority of 60% of the total claims, 40% of which should be secured; it renders the debtor viable;
- non-signatory creditors receive at least as much as they would receive through bankruptcy liquidation;
- it does not violate any mandatory legislation, such as competition law, or is the result of fraud conducted by the debtor or any creditor or any third party;
- creditors of the same class are treated equally and any exceptions are justifiable by important business or social reasons;
- and it lifts the debtor out of cessation of payments.
The reorganisation plan
Any debtor may propose a reorganisation plan either along with its bankruptcy petition or within three months of being declared bankrupt. The three-month period may be extended by the reporting judge only once and up to one additional month if it is proved that the extension is not detrimental to creditors’ interests and the plan will be accepted by the creditors. The proposed reorganisation plan must include:
* information relating to the current financial situation of the debtor;
* at least one proposed form of reorganisation; and information relating to payments to creditors. The latter is subject to one restriction: the proposed debt settlement must not prejudice creditors’ classification.
The plan must provide for secured creditors, general preferential creditors, unsecured creditors and subordinated creditors. Employee claims constitute a particular class. Claims of unsecured creditors that are of diminished value may be classified separately. Within a particular class, more than one group of creditors may be provided. The plan must provide equal treatment among creditors of the same class, or among creditors of the same group.
The plan shall be approved by a majority of creditors representing 60% of the debtor’s debt, at least 40% of which represent secured debt. With respect to a recovery agreement, pursuant to the provisions of the GBC (Greek Bankruptcy Code), a guarantor’s or co-debtor’s liability is limited to the value of the claim against the debtor, as such claim was reduced in accordance with the ratified agreement and provided that the relevant creditor consented to the reduction. There is a similar provision with respect to a reorganisation plan.