Mr Athanasios Chr Safaris > Avramopoulos & Partners > Athens, Greece > Lawyer Profile

Mr Athanasios Chr Safaris

+30 (210)6912200 a.safaris@avralaw.gr View profile

Work Department

Projects and Privatization, Employment, EU and Competition, Dispute Resolution, IT and Data Protection, Intellectual Property, Entertainment

Position

Senior Partner.

Career

Athanassios Safaris joined Avramopoulos & Partners in 2010 and currently co-leads the litigation department together with Michael C. Poulakos, after having served as an outside counsel to the Firm for a number of years.

Athanassios has been serving for many years as legal consultant for a number of companies such as Philippos Nakas SA, Argo SA Plastics and T. Tsiknias SA.  Ιn the area of public procurement, he has handled various cases and projects and represented companies before the Greek Courts such as Menarini DiagnosticMedical Instruments and Multirama AEBE and drafted contracts for companies such as AWA Wagering Ltd. and Tideland Signal Limited. From 2009 until 2011, he worked with the Trade Association of Paros in the area of urban law. Furthermore, he handled annulment cases in the Vari Community on the island of Syros and the municipalities of Posidonia and Ano Syros in the areas of public procurement, military and environmental law.  He also participated in several joint ventures that were awarded with the drafting of the National Land Registry in Greece. In the area of competition law and distribution agreements, he handled cases of several local car dealers, who were members of the distribution nets of major auto producers.

He has also published articles entitled, “The Responsibility of the EEC for Economic Policy Measures” (published in the newspaper Nomiko Vima, Athens, 1981) and “The European Free Movement of Professional Football Players from the German and Greek View” (published in the German magazine Europarecht, 1982). Lastly, he participated in the preparation of the study, “Community Debts and Claims” (Dettes et Creances Communautaires) on behalf of the legal department of the EEC (study of the legal relationships between individuals and national authorities under the common agricultural policy).

Recent Experience:   

• Provision of legal services and advice to a Spanish listed company in relation to existing disputes deriving from a contract for the project management, engineering, procurement and construction management of a refinery upgrading project.

• Provision of legal advice and support to a multinational printing company against indemnification claims by its former dealer in Greece.

• Provision of legal advice and services to the contractor of the project (joint venture of five companies: four Italian and one Greek) for the design, construction and commissioning of the Thessaloniki metro. These services included: negotiations with the Greek legal counsels of the state, drafting of new legislation on mediation procedures, drafting of a complaint before the EU authorities, etc. The project comprises of an underground line of two tracks of 9.6 kilometers in length, thirteen stations, the depot, etc. It also includes the procurement of 18 trains and the commissioning of all systems, including training of the operational personnel.

• Provision of legal advice and support for the preparation and filing of a complaint by a Greek distributor with the Greek Competition Authority; this complaint was against a car manufacturer for violation of the Greek and EU antitrust legislation.

• Provision of legal advice and support for the participation of a UK company in a tender for the modernization of the Greek Seas Light Beacons Network proclaimed by the Ministry of Defense.

• Provision of legal advice to a US subsidiary in Greece on transfer pricing aspects, implementation of newly enacted tax legislation, imposition of stamp duty on corporate lending and financing, implementation of treaties for the avoidance of double taxation between Greece and various jurisdictions.  

• Provision of legal advice and services to a Greek state radio and television organization in relation to the transfer and distribution of its TV channels’ signal to the US in accordance with the terms of a relevant tender.

• Review procedures before the competent administrative court of Appeals regarding the award of public supply and service contracts in the sectors of musical instruments, digital equipment, computers and structure designing.

• Objection procedure before the Greek administrative courts for the decision of the tax authority for not exempting Greek companies from the imposition of special tax on their real estate in case the ultimate shareholder of the companies is a trust.

• Legal advice to a multinational advertising company in relation to the drafting and filing of the petition for the annulment as well as of the petition for the suspension of implementation of the decision of the Ministry of Health before the Supreme Administrative Court of Greece; this decision regarded the prohibition of the outdoor advertisement of tobacco products.      

• Procedure against the Greek state before the civil courts for granting of an additional salary to persons who were employed by the state for years on the basis of consecutive contracts with limited period of validity. For the first time a law suit of this kind has been approved by the Court of Appeals of Athens.

• Defense of the Municipalities of Syros (Cyclades) and Amphipolis (Macedonia) before the civil courts regarding demands of persons who were employed for many years as stagiaires against lawsuits, to be recruited as public servants.

• Individual application before the European Court for Human Rights regarding the breach of the right to a fair hearing caused by the omission of the Greek Supreme Administrative Court to hear the claims of an incorrectly taxed company.   

Languages

Greek, German, French, English.

Memberships

Athens Bar Association (1979); qualified to appear before the Supreme Court Member, Hellenic Association of European Law.

Education

University of Athens Law School (LL.B 1976)

University of Hamburg (LL.M. 1983)