MINING AND PETROLEUM

LAWS OF GREECE

By Assistant Commercial Attache George Lewis Jones, Athens*

INTRODUCTION

There is no published translation of the Greek mining laws and officially the laws take the form of a file of legislation going back to 1834. To complicate matters further, there are different sets of laws governing quarries, ordinary mines, and state monopoly mines and quarries (emery, gold, silver, petroleum, etc.).

The most recent effort of the Greek Government to give some order to the mining laws for ordinary mines, basically the so-called "GFKD" Law No. 3524 of January 13, 1910, was a codification made by decree dated October 31, 1935. This codification has been amended a number of times and the present source for mining law information is a book issued November 1937 in Greek by Mr. George Kavadas, Section Chief, Bureau of Mines, Ministry of National Economy, under the title "Greek Mining Legislation."

In "Greek Mining Legislation" an effort is made to bring the codification by October 31, 1935 up to date so far as new laws are concerned and at the same time to fill omissions in the 1935 codification by presenting the earlier legislation still in force. Fifty-five closely printed pages of Greek text cover ordinary mines. Another 100 pages are devoted to the texts of special laws and regulations governing quarries and state monopoly mines.

MINING RIGHTS OF FOREIGNERS

Subject to special provisions which place them at some disadvantage as compared to Greek citizens, foreigners are permitted to prospect, Own and operate mines in Greece. The special provisions applying to foreigners are:

(a) Foreigners must have the unanimous approval of the Advisory Council of Mines, Ministry of National Economy, before beginning mining or prospecting operations or acquiring the mining or prospecting rights of Greek citizens by purchase or any other means.

(b) The terms laid down by the Advisory Council of Mines for mining or prospecting operations by a foreigner are explicit and more onerous than in the case of Greek citizens whose mining and prospecting operations are covered by the general terms of the mining law. The Advisory Council of Mines, with broad powers, may set down for a foreigner the conditions and penalties under which he may work in Greece. The penalties include cancellation in favor of the State in the event that all the conditions are not fulfilled.

In foregoing provisions, which are much more severe than those previously in effect, are based on Article 9, Section 2, Paragraph 7 of Law No. 715 of 1937 which reads as follows:

For the acquisition of mining property rights by a foreign individual or foreign corporation or organization of any kind,

*P. Daskalopoulos, of the Office of the Commercial Attache, assisted in the preparation of this article as did G. Zalocosta who reviewed the legal questions present. The Bureau of Mines and the Ministry of National Economy supplied much helpful information.

either directly from the State or indirectly by assignment of mining rights of other owners, the unanimous consent of the Advisory Council of Mines is required in addition to the usual requirements of the mining law.

The Advisory Council of Mines has the power to fix the terms under which a foreigner may acquire mining rights and the penalties for violation of these terms including the annulment of the foreigner's acquired rights in favor of the State.

The same law (No. 715 of 1937) specifies that the nationality of a corporation will be judged by the Advisory Council of Mines primarily from the nationality of its capital.

PROSPECTING PERMITS

It is not necessary to incorporate under the Greek laws, but a permit for exploring and prospecting is required. (Article 2-5 of Mining Code.)

The steps to be taken (Article 4, Section 1, 2 and 3 of the Mining Code as amended by Article 4 of Law of October 17, 1935) to secure this permit are as follows:

(A) Serve by a process server upon the Prefect of the Province to be explored a petition stating:

a.

b.

Name and address of petitioner.

Exact description of the area concerned which may not be larger than 10,000 stremmas (2,471 acres).

C. The petition must be accompanied by a Treasury Receipt for 2,800 drachmas to cover expenses.

(B) This petition is entered under a serial number in a special record book of the Province.

(C) Within three months the petitioner must submit to the Prefect a topographic plan on the scale of 1:10,000 of the area in which he is interested.

י

(D) Within one month of th receipt of the plan the Prefect sends the entire file of the petition in question to the Inspector of Min es in Athens for checking as to whether there is no other petition or concession in effect on this area. (It is at this stage that the petition of a foreigner is submitted by the Inspector to the Advisory Council of Mines.) (Article 5 Paragraph I, as amended by Article 6 of the law of October 17, 1935 and by Article 5 of the law of November 11, 1935.)

(E) When the Inspector has completed his report on the area covered by the petition, he sends it to the Prefect who must, within one month of its receipt provided the report is favorable, give the definitive prospecting permit good for two years to the petitioner. In practice it may take several years for the Inspector to make his report provided he does not have in his files full information on the area. (Article 5, Paragraph 2, as amended by Article 6 of the law of October 17, 1935 and by Article 6 of the law of November 20, 1935.) If the Inspector refuses to grant the petition for reasons stated in his report to the Prefect, a copy of which must be served on the

petitioner, the petitioner may within one month appeal to the Minister of National Economy. The fee for this appeal is 3,000 drachmas. The permit does not specify the minerals to be sought, the prospector being free to search for all minerals except precious metals such as gold in native state, platinum, emery, mineral cooking salt with all its by-salts, silver ore (barytine) and all other minerals on the islands of Milo, Kimolos and Poly algos (which are explored by the State). Exception is also made of all petroliferous or mineral hydrocarbonous strata, except those containing solid hydrocarbons (Article 1, Paragraphs 2, 3, 6, and 7 of Mining Code).

According to Article 1, Paragraph 1 and 4 of the Mining Code, minerals are divided in two classes; the products of mines, and the products of quarries. Prospecting permits are granted to the first individual that submits a petition to the State, but the exploitation of the quarries is limited to the owners of the surface. Quarries are considered as being those places from where stones or earth useful to arts, buildings, agriculture or industry are quarried, as long as they do not constitute minerals, according to the classifications of the Mining Law (Article 1, Paragraph 5, Section 2 of Mining Code). Therefore, quarries are considered the places from which the following are quarried: marble, and all kinds of stones, slate, lithographic stones, dolomites, gypsum flint, grindstone, mill stones, granite, argil (clay), ophites, trachyte, basalt, lava, porus, chalk, kaolin, Santorin earth or puzzolan, tophus pebbles, sand, sand stones, any kind of earth and similar deposits.

Scoriae (slags or dregs of meltings of ancient mines) are considered as quarries and belong to the surface owner.

The scoriae that are located in the New Provinces (Macedonia, Epirus, Thrace, Mitylene, Chios and Samos) are the property of the State. All metallic substances that were dug out at an ancient time, but which had not been melted, belong to the owner of the mine. The prospector is free to prospect anywhere within the specified area of his permit.

The prospecting area of each permit cannot exceed 10,000 stremmas (one stremma equals 0.247 acres) according to Article 4, Paragraph 1 of Mining Code. The same prospector may, however, be granted several permits.

The duration of a prospecting license is two years from the date of its publication in the Official Gazette (Article 8, Paragraph 1 of Mining Code). However, the Prefect has the right to extend it for another year, upon the advice of the Inspector of Mines.

At the time of submitting the petition for a prospecting permit a Treasury Receipt for 2,800 drachmas (about $25.00) is required. (Article 4, Paragraph 1, Section 3 of the Mining Code.)

The Prefect may require the deposit with him of a guaranty (usually from 200 drachmas to 1,000 drachmas) in favor of the owner or owners of the surface for any damage that may be caused their property. (Article 5, Paragraph 5, of the Mining Code.)

At the time of petitioning the Prefect for extension of the prospecting time limit another Treasury Receipt for 1,400 drachmas must

be submitted

Mining Code.)

as a petitioning fee. (Article 8, Paragraph 3 of the

The prospecting permit does not require that any amount of work must be done to keep it in force, but the prospector, in order to acquire the ownership and right of exploiting the mine, must, within the time limit specified in the permit, start such works as are necessary to prove the presence of the minerals, and submit, before the expiration of the same time limit, to the Prefect of the locality where the mine is situated an application for the granting of the concession, accompanied by four copies of a trigonometrical plan of the area in question on a scale 1/10,000; ten okes (one oke equals 2.82 pounds) of the mineral found; an official report describing the prospecting works; a chemical analysis of the mineral; a plan of the prospecting works on a scale 1/100; and a Treasury Receipt for 1,000 drachmas for inspection fees. (Articles 10 and 15 of the Mining Code.)

The official (Prefect) issuing the permit has no discretionary power. He must grant the prospecting permit within a month after the receipt of the report from the Inspector of Mines to the effect that same area is free to the applicant who first served through the bailiff a prospecting application. The area is considered free when no previous application has been made or when no prospecting or concession license has been granted in favor of another applicant (Article 5, Paragraphs 1 and 2 of the Mining Code). The Advisory Council of Mines, however, under which the Inspector of Mines works, has broad discretionary powers. (Article 7, Paragraph 1-7 of Mining Code.)

The Advisory Council of Mines, or the Inspector of Mines in first instance, can refuse a petition for various reasons stated in Article 7, Paragraphs 1-7 of the Mining Code. Prospecting permits are absolutely denied on public squares, streets, areas used by railways, cemeteries, or areas of public utility. Also, prospecting is not allowed nearer than 60 meters to any residence and their adjoining yards or gardens. The authorities can also refuse the granting of a permit on areas of archaeological or other public interest. Against such a refusal, which must be adequately supported, an appeal to the Minister of National Economy is allowed.

INDEMNITY FOR PROPERTY DAMAGE

Prospecting without damage to foreign property is allowed, but when foreign property is injured by the prospecting operations, the owner of the property (surface) has the right to stop such operations until an indemnity is paid to him for the damage done or for any decrease to his usual income. In cases when the value of his property is adversely and permanently affected by the prospecting works, he is also entitled to indemnification (Article 12 of Mining Code). The guaranty deposited by the prospector is kept for these purposes. This guaranty is fixed by the Prefect and must be deposited under penalty of annulment of the prospecting permit, by the prospector within three months from the publishing of the prospecting permit in the Official Gazette (Article 11, Paragraph 1; Article 12, Paragraphs 4 and 5 of the Mining Code).

or

The estimate of the value of the occupied area for prospecting of its income can be fixed in a friendly way through a special

agreement between the owner and the prospector. If no private agreement could be reached, the prospector has the right to request the court to settle the difficulty upon the advice of the Inspector of Mines to the effect that the occupation of such area is indispensable to the prospector. The amount of the indemnity is fixed by the presiding judge. After the depositing in the public treasury of the amount adjudged, the prospector has the right to occupy the area in question (Article 19 of the Constitution; Article 12, Paragraph 1 of the Mining Code).

Any and

The prospector has exclusive rights within his claim. all subsequent applications are void, during the time that his prospecting permit is in force or pending the granting of a permanent concession. The prospector has the right to remove and sell all minerals secured during the prospecting period, being considered as a legal owner of the area (Article 2 and 4, Paragraph 8; Article 7; Paragraph 7; Article 7, 13 and 14 of the Mining Code.)

The State, generally speaking, enjoys no ownership of the mines. It has only the right of disposing of same according to the status of the law (Article 19 of the Constitution). Exception is made for precious metals (native gold, emery, petroleum, etc.) when the State has the exclusive exploiting rights, as mentioned above. The State enjoys the right of exploiting the mines located in certain districts of the New Provinces (those acquired since 1913) containing any minerals, these mines being proclaimed national property by a special law. The exploitation of such mines is given out to contractors on long leases or by adjudications put forward by the Ministry of National Economy. The Advisory Council of Mines is the authority on all such matters. In the cases of adjudications, the bidding sometimes takes the form of a percentage of profits offered the Government and sometimes of an offer of a flat rental. (Article 1, Paragraph 6 of the Mining Code.)

SURFACE AND SUB-SOIL RIGHTS

The ownership of the surface and of the sub-soil is separated only in the cases of mines and not in the cases of quarries (Article 1, Paragraph 5, Sections 1 and 2 and Article 25, Paragraph 1 of Mining Code).

The ownership of the surface does not extend to the minerals beneath it. Therefore the surface owner can only prospect his property for mines provided he obtains the usual prospecting permit. (Article 1, Paragraph 5 of Mining Code as amended by Law 17-10-35).

MINING CONCESSIONS

The

The prospector in order to acquire complete ownership of the mines, must, before the expiration of his prospecting permit, apply for a mining concession. He is required to submit together with this application, a scientific report regarding the mines, plans for operation, etc. The Prefect submits the papers to the Inspector of Mines, who orders an examination of the works done at the mine in question. Inspector's report is followed by the proclamation of the Prefect, which is published in two newspapers by and at the expense of the applicant, after which the folder containing all the documents of the case is sent to the Ministry of National Economy, which in turn 125089 0-39-4