Commercial and Company Document Translation for Greece

Its geographical closeness makes Greece one of the markets in which Turkish companies can start doing business fastest; the paperwork side, on the other hand, is not the short cut it is assumed to be. This page deals with the documents a company established in Türkiye will put before the Greek commercial registry, its buyer or a contracting authority. A Greek company opening a branch in Türkiye is a separate matter running in the opposite direction.

The general commercial registry, and what answers to it in Türkiye

Businesses in Greece are entered on a central general commercial registry, and a current extract from that registry is the identity document of commercial life. Your Greek counterpart expects from you a document that serves the same purpose. In Türkiye no single sheet of paper provides it: the certificate of activity issued by the trade registry directorate shows that the company is trading today, while the announcement in the Turkish Trade Registry Gazette shows its incorporation and the history of changes since. Add the signature circular and the articles of association to those two, and everything the other side reads in its own registry extract has been covered. Small businesses working in cross-border trade often send nothing but the tax registration certificate, and this is one of the points at which the process most frequently sticks.

Who holds the authority to approve: the reality of certification by a lawyer

The most distinctive feature of Greece is that approval of official translations is dispersed. Following the closure of the translation service within the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the authority to approve passed largely to lawyers and sworn translators, and in practice a translation certified by a lawyer is today in wide use. Seen from Türkiye this may feel unfamiliar, since here the certifying authority is the notary. For a translation produced in Türkiye the chain is the familiar one: the sworn translator’s signature, notarisation, apostille. Asking the body that will handle the matter which route it will accept is more important here than in other countries, as practice can differ from one institution to another.

Document	What it proves	Route
Certificate of activity	Whether the company is trading today	Translation, notary, apostille
Trade registry gazette announcement	Incorporation and history of changes	Translation, notary, apostille
Signature circular	Who is able to sign	Translation, notary, apostille
Certificate of origin	Where the goods come from	Chamber approval; not translated
Consignment note	Record of the shipment	Issued in a foreign language

Road trade and customs paperwork

A significant share of trade between Türkiye and Greece moves across the land border, and that quickens the rhythm of the paperwork. Certificates of origin and movement certificates are the business of the chambers and the customs administration; being pre-printed forms in several languages, they are not translated. The consignment note, the packing list and the invoice are likewise drawn up in a foreign language from the outset. What reaches the translator’s desk is only those texts that place obligations on the parties: contracts, guarantees, powers of attorney, registry records and court documents. The cause of frequent delays is generally not the translation but the date on the registry document sent, which is out of date.

Debt recovery and court documents

As trade volumes with neighbouring markets grow, disputes over unpaid debts inevitably arise as well, and this is the most overlooked heading on a commercial page. If proceedings are to be brought against a debtor in Greece, the file will include the contract, the reconciliation of invoices, delivery documents and any guarantees. Translating these calls for greater exactness than registration files do; the court expects every line of the text to correspond precisely to the source, and the translator’s declaration becomes part of the file. In proceedings for the recognition and enforcement of foreign court judgments, moreover, the judgment itself and the annotation confirming that it is final are translated together. On files of this kind, settle with your lawyer which documents will be submitted in evidence before the translation begins; a single document added afterwards can mean the entire file has to be put together again.

Powers of attorney and the order of the apostille

If a registration or litigation matter in Greece is to be handled by your local lawyer, keep the scope of the power of attorney narrow and itemised. The documents that give the grantor authority to sign, that is a registry record bearing a current date and the signature circular, should be submitted together with the power of attorney. The sequence runs: signature before a notary, then the apostille, and translation last. Reversing that order leaves the apostille untranslated and sends the file back. Greece is a party to the Hague Apostille Convention; verifying the current list of parties through the HCCH is nonetheless a good habit. Our document types page sets out in detail which document requires which chain.

The commonest ground for rejection, and how the set is handed over

The reason commercial files bound for Greece are most often returned is that the translation carries no recognised approval; because the approving authority is dispersed, senders slip into assuming that a stamp will do. Second comes the incomplete set: the certificate of activity is sent and the trade registry gazette announcement forgotten. Third is inconsistency in the writing of names and company titles; when a company title is rendered in the Greek alphabet, it has to be written the same way throughout the file. What is expected on delivery is the complete set, stamped and signed. You can compare the rules of other markets in our country guide, and send us your file through the quote form.

The information here is general in nature; the destination country’s acceptance requirements and certification chain can change from time to time. The safest course is to ask the relevant office for written confirmation before starting the process.