Areti Charidemou & Associates LLC wishes to inform its Clients that on 16/03/2020 the Members and the President of the Supreme Court of Cyprus, in the presence of the Minister of Justice and Public Order, the Attorney General and the President of the Cyprus Bar Association, unanimously, decided the following measures, amongst others, in order to restrain the expansion of COVID-19:

  1. The trials of cases or other proceedings in relation to them before all Courts, of every scale and jurisdiction, are postponed, from 16/03/2020 up until 30/04/2020, except for the below exceptions:
  2. Concerning civil cases, trials shall take place regarding:
  • Applications for interim injunctions concerning extremely urgent circumstances. The urgency of the trial rests on the judgement of the competent judge, who is capable of providing the necessary permission for the case to proceed.
  • Appeals concerning auction proceedings of immovable property.
  • Proceedings concerning political asylum of an urgent nature as per the Court's judgment.
  • Appeals of an urgent nature, as per the Court's Judgement.
  1. Concerning criminal cases, trials shall occur regarding:
  • cases that the accused persons are under custody.
  • cases whereby the custody of the suspects or accused persons is requested, including remands.
  • cases of an urgent nature as per the Court's judgments.

Furthermore, it shall be noted that the issuance of decisions is exempted from the above noted postponement.

  1. Concerning the submissions at the Court's Registries the below are applicable:

The registries shall accept submissions as follows:

  • Claims, General Applications or other proceedings, which are connected to applications for the issuance of injunctions and/or orders of an urgent nature. The urgency of the submissions shall be judged by the competent Court.
  • Appeals concerning proceedings of auction of immovable property.
  • Criminal cases whereby the custody of accused persons is to be sought.
  1. The timeframes that the Civil Procedure Rules provide, as well as the timeframes provided by the Court regarding the undertaking of judicial acts are, respectfully, postponed from today 16/03/2020 up until 30/04/2020.

Kindly note that the Supreme Court may at any time amend the above noted instructions in deference to the prevailing circumstances.

Thank you for entrusting us and keep safe!!

The content of this article is intended to provide a general guide to the subject matter. Specialist advice should be sought about your specific circumstances.