Below are several frequently asked questions that, according to our experience, concern people involved in traffic accidents.

Expert

The expert in a field; who has experience and deep knowledge and is called upon to give an opinion on matters of his specialty

Expert

One who has special scientific or technical knowledge and is called upon to examine a situation, give his opinion as well as estimate the extent of a damage and the cost of its restoration.

The experts assist the court with their opinion on the issues raised by it. If necessary, the court orders the presence of experts during the execution of all or some procedural acts.

In Greek Legislation, two categories of experts are distinguished: a) Judicial or Sworn Experts and are those provided for by the Code of Criminal Procedure (C.P.D.), the Code of Civil Procedure (K. Pol. D.) and the Code of Administrative Procedure (C.D.D.) and b) those provided for by the Insurance Legislation and are the Material Appraisers Damages..

If special knowledge of science or art is required to diagnose and judge an event, the investigative officers or the court may ex officio or at the request of a party or the Prosecutor order an expert opinion (Art. 183 C.P.D.)

A) who are designated experts?

The council of misdemeanors, following a proposal from the prosecutor of misdemeanors, prepares within the third ten days of September of each year a list of experts by specialty from persons who reside at its headquarters and are suitable for carrying out expert opinions, preferring public servants. The table is submitted to the appeals prosecutor, who has the right to ask the board of appeals in October to reform it. The board of appeals will rule on the matter in November. The table, once finalized, is posted on the wall in the courtroom of the misdemeanor court and is announced in December of each year by the misdemeanor prosecutor to the investigating officers of the district. Every year, until a new table is drawn up, the table drawn up the previous year is valid. (Art. 185 C.P.D.)

B) what is the procedure for appointing an expert?

  1. The appointment of experts must be done with all diligence by the investigating officer or by the court, with a choice among the persons listed in the table drawn up in accordance with article 185, only if such a list does not exist or does not contain the specialties required to carry out the expert opinion that has been ordered, or if those listed in the list are not in the region of the body that appoints them, it is possible to appoint persons who are not included in the list . Ο διορισμός πραγματογνωμόνων με αυτό το τρόπο γίνεται και όταν υπάρχουν πραγματογνώμονες ειδικά διορισμένοι με νόμο, αν εκείνος που ενεργεί την ανάκριση με σύμφωνη γνώμη του εισαγγελέα πλημμελειοδικών ή ο εισαγγελέας εφετών κρίνει ότι αυτό επιβάλλεται σε εξαιρετική περίπτωση. Το ίδιο δικαίωμα έχει και το δικαστήριο. Διορίζεται και ειδικός πραγματογνώμονας που δεν περιλαμβάνεται στον πίνακα, αν το υποδείξουν οι πραγματογνώμονες που έχουν διοριστεί.

C) how many experts can be appointed?

  1. 1. If the expert opinion cannot be done in a laboratory specially established by law, as well as in other exceptional cases, two or more experts are appointed. In urgent or minor cases only one may be appointed. Their appointment in extremely urgent circumstances can be done orally, but the document is drawn up afterwards.
  2. 2. At any stage of the pre-trial, but in any case before the report of the expert is delivered, the appeals prosecutor, judging ex officio that the experts appointed are more than those needed, has the right by order notified to the investigator to limit up to three the number of experts appointed by the investigator in a specific case. In this case the investigator decides which of the experts who were originally appointed will be retained. The same applies to experts appointed by the misdemeanor prosecutor or any investigating officer.

D) who are defined as Technical Consultants?

The Technical Advisor is appointed only when an investigation is carried out for a felony (Art. 204 C.P.D.) and if he has the ability to be appointed an Expert.

E) can Technical Consultants be appointed for Road Accidents?

In Traffic Accidents, because they are not usually felonies, they are not assigned.

The Court may appoint an Expert (one or more) if it judges that these are issues that require special knowledge of science or art to be understood and must appoint him if a party requests it and judges that special knowledge of science or art is needed (Art. 168 C. Pol. D.) Experts assist the Court with their opinion on the issues raised to them (Art. 369 C. Pol. D.) and freely assess their opinion (Art. 387 K. Pol. D.) If the Court appoints Experts, each party may appoint a Technical Advisor who has the ability to appoint an expert. The Technical Advisor appointed by the parties is not obliged to accept the appointment and his fee is paid by the party who appointed him (Art. 391 C. Pol. D.) The appointment of the Technical advisers is made in writing or orally with a statement, either before the Court or the authorized Judge, which is entered in the minutes or in the report, or before the Secretariat of the Court and a report is drawn up. The technical advisers of the parties assist them with their technical knowledge, they can attend all procedural acts where the experts are present, and they have the powers of articles 380 par. 1 and 382 par. 2. The technical advisers of the Parties may, after the experts submit their opinion and before the case is discussed, develop their opinions on the opinion of the experts orally before the court or submit them in writing, as well as put questions to the experts. (Art. 392 K. Pol. D.)

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According to art. 259 of Law 4364/2016

  1. The experts appointed by the insurance companies for the assessment of the damage incurred and the determination of the compensation due, are obliged to communicate a copy of their report to the injured party. The insurance company is obliged, within fifteen (15) days from the submission of the expert report, to notify the beneficiary of any compensation based on the general and special conditions of the relevant insurance policy, whether or not it is accepted, unless an amicable settlement is reached in the meantime.
  2. In case of acceptance by the insurance company and the beneficiary of the insurance compensation determined by the expert opinion, the insurance company is obliged to pay it to the beneficiary without delay.
  3. Natural or legal persons designated as experts by insurance companies act impartially, independently and without prejudice in order to examine and assess declared damage and/or loss in accordance with the general and specific conditions of the insurance policy. The above experts, in the exercise of their duties, are liable according to the provisions of articles 256 (administrative sanctions) and 258 (criminal sanctions) of the same law.