Greece Tightens Art Forgery Laws With New Cultural Property Bill
Greece has taken a direct legal step against art forgery, introducing bill No. 5271/2026 in January to address counterfeit artworks and collectibles through a framework aimed specifically at the art market. The measure marks a shift away from relying on broader anti-forgery statutes and toward a system built around cultural property, authentication, and enforcement.
At the center of the bill is a proposal for an independent Department of Works of Art within the culture ministry, alongside a registry of expert art appraisers. The legislation also includes measures intended to prevent damage to artworks and adds protections for “cinemas of historical importance.”
The penalties are notably more explicit than before. Crimes against cultural property would carry at least six months’ imprisonment and a fine of at least €5,000. In more serious cases, sentences could reach ten years in prison, with fines ranging from €10,000 to €300,000. The law also allows for the destruction of works identified as counterfeit.
Just as significant is the evidentiary threshold. Under the new rules, authorities would not need to prove a financial transaction, as they often did under general fraud and forgery provisions. It would be enough to show the manufacture or alteration of counterfeit works, or possession with intent to distribute. For prosecutors, that is a meaningful change.
The legislation arrives after several high-profile incidents that sharpened public attention on art crime in Greece. In 2025, authorities arrested 13 people in Athens in connection with a forgery and antiquities trafficking ring. In 2024, police seized more than 120 fake works by Greek Modern painters, including works attributed to Nikos Hadjikyriakos-Ghikas and Alekos Fassianos, that were reportedly intended for sale through an online auction house. Vandalism has also remained a live issue, following last year’s attack on a work by Christophoros Katsadiotis at the National Gallery in Athens by Nikolaos Papadopoulos, a member of Greek parliament.
The new law has drawn both support and caution. Aliki Tsirliagkou, founder and director of Athens-based ArtSpark Consultants, said that until recently there was no specific legislation addressing the forgery of artworks and collectibles, leaving such cases to broader criminal provisions. Achilleas Tsantilis, president of the Hellenic Association of Art Experts, has questioned whether the culture ministry can sustain a specialized authentication mechanism internally, arguing that court-appointed experts remain the most established institutional model for attribution, valuation, and disputes.
The move also fits a wider European pattern in which governments are turning to targeted cultural heritage rules rather than relying only on general criminal law. For Greece, the test will be whether the new framework can curb forgery without creating new friction between state institutions, experts, and the art trade.
