The Hellenic Parliament, Athens
The government of Greece may enact new laws concerning art forgery.
While most countries, particularly in Europe, address art forgery through general anti-forgery laws, Greece may become one of the few countries to dedicate legislation and state infrastructure specifically to targeting art forgery and art destruction. A new bill, introduced in Greece’s parliament in January, creates a new system of penalties for the creation, trade, and possession of forgeries. Fines and jail time would be made proportional to the damage caused by the perpetrators, financial or otherwise, and the overall severity of the fraud. The minimum penalty in the bill would be six months in jail and a fine of €5,000. However, at the top of this scale is a ten-year jail sentence and a fine of €300,000. These harsher penalties would be imposed only when aggravating circumstances are present, such as repeated fraud or abuse of position or reputation to facilitate the creation or distribution of forgeries.
The bill also extends these penalties not only to forgery but also to the destruction of existing works. Many commentators have referenced the March 2025 incident in which Nikolaos Papadopoulos, a member of parliament, entered the National Gallery in Athens and defaced four works he claimed were offensive to Greek Orthodox Christianity.
The proposed law would also establish a separate department within Greece’s culture ministry to maintain a database of experts and appraisers deemed credible. This would replace the current system, in which courts appoint specialists to provide testimony in specific cases. This department would also maintain a catalogue of known forgeries to aid art experts and law enforcement in tracing fakes and ensuring they do not easily circulate through the art market. Some have also commented that Greece’s broader anti-forgery legislation requires proof of a financial transaction to establish that a crime occurred. The new bill, however, dispenses with this, requiring only proof that a forgery was created. In recent years, an increasing number of art sales have taken place completely online. While this has enabled substantial growth in the art market, it has also led to a steep rise in forgeries. In the past few years, European law enforcement agencies have had to bust several enormous forgery rings responsible for creating and distributing hundreds of fake artworks. Notable incidents include 38 people arrested in Italy in 2024, while Spanish authorities confiscated a number of purported Old Master paintings in 2023.
While this legislation seems necessary, some have reservations. Achilleas Tsantilis, president of the Hellenic Association of Art Experts, stated that the ministry of culture may not be in the position “to support such a specialized authentication mechanism”. Tsantilis and others have stated that the current legislation and enforcement structures are sufficient to address the scale and severity of art forgery in Greece today. But one must admit that increasing the penalties for forgery and lowering the threshold for what constitutes a crime in these cases would certainly provide a strong deterrent to those interested in entering such a criminal enterprise.
Greece Proposes New Art Forgery Laws
The Hellenic Parliament, Athens
The government of Greece may enact new laws concerning art forgery.
While most countries, particularly in Europe, address art forgery through general anti-forgery laws, Greece may become one of the few countries to dedicate legislation and state infrastructure specifically to targeting art forgery and art destruction. A new bill, introduced in Greece’s parliament in January, creates a new system of penalties for the creation, trade, and possession of forgeries. Fines and jail time would be made proportional to the damage caused by the perpetrators, financial or otherwise, and the overall severity of the fraud. The minimum penalty in the bill would be six months in jail and a fine of €5,000. However, at the top of this scale is a ten-year jail sentence and a fine of €300,000. These harsher penalties would be imposed only when aggravating circumstances are present, such as repeated fraud or abuse of position or reputation to facilitate the creation or distribution of forgeries.
The bill also extends these penalties not only to forgery but also to the destruction of existing works. Many commentators have referenced the March 2025 incident in which Nikolaos Papadopoulos, a member of parliament, entered the National Gallery in Athens and defaced four works he claimed were offensive to Greek Orthodox Christianity.
The proposed law would also establish a separate department within Greece’s culture ministry to maintain a database of experts and appraisers deemed credible. This would replace the current system, in which courts appoint specialists to provide testimony in specific cases. This department would also maintain a catalogue of known forgeries to aid art experts and law enforcement in tracing fakes and ensuring they do not easily circulate through the art market. Some have also commented that Greece’s broader anti-forgery legislation requires proof of a financial transaction to establish that a crime occurred. The new bill, however, dispenses with this, requiring only proof that a forgery was created. In recent years, an increasing number of art sales have taken place completely online. While this has enabled substantial growth in the art market, it has also led to a steep rise in forgeries. In the past few years, European law enforcement agencies have had to bust several enormous forgery rings responsible for creating and distributing hundreds of fake artworks. Notable incidents include 38 people arrested in Italy in 2024, while Spanish authorities confiscated a number of purported Old Master paintings in 2023.
While this legislation seems necessary, some have reservations. Achilleas Tsantilis, president of the Hellenic Association of Art Experts, stated that the ministry of culture may not be in the position “to support such a specialized authentication mechanism”. Tsantilis and others have stated that the current legislation and enforcement structures are sufficient to address the scale and severity of art forgery in Greece today. But one must admit that increasing the penalties for forgery and lowering the threshold for what constitutes a crime in these cases would certainly provide a strong deterrent to those interested in entering such a criminal enterprise.