POLYVIOS PANAYIDES

Polyvios’ practice focuses on dispute resolution and EU & Competition law.

He has experience in relation to a broad range of commercial and corporate disputes, not just in Cyprus but internationally. His cases typically involve shareholder & contractual disputes, civil fraud, competition law and distribution agreements, obtaining and resisting freezing & disclosure orders, jurisdictional challenges and enforcement of foreign judgments & arbitral awards in Cyprus. His recent case load includes disputes in relation to financial services and investment firms, cryptocurrencies and internet assets. Polyvios has acted as counsel in both Cypriot and foreign seated arbitrations under the UNCITRAL, SCC, CAS, LCIA and ICSID Rules.

As part of his EU & Competition practice, Polyvios acts as adviser in all aspects of Cypriot and EU competition law and as counsel before the Cypriot Commission for the Protection of Competition and other national and European authorities and courts. His competition law experience includes both merger control and antitrust cases and spans across many industries with recent experience in various markets relevant to shipping, marine services and ports, energy, consumer goods and digital services. Polyvios also provides advice and represents corporations before regulatory authorities in various specialist areas affected by EU law such as Data Protection, EU-Russia Sanctions, Consumer law and Financial Services.

Polyvios often deals with legal and institutional issues relevant to international sports competitions and sports organisations and since March 2022 serves as a member of the Ethics & Juridical Commission of the International Committee for the Mediterranean Games. Polyvios is a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators and a member of the board of the Cyprus Arbitration Forum.

Polyvios brings particular expertise from his former position as a European Commission official in Brussels, from 2005 to 2010 where he was involved in a number of high-profile antitrust and merger control investigations predominantly in the energy sector. He was also involved in the preparation and negotiation of EU legislation regulating the recognition and enforcement of judicial decisions and conflicts of jurisdiction between EU countries.