Gold Magazine March - April 2013, Issue 24 | Seite 16

interview

five minutes with...

The Handbook of
Cyprus Laws is
published by Nomiki
Bibliothiki and is
available from Galaxy
Bookshop, Nicosia or
online from www.nb.org,
price €45.

I hope that
our government
will promote
legislation to
increase Cyprus’s
competitiveness as
an international
financial centre

Andreas Neocleous
Advocate, Founder and Chairman
Andreas Neocleous & Co LLC

Y

our firm has been deeply
involved in the recentlypublished Handbook of
Cyprus Laws. What is its
main purpose and who will
make up its main readership?
The Handbook of Cyprus Laws is intended
as a vade mecum that legal practitioners
can carry with them and refer to at any
time. It provides the full text of all the
laws that are encountered in everyday legal
practice, together with a commentary and
analysis of the relevant case law compiled
by a specialist in the particular field. Its
main readership will be legal practitioners,
but it will also be useful to others who deal
with legal matters.
The fact that it is the second edition in
four years suggests that there have been
more than a few amendments to the
country’s legislation in this period. Is
this the reason for the update?
For many years “painting the Forth
Bridge” was a metaphor for a never-ending
task, because by the time it was finished it
would be time to start again. A few years
ago, with the development of new paints,
that metaphor became outdated and
people started looking for a replacement.
Perhaps “keeping a legal work up to date”
would be a suitable candidate! The law
is constantly developing, and, of course,
there is a constant flow of new case law.
But that is only part of the story. The new

edition is in a more convenient format,
allowing the inclusion of more content
without additional bulk.
Within its 1,770 pages, the book
contains the main pieces of legislation
in force in Cyprus today. How much
did you leave out and why?
We focused on the 33 basic laws covering
the areas the practising lawyer encounters
day in, day out. To name but a few, they
include contract law, criminal law, family
law, company law and property law. The
areas that had to be left out were highly
specialised ones such as competition,
banking, intellectual property and
securities law, that the general legal
practitioner rarely encounters.
How did you go about gathering all the
information? Or was the real work done
for the 1st edition?
A great deal of work was indeed done for
the first edition, but the second edition
has required a complete update and
revision of every chapter, to take account
not only of amendments to the laws, such
as the International Trusts Law, but also
of important cases in the courts that shed
light on the interpretation of the laws.
Every author is a specialist in his or her
particular field, and is fully abreast of the
latest developments, and our firm has an
advanced knowledge management system
to support them. However, there was

16 Gold the international investment, finance & professional services magazine of cyprus

still a vast amount of effort involved in
updating the chapters and checking them
as publication progressed. This usually had
to be fitted into (or at the end of) a busy
working day and I am grateful to all my
colleagues for their dedication to the task.
The book is in Greek. Are there plans
for any foreign-language translations?
The book is aimed at lawyers practising in
Cyprus and is in Greek because that is the
language currently used in the laws and
in the court system. At present there are
no plans to publish it in other languages.
Our Neocleous’s Introduction to Cyprus
Law covers the needs of English readers.
Perhaps one day there will be a place
for a Turkish-language version, but that
depends on a lot of things.
Which future legislation do you hope
will be in force in Cyprus by the
time the next edition of the book is
published?
Professionally, I hope that our
government will promote legislation
to increase Cyprus’s competitiveness
as an international financial centre, for
example by providing a framework to
attract international investment funds.
Personally, while the publication of a
Turkish language version of the book may
have to wait a little longer, I hope that
we are closer to an end to the division of
Cyprus.