With Law 3463/2006 (Government Gazette A' 114/8.6.2006), the new Code of Municipalities and Communities was ratified according to the provisions of article 76 § 6 of the Constitution and article 111 of the Regulation of the Parliament, which came into effect on 1.1.2007, with the exception of the provisions of articles 2, 5, 19 to 74, 77 and 78, 80, 81, 83 to 85, 88, 117, 127, 140, 141 to 147, 161, 163, 164, 176, 177, 202 and 219 to 221, 252 to 270, whose validity, subject to certain regulations for the municipal and community elections of 2006, began from its publication in the Government Gazette.

The Code, consisting of 287 articles, was drafted by a special committee established by decision number 35442/6.9.2004 (Government Gazette B' 1395) of the Minister of Interior, Public Administration and Decentralization under the authorization of article 14 § 2 of Law 3242/2004 (Government Gazette A' 102).

The innovations of the new Code include particularly the thematic systematization of the responsibilities of first-degree local authorities, the restructuring of the state supervision system of first-degree local authorities, the introduction of institutions of local democracy, and the effort to rehabilitate municipal and community enterprises.

Since the entry into force of the new Code and with the exception of certain exemptions, Presidential Decree 410/1995 "Municipal and Community Code" (Government Gazette A' 231) as well as any other general or special provision of contrary content has been abolished.

Issues concerning the Municipalities are not only regulated by the provisions of the KDK but by a multitude of other provisions in various legislations. Primarily, with Laws 3852/2010 - "Kallikratis" Programme (Government Gazette A'87) and 4555/2018 - "KLEISTHENIS I" Programme (Government Gazette A' 133), the legal status of the Municipalities was substantially reformed. With these two pieces of legislation, which have been modified many times, significant amendments were made to the provisions of the KDK, at times explicitly and at other times tacitly, resulting in the interpretation and application of the existing law becoming difficult.

Additionally, Law 4804/2021 (Government Gazette A' 90/05.06.2021) regulates issues concerning the election of Municipal and Regional Authorities. For this reason, the drafting of a unified Code of Local Self-Government that contains all the applicable provisions is necessary.

This volume of the series "Contemporary Legislation" includes the text of Law 3463/2006 with amendments up to Law 5043/2023 (Government Gazette A' 91/13.4.2023), the text of Law 4804/2021, as currently in effect, a Detailed Alphabetical Index, as well as the Explanatory Report of the Code, which highlights its innovations.