Starting from 9 July 2018 – shorter limitation period of claims in Poland – only 6 years, instead of 10 years.

Deadlines

The Polish Civil Code has undergone significant amendments. The most important change as a result of the amendments is the change in the statutory limitation periods of claims. The current ten-year limitation period for property (monetary) claims will be 6 years. However, the limitation periods for claims for periodic and business-related claims will still be 3 years, hence it does not change.

Changes for consumers

The amendment of the Civil Code introduces a different position of the entrepreneur and the consumer, defining the second as a weaker party of legal relations and establishing separate regulations for limitation of claims in respect of consumers, thus improving their legal situation. The new law will no longer allow an entrepreneur to satisfy the claims against the consumer after the expiration of the limitation period. However, there has been added the possibility of the court not to take into account the expiry of the limitation period against the consumer, if the principle of fairness requires it. In such case, the court will have to consider: the length of the limitation period, the time from the expiration of the limitation period to the date the claim was made and the nature of the circumstances that caused the claimant not to make the claim.

The modified legal provisions also include the regulation concerning the sale of second-hand goods to a consumer. The new regulations set forth that the limitation period for claims under warranty cannot end before the lapse of two years from the date of delivery of the item to the buyer.

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At the request of a German client, KG Legal verified a Polish employment agency addressed by a foreign entity operating in the field of employing workers from India in Poland for jobs related to steel and mining industry in one of the largest economic zones in Poland. A positive audit aimed to provide credibility conditions for the foreign client which opens effective cross-border cooperation. Foreign business entities wishing to cooperate with the Polish employment agencies, first of all, pay attention to the presence of employment agencies in public business registers (Register of Entrepreneurs of the National Court Register, Register of Employment Agencies) and to the conditions for issuing a certificate on registering an entity in the register entitling to provide services as an employment agency in Poland.

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KG Legal has successfully obtained a valid order for payment against a Polish citizen under a loan agreement concluded with one of the financial institutions based in Vienna. In this cross-border case KG Legal represented a foreign client, an Austrian bank. KG Legal effectively advised on the selection of the litigation procedure, methods of serving pleadings in cross-border cases and determining the debtor’s place of residence in Poland.

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KG Legal Family Law Team succeeded in obtaining child return order from the Polish Family Court under the Abduction Convention (Convention of 25 October 1980 on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction).

In the present case the child was abducted by the Polish mother from the Dutch jurisdiction and brought to Poland. The child’s father (Dutch citizen) agreed to the mother’s trip with the minor child for a few weeks to Poland. After that time the mother failed to return the child to its habitual place of residence.

The Polish Family Court verified the negative premises of child return order based on art. 13 letter a) and b) of the Abduction Convention. All negative premises were ruled out by the Polish Family Court when ordering the minor’s return to Holland.

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The Polish parliament is proceeding on a bill that will agree to a new agreement between Denmark and the Republic of Poland on the change and termination of the Agreement between Poland and Denmark on the promotion and mutual protection of investments, signed in Copenhagen on May 1, 1990.

This is the result of the proceedings of the European Commission (so-called EU Pilot) regarding non-compliance, among others, of this Intra-EU BIT Agreement with EU law. This solution is necessary due to such clauses in the international agreements like sunset clause.

According to the justification of the Act, the largest Polish direct investment in Denmark was the takeover by Asseco Poland S.A. of IT Practice A/S block of shares. At the end of 2015, the Kingdom of Denmark was placed on the 14th position in the ranking of direct foreign investments in Poland, and the value of Danish cumulative capital in the Republic of Poland, according to the National Bank of Poland, amounted to EUR 3,3 billion.

It should be noted that the compliance of intra – EU BIT agreements is examined by the Court of Justice of the European Union on matters such as Case C-284/16. (link)

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