Polish provisions, referred to as Shield 4.0, officially known as the Act on interest subsidies for bank loans granted to entrepreneurs affected by COVID-19 and on simplified proceedings for approval of an arrangement in connection with the occurrence of COVID-19 (full text available at https://isap.sejm.gov.pl), introduced significant changes to the Polish restructuring procedure. A novelty is the introduction of a simplified restructuring procedure, partly based on the existing regulations on the Polish procedure for approval of an arrangement between the creditors and the debtor. The newly introduced proceedings contain regulations protecting the enterprise against enforcement actions of creditors, while being for the most part extrajudicial (out-of-court) proceedings. An important feature of this new model of debt restructuring, which is also a novelty in the Polish restructuring regulations, is the accompanying extensive enforcement immunity, regulated in Art. 16 sec. 3 of the aforementioned act. As a result, since the announcement on the opening of the simplified restructuring proceedings, creditors in principle do not have the possibility to conduct enforcement proceedings against the entrepreneur – the debtor. According to Art. 17 sec. 1 and 2 of the Shield 4.0, this also applies to claims secured in kind (secured by a physical collateral), which so far was only possible in the costly and lengthy recovery proceedings. Moreover, according to Art. 16 sec. 3 point 3 of this Act, during the period of simplified restructuring proceedings, it is impossible for creditors to terminate major agreements concluded with the debtor, including rental, lease, leasing or credit agreements.
Based on its knowledge of legal and business environment and cross border expertise, Kieltyka Gladkowski KG Legal is launching its new project – iSTART1, the accelerator that will offer programs to help scaling rising businesses, provide access to mentoring programs, investments in companies as part of accelerator programs, access to investors and further capital, connection with the recipients of the technology interested in the development and implementation of the products or services offered by the start-ups.
Part of the accelerator will also be dedicated to shareholder crowdfunding and digital shareholders. The accelerator will offer equity crowdfunding, reward crowdfunding and donation crowdfunding.
iSTART1 will be in a major part focused on tech and med companies, primarily involving projects within IoT, including virtual and augmented reality (VR / AR), artificial intelligence (AI) and cyber security. Part of the activity of iSTART1 will concentrate on the start-ups that develop solutions to fight COVID-19.
The accelerator has been created based on the involvement and funding of international clients and partners of Kieltyka Gladkowski KG Legal.
Please see the currently updated information about the Polish regulations related to the legal and business situation of COVID-19 in Poland (the list of discussed issues is presented below and updated on current basis):
Emotions do not stop at the end of the legislative work on the draft bill regulating the rental and tenancy contracts in shopping malls in Poland in the era of the COVID-19 crisis. In this case, the Polish government addressed an amendment to its own bill to Polish Parliament, which it put to voting 24 hours earlier.
KIEŁTYKA GŁADKOWSKI KG LEGAL is closely following the legislative process of anti-crisis regulations which the Polish government wants to introduce in Poland to alleviate the economic situation of the COVID-19 crisis, particularly by means of the emergency COVID-19 act (the so-called anti-crisis shield).
One of the economic problems that the Polish government wants to regulate in this way is the issue of rents and rental agreements in retailer shopping malls in Poland (i.e. in large retailer malls of over 2000 m2).
The main problem is the issue of who is to bear the burden (cost) of closing the shopping centres due to the condition of the COVID-19 epidemic announced on March 20, 2020 throughout Poland.
The original draft bill (about which you can read here) assumed that the rents will be covered in 90% by the landlords (e.g. the entity that owns the entire shopping mall). The government’s amendment to the draft anti-crisis law, submitted on March 27, 2020, introduces a completely different solution.
The problem of a failure to pay the rent by companies that are tenants of commercial space
Pursuant to Article 46 of the Act of 5 December 2008 on preventing and combating infections and infectious diseases in humans (consolidated text Journal of Laws of 2019, item 1239, as amended), the Polish Minister of Health announced epidemic status due to SARS-CoV-2 virus infections from March 20, 2020until further noticethroughout the entire area of the Republic of Poland.
The status of the epidemic was announced by the ordinance of the Polish Minister of Health of 20 March 2020 regarding the announcement of the status of the epidemic in the territory of the Republic of Poland (Journal of Laws No. 491, as amended). The statutory “epidemic state” authorized the Polish government to introduce a special legal situation in the Polish business.
