Amendments to the Civil Procedure Code
Numerous minor changes in civil procedure enter into force in Poland in January 2015, concerning such matters as submission of disputed items to the court deposit, the rights of non-parties, and certain aspects of competition cases.
The amendments to Poland’s Civil Procedure Code entering into force in January 2015 are set forth in two amending acts: Art. 2 of the Act of 26 September 2014 Amending the Public Finance Act and Certain Other Acts and Art. 2 of the Act of 10 June 2014 Amending the Competition and Consumer Protection Act and the Civil Procedure Code.
The key changes made by these acts are presented below.
Most of the changes to the Civil Procedure Code went into effect on the 1 January. The first of these concerns two regulations connected with submission of disputed items to the court deposit. They govern issues of payments to the deposit account of the Minister of Finance of monetary amounts in dispute (new par. 3 added to Civil Procedure Code Art. 6932) and storage of specific objects at a location designated by the court (revision of Art. 6936(1)).
The amending act sets forth instances in which payment should be made to the deposit account of the Minister of Finance instead of the existing deposit account of the court. This change affects regulations spread across several sections of the code. For example, the second sentence of Civil Procedure Code Art. 492 §1 now provides that the amount awarded in an order for payment together with due and payable interest constitutes the sum which, when paid by the debtor into the deposit account of the Minister of Finance, is sufficient for security, while Art. 6939 §2 requires the bailiff to pay sale proceeds into the deposit account of the Minister of Finance. This amendment also affected numerous regulations involving execution proceedings, such as Art. 808 §1, Art. 883 §2 and Art. 106411 §3, to name a few. And it resulted in the repeal of certain regulations connected with submission of monies to the deposit accounts of the court, including Art. 742(5) and Art. 752(2)–(3).
A number of changes were also made by the act of 10 June 2014, entering into force on 18 January 2015.
One of the most important of these changes will be the creation of a new Title IIIC of the Civil Procedure Code, “Entities entitled to participate in proceedings pursuant to separate regulations.” Under the newly added Art. 635, if separate regulations entitle persons not participating in the case to present relevant views to the court, Art. 63 of the code will apply to them as relevant. At their request, the court may also permit them to present their views orally at the hearing and provide them access to the case file as necessary for them to present their views. This provision is identical to Art. 47929a, which is also repealed as of 18 January 2015.
Further changes concern competition cases.
One of the rules for proceedings before the Court of Competition and Consumer Protection, enabling participation by persons admitted to the proceeding before the President of the Office of Competition and Consumer Protection as interested persons (Civil Procedure Code Art. 47929 §2), will be repealed.
The subject matter jurisdiction of the Court of Competition and Consumer Protection, a division of the Warsaw Regional Court, will be expanded to cover two additional points (Art. 47928 §1 (2a) and (5)). The period for filing an appeal against a decision by the competition regulator will also be extended to one month (Art. 47928 §2).
New §§ 4 and 5 will be added to Civil Procedure Code Art. 47931a, concerning rulings by the Court of Competition and Consumer Protection, and new §§ 2a, 2b and 6 will be added to Art. 47933, concerning protection of trade secrets and other confidential information subject to protection under separate regulations.
Oliwia Lewandowska, Dispute Resolution & Arbitration Practice, Wardyński & Partners