PL: The envisaged repeal of special proceedings in commercial matters as a chance for companies for simple and fair court proceedings

The Polish cabinet accepted the long expected law proposal, which shall repeal commercial matters by changing the Civil Procedure Act. Currently, legal disputes between companies are decided in consideration of special regulations, which impose significant obligations on the parties already when filing the particulars of claims and which contain severe consequences in case of disregard, to the point of losing the proceedings, in particular the obligation to present all allegations and evidences already in the particulars of claims, the statement of defense, objections against default judgments and payment orders. A lack of presenting the aforementioned in the first pleadings leads in most cases to a non-consideration of the respective allegation or evidence, if they are brought forward in the course of the court proceedings. New allegations and evidences can only be presented to the court if it is also proven that the possibility or the necessity to present those allegations and evidences only occurred in the course of court proceedings. In practice this means that many honest companies, which seek justice in front of the courts, face the risk to lose the lawsuit only due to formal reasons, if they do not present enough evidences
or evidence with a low probative force to the court (e.g. invoices without signature of the invoice recipient and without underlying contract).

The envisaged changes shall repeal the current exceptional position of commercial matters and those shall then comply with the general rules of civil procedure. In order to protect the parties of a deliberate protraction of a case or other protractions, a provision is envisaged in the general civil procedure law, that obliges the party to present all allegations and evidences already in their first pleadings but without the above severe consequences. Such a solution would draw the Polish proceedings in commercial matters closer to the German model, in which commercial matters as well as other civil disputes comply with the same underlying procedure rules; however the process control in commercial matters lies with a specialized judge. The envisaged changes shall bear relief for parties in commercial matters and the result shall be that minor infringements, which were not aiming for a protraction of the case, do not lead to a negative decision of the legal dispute anymore. It is intended that the Polish court proceedings in commercial matters are regarded as a fair process in the eyes of a bigger amount of participants.

Contact Person: Maciej Puchala, Esq., maciej.puchala@bunk-alliance.de

The law firm was established in 2003 by Dr. Artur Bunk, an Attorney-at-Law. Qualified in 1995, he was admitted to the Frankfurt Bar in 1997 after obtaining an LL.D. in European Law at the University Viadrina in Frankfurt (Oder). During his career he has worked with the German law firm Pünder, Volhard, Weber & Axster (now Clifford Chance), was Head of Office at Rödl & Partner in Poland, and Senior Legal Counsel at the Legal and Restructuring Department of KfW. In addition to German, he also speaks fluent English and Polish.

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This release was published on openPR.