Day 8 January 2019 The bill introducing substantial changes to the Code of Civil Procedure was submitted to the Legislative Office of the Chancellery of the Sejm. Below we briefly describe the most important of them.
The most important changes in the Code of Civil Procedure
- Introduction of the preparatory phase during which the so-called "plan of the hearing" will be drawn up, including, inter alia, detailed requests from the parties, disputed issues, the determination of the parties with regard to the evidence necessary to carry out the case, the timetable for the hearing setting out the order and time for the conduct of the evidence and the examination of the outcome of the evidence proceedings and the time-limits for subsequent meetings (if the case is examined for one no meeting will be possible). Where a preparatory meeting is set up, the party will be able to cite claims and evidence to substantiate its requests or to reject the opposing party's requests and claims until the date of approval of the panel. The claims and evidence submitted after approval of the trial plan shall be disregarded, unless the party likely to have been unable to establish them or the need to establish them subsequently. The court will prepare the hearing so that there are no obstacles to the resolution of the case on first a meeting of the designated one. More than one the meeting will be appointed only if necessary, in in particular when it is not possible to present all evidence in a single sitting. In that case, meetings will take place in the following days and, if not possible, so that the time between the next meetings is not excessive.
- The introduction of a separate procedure in economic matters while introducing greater procedural rigorism and limiting the relevant and subjective nature of such proceedings. In order to ensure the defence of the rights of non-entrepreneurs and micro-entrepreneurs, it was possible to examine a case involving them in the ordinary manner, at the request of such a person in the relevant stage of the procedure;
- The prevention of the so-called "abuse of procedural law" by a party consisting of manifestly unfounded lawsuits, multiple complaints on the same issue, or unjustified subsequent requests to exclude a judge based on the same circumstances, which often led to lengthy proceedings. Such measures will result in a lack of judicial action and additional sanctions for the abuser of such a right (imposing a fine, the possibility to charge costs, the possibility to charge interest higher than statutory interest);
- Transfer of activities under the so-called ‘inter-instance proceedings’ (including examination of its admissibility, formal deficiencies and fiscal remedies) to the court second instance and the introduction of the principle of re-examination (after the court has annulled the decision) second (a) by the same composition of the court which issued the contested judgment;
- Introduction of a ‘horizontal complaints’ system recognised by another court that issued the contested judgment in the case of certain categories of judgments (in particular in cases of accident and endless proceedings);
- Issue of the contested provisions in a secret sitting as a rule and justify them only at the request of the party and not as in the present legal state, of its own motion;
- Modifications in certain separate proceedings (simplified, prescriptive, electronic registrar and registrar) by enabling the recognition in simplified proceedings of monetary and non-monetary claims of the value of the dispute to 20,000 PLN, waiving of electronic reminder proceedings in the absence of grounds for issuing, withdrawing or objecting to a payment order;
With the amendments to the Code of Civil Procedure, amendments to the laws are also planned: dated 27 July 2001 – Law on the system of common courts (Journal of Laws of 2018, item 23, as amended), dated 28 July 2005 on judicial costs in civil matters (Journal of Laws of 2018, items 300, 398, 770, 914, 1293, 1629), dated 17 December 2009 on redress in group proceedings (Journal of Laws of 2018, item 573), dated 22 March 2018 of court bailiffs (Journal of Laws, items 771, 1443, 1669, 2244), dated 24 May 1989 on the recognition of economic affairs by courts (Journal of Laws of 2016, item 723).
The Minister of Justice, the author of the draft, explains the plan to amend the Code of Civil Procedure with the need to improve civil proceedings and, consequently, to shorten the judicial hearing by concentrating evidence in the preliminary phase of the process (at the preparatory meeting), while assuming that the case should end at first meeting.
According to the Ministry, the liquidation of the separate economic proceedings did not achieve the stated objective – the duration of these proceedings did not decrease and the delays in the economic courts increased, which is an argument for restoring such proceedings. The project provides for a separate procedure in economic matters where there will be greater rigour, with the aim of maximising their duration (with the possibility of abandoning it at the request of a non-entrepreneur or micro-entrepreneur).
The current appeal system has been assessed as non-functional, as checks such as the examination of timeliness, formal and fiscal deficiencies of the appeal is carried out in both the court first and second instances. Furthermore, it was considered that it was not intended to pass on any complaint to the court. second instances, while in cases of accident, endless proceedings could be recognized by the same court only in a different composition.
The introduction of changes to the prescriptive, rejudicatory, simplified and electronic rejuvenating procedures is intended to ensure that decisions are given in those proceedings as soon as possible, which is consistent with their substance.
The amendments to the other laws are a consequence of the amendments proposed in the provisions of the Civil Procedure Code.
Author
Justyna Kyć - Legal adviser in the Legal Department of 2017 associated with Russell Bedford Poland. He specializes in corporate customer service, in particular in drawing up and negotiating commercial contracts and providing ongoing legal advice.