Given that more than two months of freeze of the courts' operation will contribute to the extension of the extremely long-term deadlines in court cases (which was largely due to the recent reform of the Civil Procedure Code), the courts are considering introducing a revised labour system.
Within the Shield 3.0., i.e.
Act dated 14 May 2020 amending certain laws on shielding activities in connection with the spread of the virus SARS-CoV-2 (Journal of Laws of 2020, item 875), which entered into force on the day 16 May 2020, The legislator decided to abolish the suspension of procedural deadlines, which was introduced in the framework of the Crisis Shield – specifically the provision Article 15zzs Act dated 31 March 2020.amending the Act on Special Solutions for Prevention, Prevention and Control COVID-19, other infectious diseases and their emergency situations and certain other laws (Journal of Laws of 2020, item 568).
Act dated 31 March 2020 it was announced and entered into force on the same day, i.e. 31 March 2020
The courts are considering introducing a revised labour system. This would result in the possibility of appointment of court meetings from the morning hours around 8:00 to late afternoon hours approximately 18:00, with a break to disinfect the courthouse building.
Under the rule Article 46(20) Act dated 14 May 2020 Repeal Article 15zzr and Article 15 zzs entered Act dated 31 March 2020 and providing for the suspension of the time limits provided for by administrative law and for the suspension of procedural time limits in proceedings, as well as the suspension of the limitation of the criminality of the act and the limitation of the enforcement of the penalty.
In the recipe Article 68 Act dated 14 May 2020 it is indicated that:
- time limits provided for in administrative law, the course of which has not begun on the basis of Article 15zzr(1) Act dated 31 March 2020 – start running after the end 7 days from the date of entry into force of the Act of 14 May 2020; Act dated 14 May 2020 entered into force 16 May 2020 (Saturday), and therefore time limits will begin to run after 7 days from that date – namely on Saturday 23 May 2020, which will be first the date of calculation of the time limit and therefore even in the case of the time limit 7-will end on 29 May 2020 (Friday) and then the provision will not apply Article 57(4) k.p.a.;
- time limits provided for by the provisions of administrative law which have been suspended under the provision Article 15 zzr Act dated 31 March 2020, They run further after 7 days from the date of entry into force Act dated 14 May 2010 – i.e. periods suspended on 31 March 2020 run further from day 23 May 2020
Example:
The time limit for the payment of the fee, the submission of the payment application, was 7 days from day 27 March 2020 – date 31 March 2020 that period has been suspended. According to Article 57(1) k.p.a.:
„Where an event is the beginning of a period specified in days, the date on which the event occurred shall not be taken into account in calculating that period. The expiry of the last number of days shall be considered as the end of the period.’
- and therefore not taking into account the date 27 March 2020 – applicable 7 the day-end period until 31 March 2020 past 3 days and from 23 May 2020 the term begins to run further, which means that 23 May 2020 will be 4 the date and, consequently, the period will expire on 26 May 2020 (last day of the deadline).
- time limits in proceedings:
- judicial, including administrative,
- enforcement proceedings,
- criminal proceedings,
- tax criminal proceedings,
- infringement proceedings,
- administrative procedures,
- procedures and checks on the basis of Act dated 29 August 1997 – Tax Ordinance,
- customs and tax checks,
- 15f section 9 Act dated 19 November 2009 about gambling (Journal of Laws of 2019, item 847; of 2020, item 284),10),
- others,
the course of which did not start on 31 March 2020 - start running after the end 7 days from the date of entry into force Act dated 14 May 2020 – So they're going to start running on the day 23 May 2020 (7 days from the date of publication of the Act of 14 May 2020 - on 16 May 2020),
- in turn time limits in the above-mentioned proceedings, which were suspended on the date 31 March 2020 – will start further from day 23 May 2020
While it is not difficult to calculate the time limit set in days, it will be necessary to “recalculate” the time limits for weeks, e.g. when making an appeal.
two or three weekly for days and a specific ‘interpretation’ of the content of the provision Article 112 k.c., which states that: ‘the time limit indicated in weeks, months or years shall end with the expiry of the day which the name or date corresponds to the initial day of the period, and if such a day is not in the last month, on the last day of that month’.
In the event of suspension of the period from the date 31 March 2020 in most cases it will not be possible to set a deadline in weeks so that the name corresponds to the initial day-limit.
Example:
The judgment of the court and the written justification in the civil case were served on 20 March 2020 (Friday). The period for drawing up the written statement of reasons has been extended and therefore, in accordance with the provision Article 369(1)(1) the time limit for the appeal is 3 weeks. In the absence of suspension due to COVID-19 would have expired on 10 April 2020 (Friday).
But in the meantime, 31 March 2020 there is a suspension of the deadline for the appeal. The deadline will start running again by day 23 May 2020 This means that as a term 3 weekly 21 subsequent days of which 10 has been reported since 21 to 30 March 2020, and from 23 May 2020 to 2 June 2020 The next 11 and consequently on 2 June 2020 the deadline for the appeal will expire (although it will be Tuesday rather than Friday).
The abolition of suspension of time limits will result in the resumption of the courts. Public hearings with parties and witnesses were restored. Within the Shield 3.0 However, it was also pointed out that it was possible to hold distance trials.
Most likely First, meetings in urgent cases within the meaning of the provision Article 14a(4) Act dated 31 March 2020, which could not have occurred during the outbreak. Moreover, according to the provision Article 14a(9) Act on 31 March 2020: „The President of the competent court may order any case to be regarded as urgent if its failure to recognise it could result in a danger to human or animal life or health, serious harm to the social interest, or due to the imminent material damage and where the good of the judiciary so requires."
It is therefore possible to propose that the matter be considered urgent. In this reality, a lot of things have become extremely important for entrepreneurs, and the lack of immediate recognition of them could be a threat of irreparable harm.
The courts are considering introducing a revised labour system. This would result in the possibility of appointment of court meetings from the morning hours around 8:00 to late afternoon hours approximately 18:00, with a break to disinfect the courthouse building.
The idea deserves attention and approval at least by first several months of return, if possible, to pre-existing conditions 16 March 2020 It is also a good solution for the future if it is necessary to deal with the so-called second is third A virus wave.
The shift of judicial administrative staff and the day-to-day distribution of judicial meetings could improve the functioning of the judiciary and would not deviate from labour standards in many professions.
Nor would it be necessary to fully freeze socio-economic life – which, as reality shows, has an extremely negative impact in particular on entrepreneurs and the economy.
Author:
Aleksandra Księżyk – Legal advisor, Director of the Legal Department in Warsaw Chancellery Russell Bedford Dmowski and Partners Law Firm sp. k.