26 January 2023 The Sejm passed a reform of the Code of Civil Procedure, providing for changes to effectively contribute to the relief of the courts. The amendment is intended to introduce a new consumer procedure and changes in the simplified procedure.
We have collected the most important changes to the revision of the Civil Procedure Code.
Change of the threshold of the value of the subject matter of the dispute deciding on the substantive jurisdiction of the District Court. This value has been increased from 75,000 PLN to 100,000 PLN, which aims to relieve district courts of excess cases.
The introduction of a new separate procedure, i.e. a proceeding with consumers, aimed at strengthening the consumer's position towards the trader.
The rules will apply in the event of an action by the consumer and against him, and the consumer will be given the opportunity to bring an action before the court competent for his place of residence.
The entrepreneur will be obliged to provide all the claims and evidence in the lawsuit or in response to the lawsuit – depending on whether he is the plaintiff or the defendant. In turn the binding of the evidence will not apply to the consumer.
An entrepreneur who has abandoned the obligation to attempt to resolve the dispute voluntarily may have waived his participation in, or participated in, the dispute in a bad faith and may have contributed to the unnecessary prosecution of the case.
The rules on consumer participation will also apply if the trader has ceased to conduct business.
Amendments to the simplified procedure. In cases where the value of the dispute does not exceed 4,000 PLN, the reasons for the judgment may (but need not) be limited to clarification of the legal basis with reference to the provisions.
Rules on preparatory meetings, which are currently rarely designated by courts, have been amended. The amendment assumes the possibility of participating in a distance meeting by means of an image and sound transmission. The provisions of the preparatory meeting are to be published in the presence of the parties and will not be served.
Separation of instructions given to the parties by the judge in the first stage of the case from instructions required during the proceedings. The judge will be able to point out to the parties the facts which can be considered undisputed or sufficiently demonstrated at a given stage of the case.
The amendments extend the catalogue of letters which constitute an abuse of procedural law, which will be left in the case file without further action, resulting in the cessation of the submission of letters which do not refer to the case and duplicate the claims and arguments to date.
Clarification of provisions on repo services by adding Article 10631 The KPC, which provides for the possibility of sending correspondence between the creditor and the bailiff through electronic means of communication, shall ensure that it is possible to determine the date on which the addressee was informed of the contents of the letter and that the nature of the letter or annexes attached thereto does not oppose such a form of service.
The entry into force of the Act will verify whether the goals set for speeding up proceedings and deburocracy of courts, as well as pro-consumer objectives, will be met.