act legal covers all major European business centres.
Warsaw | Amsterdam | Bratislava | Bucharest | Budapest | Frankfurt | Milan | Prague | Vienna
meet us at www.actlegal.com

x
x

actlegal.com

Coronavirus alert

Anti-Crisis Shield 3.0 – remote hearings and closed-door sessions in civil cases

20.05.2020

May 16, 2020 was the effective date for most provisions of the Act of May 14, 2020, amending specific acts in terms of protective actions related to the spread of SARS-CoV2 (Dz. U. / Journal of Laws of 2020, item 875), commonly referred to as “Anti-Crisis Shield 3.0.” Civil procedure has been amended to extend the possibility to conduct remote hearings (videoconferencing) and issue rulings at closed-door sessions.

Pursuant to the newly-adopted Act, the following will apply to cases examined under the Code of Civil Procedure during the state of epidemic or epidemic threat, and for a year of the end of the later of them:

• videoconferencing will be used for court proceedings. In order to have a remote hearing, the parties to the procedure needed to be in court buildings, e.g. in their city/town of residence. Now they will be able to participate without leaving their home. Traditional hearings can be held under exceptional circumstances, as long as they do not pose a major threat to the participants’ health. The lawmaker left ample room for interpretation as regards the criteria to adopt for evaluation whether the hearing will not expose participants to excessive hazard. It seems that such criteria could include the age of participants, their total number, the stage of epidemic, etc.;

• if the court is unable to conduct a remote hearing, while a traditional one might pose a threat to the participants’ health, the court will be entitled to examine the case at a closed-door session, unless any party objects. An objection can be filed within 7 days of the delivery of a notice about a closed-door session. Only individuals that are not represented by a professional legal advisor will be notified about such right to object;

• if so decided by the president of the court, the judging panel (apart from the presiding judge and clerk) may participate in the hearing through means of electronic communication (i.e. they will be able to participate from home), except for the hearing at which the case gets closed;

• in cases where the evidentiary procedure has already been completed, the court may close the case and issue a ruling at a closed-door session, after receiving the parties’ (or participants’) written positions;

• the period of application of article 374 of the Code of Civil Procedure has been extended, making it possible to examine appeals brought before November 07, 2019 at closed-door hearings (unless a party applies for a standard hearing or for evidence involving testimony of witnesses/parties). A request for a standard hearing can be filed within 7 days of the delivery of a notice about a closed-door session. In same of withdrawal of a lawsuit or appeal, or with respect to invalidation of proceedings, the court examines the case at a closed-door hearing.

Please feel free to contact us for any questions you might have.

Piotr Wojnar
Attorney-at-law | Managing Partner
piotr.wojnar@actlegal-bsww.com
+48 602 660 610, +48 22 420 59 59

Barbara Szczepkowska
Legal counsel | Partner | Co-Head of Bankruptcy and Restructuring
barbara.szczepkowska@actlegal-bsww.com
+48 602 260 127, +48 22 420 59 59

Marek Miszkiel
Legal counsel | Partner | Co-Head of Bankruptcy and Restructuring
marek.miszkiel@actlegal-bsww.com
+48 603 553 566, +48 22 420 59 59

Udostępnij

Related news

Press releases

act BSWW legal & tax advised on the conclusion of lease agreements for space in the “Plac Unii” complex

The real estate team of act BSWW legal & tax was responsible for providing comprehensive legal advice in the process of negotiating and concluding lease agreements for office, retail and service space located in the “Plac Unii” complex, on Pulawska Street in Warsaw....

Press releases

act BSWW legal & tax advises a company controlled by Adventum Group on acquisition of the Wola Retro office building in Warsaw, for almost EUR 70 million

The act BSWW team provided comprehensive advice on both: financing and acquisition of the Wola Retro office building in Warsaw. Financing part of the deal was led by Marta Kosiedowska (Partner) with support of Mariusz Grochowski (Senior Associate). Transaction itself ...

News

Get the RET right. The tax side of real estate | June 2022

Ministry of Finance suggests more changes to income taxes. Following prior announcements, the draft Act of June 27, 2022 Amending the Corporate Income Tax Act and Selected Other Acts has been published recently. It covers the following: - Postponement (until the end ...

News

Get the RET right – the tax side of real estate | April – May 2022

On May 12, 2022, the Minister of Health issued a regulation calling off the state of epidemic in Poland, effective as of May 16, 2022. As a result, the exemption from tax on income from buildings ceases to apply as of May 31, 2022 (pursuant to article 38ha of the CIT Ac...

News

Jacek Bieniak among the authors of the 8th edition of the commentary to the Commercial Companies Code

The 8th edition of the commentary to the Commercial Companies Code, published by Wydawnictwo C.H.Beck was released to Polish bookstores at the beginning of April. The new edition takes into account the latest amendments to the Code of Commercial Companies, including cha...

Marek Miszkiel nowym szefem praktyki

News

Marek Miszkiel promoted to head the Litigation and Arbitration practice

Huge congratulations to Marek Miszkiel on becoming the new Head of Litigation and Arbitration at act BSWW legal & tax! Marek joined act BSWW legal & tax legal & tax in 2014. He specializes in commercial disputes and bankruptcy and restructuring proceeding...

View all