Further electronicisation of civilian proceedings
The legislator decided to take the next step as part of the electronicisation of civilian proceedings. On 14.3.2024, an amendment of the NPC entered into force, including the work for lawyers and legal advisers to hold accounts on the information portal and to service certain letters only through this portal.
In consequence to the demands to introduce a two-way exchange of letters through the portal, the legislator introduced the anticipation from 1.3.2026 and from 1.3.2027 the work to enter certain procedural letters through the information portal. As added Article 1251 § 1 of the NPC, if the peculiar provision so provides, and it is not possible to enter a procedural letter through the information system, the procedural letter shall be submitted through the information portal. Article 126(5) of the KPC provides that a letter lodged through the portal shall bear a qualified electronic signature, a trusted signature or a individual signature.
In Article 1251 § 3 of the NPC indicated that the government in question does not apply to pleadings brought to the ultimate Court. In accordance with Article 5111b KPC, provision of Article 1251 Paragraph 1 of the NPC shall not apply to procedural papers lodged in the case of a fixed period and to registration proceedings.
Catalogue of procedural papers entered through the information portal
The catalogue of procedural papers which the lawyer, legal counsel, patent attorney, lawyer General of the Republic of Poland or prosecutor will be able to bring through the information portal from 1.3.2026 is included in Article 1251 §2 of the NPC and is as follows:
- to participate in the case,
- notice of termination of the procedural power of attorney,
- notification of: the change of the place of residence of the organization or its representative, including after the court has issued the second instance of the judgement on which the cassation action is due, the address of the postal box of the party, the address for service of the organization entered in the CEIDG,
- a message of acceptance of mediation,
- request for a distant meeting,
- an appeal, a complaint, excluding complaints to the ultimate Court, or an action against the decision of the referee,
- procedural letters in the course of proceedings involving an appeal, a complaint or a complaint against the judgement of a judicial referee,
- a request for service of the judgment, together with the reasons and a letter supplementing the formal deficiencies of specified a request,
- a request for a declaration of enforceability, excluding applications for enforcement rights against shareholders of partnerships, a private partner's daughter, a spouse with a limitation of his liability to assets covered by a property covered by a common property, a debtor's spouse with a limitation of his liability to an undertaking belonging to a joint spouse's property, to the individual to whom they have passed their powers or obligations after the enforcement title was created or in the course of the case before the title was issued, the buyer of the undertaking or agricultural holding, where the enforcement title became final before the acquisition,
- an application for a copy of the final judgment.
There is considerable uncertainty about requests for a feasibility clause for certain enforcement titles. Article 1251 Paragraph 2(9) of the NPC refers to the enforcement titles referred to in Article 777(1) and (1)1 KPC, while Article 777(1)1 KPC does not exist. This is likely to be an editorial error, the consequences of which may be far-reaching – in the current wording, this provision refers to all categories of enforcement titles referred to in Article 777(1) of the NPC and not only to those referred to in Article 777(1) and (1)1 The KPC, which includes the decisions of the court and the referendar and the judicial settlement.
Annexes to letters lodged through the information portal
Annexes may besides be submitted together with the letters submitted via the information portal. Where, due to the properties of the Annex, it is not possible to submit it via the portal, it shall be lodged without delay, via the postal operator. The annex must be brought to the court within 3 days of the date of the submission of the pleading via the information portal, akin to that of the portal. In the event of failure to fulfil these duties, the court shall disregard the Annex.
In the added Article 1254 The NPC has been concluded a legislative delegation including a regulation specifying, inter alia, the way in which procedural papers and their annexes are brought to court through the portal. The draft regulation provides for the work to comply with the annexes with the numbering and naming in the procedural letter and the information portal, as well as the indications of the annexes which, due to their competence, cannot be effectively filed with that procedural letter via the information portal. It has been specified that the size of the attachment entered through the portal must not exceed 100 MB. In contrast, Annex 1 to the Regulation sets out the permitted data formats for procedural letters and annexes submitted via the information portal.
In the amended Article 129(2)1 The KPC provides that an attorney, legal advisor or patent lawyer or lawyer or referee of the lawyer General of the Republic of Poland may electronically certify the paper in the information strategy or portal.
Failure to submit a letter via the portal
Legislator in Article 1253 The NPC identified the consequences of the failure to submit a procedural letter via the information portal. Where a peculiar provision provides that a procedural paper is lodged through a portal, the procedural paper otherwise lodged shall not have the legal effect of the law relating to the submission of the procedural paper to the court, which the president shall notify the appellant of.
Similarly, a procedural letter lodged through an information portal in the event of an irregularity in a circumstantial provision or by an unauthorised individual does not have the legal effect of the law relating to the submission of a procedural letter to the court, which the president shall notify the appellant of.
Restrictions on the availability of the information portal
In Article 1252 § 2 of the NPC The legislator has provided for possible restrictions on the availability of the information portal. Where there are restrictions on the availability of the information portal on the part of the court to prevent the submission of that letter on the date on which the time limit for the submission of the pleading expires, that letter shall be lodged at the latest on the day following the date on which the availability of that portal was restored, which is not a public vacation or a Saturday. If there are again restrictions on the availability of the information portal on the part of the court within that time limit, the first conviction shall apply. The procedural paper must give emergence to akin circumstances.
If these circumstances are not likely, the president shall return the pleading or the court shall reject the appeal.
In accordance with the draft implementing regulation, information on the limitations on the availability of the information portal for more than 10 minutes is to be published on the website of the information portal under the "Restricted accessibility of the portal".
Transitional provisions
Article 1251 § 2 of the NPC, which introduces the work to submit the letters listed therein through the information portal, pursuant to Article 16(1) of the Amending Act, enters into force on 1.3.2027.
However, Article 183 should be noted13 § 12 KPC, which states that in the procedure for the approval of a settlement concluded in the framework of mediation under the mediation agreement, attorney, legal counsel, patent attorney, lawyer General of the Republic of Poland or prosecutor, submits a request and further procedural papers through the information portal. Therefore, the submission of these categories of letters through the information portal will be mandatory from 1.3.2026.
