| In Principle

On 19 September 2020, an amendment to the Construction Law came into force, making it harder to attack building permits and occupancy permits. Among other things, the parliament decided that a five-year limit should be introduced for declaring a building permit invalid, from the date the decision entered into legal circulation, thus limiting the discretion of the public administration in assessing the validity of the permit. However, Art. 37b of the Construction Law, introducing this limit, has begun to raise doubts among some commentators, which may lead to the perpetuation of what we believe to be an erroneous interpretation of the new provisions and undermine their intended purpose. Therefore, it is necessary to oppose the view that this provision does not apply to decisions issued before the amendment

On 25 February 2021, the Polish Parliament adopted amendments to the Anti Money Laundering and Counter Terrorism Financing Act of 1 March 2018. They concern both obligated institutions and reporting of information on beneficial owners to the Central Register of Beneficial Owners. Below we present some of the changes that will have a significant impact on the performance of duties by obligated institutions and entities required to make notifications to the register.

To prove that a power of attorney on behalf of a foreign entity was granted by persons authorised to represent the entity, an excerpt from the commercial register or a notary’s certificate is usually submitted. But what about countries where there are no commercial registries and notaries have no power to confirm representation?

Sharing, exchanging or jointly collecting data may be valuable for the businesses involved and for the development of a given industry sector, technological innovation, and, as a result, consumers. Indeed, data are of fundamental importance for the development of the digital economy, either alone or as a basis for functioning of artificial intelligence. Hence, the competitiveness of companies on the market depends on access to relevant data.

Poland’s state-funded My Electricity programme, which provides subsidies for home photovoltaic installations, contributed to the installation of over 220,000 home PV installations in two years. The installation of new PV capacity in Poland has accelerated rapidly, reaching 4.1 GW in March 2021 (up from 557 MW at the end of 2018). A similar increase may soon apply to electric car charging installations, as according to announcements by the Ministry of Climate and Environment, from July 2021 owners of individual chargers will also be able to obtain funding from the programme.

Work is in progress on a bill amending the Accounting Act and other acts to make it easier to sign financial statements. This is good news for companies with multiple-member management boards.

A typical bicycle has two wheels of equal size, handlebars, a frame, and a chain drive for the rear wheel. But do individual bicycle models deserve copyright protection? And if so, what factors determine whether they are granted such protection? These questions were addressed by the Court of Justice of the European Union in a judgment delivered on 11 June 2020.

Contractors often take advantage of their stronger negotiating position by imposing terms in subcontracts. The new Public Procurement Law includes Art. 463 to protect subcontractors from unfairly framed contractual obligations. Will subcontractors benefit from the new regulation?

Flawless performance of a public contract is very rare. Therefore, the case law has adopted the principle that contracting authorities may refuse the final handover only if there are material defects. But what is the nature of material defects, and how can the procedure for handover of works be properly defined in a public contract? These issues were recently considered by the National Appeal Chamber (KIO) in its ruling of 1 December 2020 (KIO 2965/20), which additionally took a stand on the issue of allegedly grossly excessive contractual penalties and limits on such penalties.

The transition period during which UK citizens and undertakings were generally treated under EU law like citizens and undertakings from EU member states came to an end on 31 December 2020. This raises the question under what conditions British citizens and undertakings may acquire real estate in Poland or shares in companies holding real estate in Poland.

The activity of public sector entities often involves generation and use of extensive sets of data. These datasets serve to perform public tasks, but often have measurable economic value. Here we will examine the rules under which entities from outside the public sector can gain access to data of this type and use them to create new products and services.

It would be tempting to say that we are publishing this Yearbook in an entirely different world than the previous edition. But the question is whether the world has actually changed, or we simply find ourselves living in different circumstances.