POLAND Law and Practice Contributed by: Karol Tatara, Paweł Kuglarz, Anna Czarnota and Mateusz Kaliński, Tatara & Partners Restructuring & Insolvency Law Firm
Tatara & Partners Restructuring & Insolvency Law Firm ul. Filipa Eisenberga 11/1 31-523 Kraków Poland
Tel: +48 12 634 52 92 Fax: +48 12 412 23 23 Email: kancelaria@tatara.com.pl Web: tatara.com.pl
1. Overview of Legal and Regulatory System for Insolvency/Restructuring/ Liquidation 1.1 Legal Framework In Poland, a wide range of restructuring and insolven - cy possibilities are available, not only for businesses, but also for bankrupt consumers. Consumers can use bankruptcy proceedings, and the proceedings to approve the arrangement at the creditors’ meeting. They are not entitled to resort to restructuring proceedings. Entrepreneurs, operating in different legal forms – like sole proprietorships, partnerships or companies – have a wide array of legal tools at their disposal, ranging from four restructuring proceedings regulated in the Restructuring Law to simplified restructuring, judicial liquidation, out-of-court restructurings (using, among other things, standstill agreements), pre-pack sales and corporate bankruptcy proceedings. 1.2 Types of Insolvency Apart from formal insolvency proceedings, the follow - ing voluntary proceedings are available in Poland for insolvent entities or those at risk (threat) of insolvency: • simplified restructuring proceedings; • arrangement approval proceedings; • accelerated arrangement proceedings; • arrangement proceedings; • remedial proceedings; • pre-pack sale after declaring bankruptcy; and
• partial arrangement (limited only to receivables that have significant meaning for the debtor’s business) – possible within simplified restructuring proceed - ings, proceedings to approve the arrangement and accelerated arrangement proceedings, and also as additional proceedings within remedial proceed - ings. Hence, there are plenty of options and choices relat - ing to possible restructuring proceedings in Poland, especially after the reform of 2016. Under Polish law, specific statutory regimes apply to: • banks and credit unions; • real-estate developers; • investment firms or entities engaged in payment systems and securities settlements; • insurance companies; and • bond issuers. These specific regimes are based on the need to dif - ferentiate between traditional insolvency or restructur - ing law provisions, and the situation with regard to the stakeholders of the above-mentioned entities. A bank’s insolvency is regulated under a separate regime since the implementation of the EU Bank Recovery and Resolution Directive (BRRD) in the Act on the Banking Guarantee Fund (deposit guarantees and resolution). This special regime is known as a bank resolution.
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