POLAND Law and Practice Contributed by: Justyna Kucia, Katarzyna Paczuska-Tokarska, Barnaba Skibniewski and Anna Tujakowska, Sołtysiński Kawecki & Szlęzak
7. Procedure 7.1 Governing Rules Arbitration proceedings in Poland can be governed by two regimes ‒ contractual or statutory. The statutory regime is applicable in the absence of regulation of the proceedings by the parties to the arbitration agreement. Therefore, it is also possible that a partly contractual and partly statutory regime will apply. Such situation occurs if the parties only regulate certain procedural issues in the arbitration agreement. The statutory regulation is contained in the CPC, Part Five. The parties may regulate the procedure entirely in the arbitration agreement between them or refer, in the agreement, to the rules of one of the arbitration institu - tions or the UNCITRAL Arbitration Rules. 7.2 Procedural Steps The arbitration procedure is generally not regulated by mandatory provisions of law. The procedure may be decided by the parties in an agreement, or, in the absence of an agreement, the arbitral tribunal may, as a rule, conduct the proceedings in any manner it deems appropriate. It is, however, a mandatory part of the arbitration pro - cedure that the parties are notified of the hearing and of meetings of the arbitral tribunal held for the purpose of taking evidence, and each party must be served with all the letters filed by the other party, as well as expert opinions and other written evidence that the arbitral tribunal may take into account in settling the dispute. Moreover, the parties cannot stipulate that an arbi - tral award is not subject to recognition or declaration of enforceability by a common court, nor can they exclude the right to request setting aside the award of an arbitral tribunal by a common court. 7.3 Powers and Duties of Arbitrators Polish law imposes several powers and duties upon arbitrators to ensure the fair and efficient conduct of arbitration proceedings. The key powers and duties are as follows.
• Arbitrators must maintain impartiality and inde - pendence throughout the arbitration process. They are required to disclose any circumstances that may give rise to doubts as to their impartiality or independence. • Arbitrators have the authority to rule on their own jurisdiction ( kompetenz-kompetenz ). • Arbitrators are responsible for managing and conducting arbitration proceedings efficiently. In doing so, they must ensure equal treatment of the parties. • Arbitrators have the power to award interim injunc - tions, if this has not been excluded by the parties Polish law does not provide for the qualification of rep - resentatives in arbitration proceedings ‒ in particular, representatives do not have to be legal professionals. However, limitations may be established in the rules of arbitration institutions. For example, the Rules of the Court of Arbitration at the Polish Chamber of Com - merce in Warsaw provide that an employee of this institution and a mediator in the dispute subject to the proceedings cannot be a representative of either of the parties. 8. Evidence 8.1 Collection and Submission of Evidence Polish law does not contain any explicit provisions regarding the collection and submission of evidence in arbitration proceedings. Arbitrators typically apply a mix of standards on the taking of evidence from civil law and common law. For example, extensive docu - ment production, following the model of document production known in common law jurisdictions, is not popular, but there are cases in which document pro - duction occurs. Arbitrators then often use the Redfern schedule. As for witnesses, depositions are not used, but written witness statements and cross-examination are. It is common for arbitrators to apply the IBA Rules in the arbitration agreement. 7.4 Legal Representatives
on the Taking of Evidence. 8.2 Rules of Evidence
There are no specific rules of evidence in arbitral pro - ceedings stipulated in Polish law. The CPC provides
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