POLAND Law and Practice Contributed by: Justyna Kucia, Katarzyna Paczuska-Tokarska, Barnaba Skibniewski and Anna Tujakowska, Sołtysiński Kawecki & Szlęzak
party can bring an action before a common court to set aside the award for a period of two months after delivery of the award. 5.4 Standard of Judicial Review for Jurisdiction/Admissibility In general, Polish courts tend to apply the de novo standard of review for questions of jurisdiction, while typically referring to the facts as established by the tribunal. However, the standard of judicial review for questions of jurisdiction has not yet been explicitly determined in Poland. As for admissibility, Polish law does not explicitly recognise this notion. Some issues that typically fall under the notion of admissibility in other legal sys - tems, like a statute of limitations or compliance with claim notification obligations, are treated as matters of substantive law, and some issues, like failure to comply with pre-arbitration dispute settlement pro - cedures, are dealt with as matters of jurisdiction and contract interpretation. 5.5 Breach of Arbitration Agreement According to the CPC, a breach of a valid, enforceable arbitration agreement leads to rejection of the claim. However, the court does not take it into account ex officio. The defendant must raise an objection regard - ing the arbitration agreement within a certain time limit – ie, before entering into the dispute on the merits. It is considered that, when a claimant submits a claim covered by an arbitration agreement to a state court and the defendant does not object to the state court hearing the case before entering into a dispute on the merits, both parties agree to hear the dispute in litiga - tion, and there is no breach of arbitration agreement. 5.6 Jurisdiction Over Third Parties Polish law does not explicitly address the issue of jurisdiction over third parties, not being bound by the arbitration agreement with one exception – an arbi - tration agreement included in the articles of associa - tion of a company binds not only the company and its shareholders, but also the company’s bodies and managers. Nevertheless, an arbitration agreement can some - times bind its non-signatories, especially in cases of
different types of legal succession. For example, heirs are bound by arbitration agreements concluded by the deceased, and an acquiring company is bound by arbitration agreements entered into by the acquired company. The same applies to companies created after demerger and arbitration agreements concluded by demerged company, as well as to assignees or acquirers of debt and arbitration agreements con - cluded by former debtors or creditors.
6. Preliminary and Interim Relief 6.1 Types of Relief
Under Polish law, the arbitral tribunal has the power to award interim injunctions if it has not been exclud - ed by the parties in the arbitration agreement. The arbitral tribunal, acting at the request of a party who has substantiated the claim, may decide to apply the interim injunctions that it deems appropriate. The interim injunction is only enforceable upon obtaining an enforceability agreement from the common court. 6.2 Role of Courts Under Polish law, the state courts play their part in granting interim relief in arbitral proceedings. Firstly, a party may always – including prior to the commencement of arbitral proceedings – request a state court to grant interim relief. Polish courts can also grant interim relief in connection with foreign- seated arbitrations. The courts may grant interim relief to secure a claim – eg, by seizing the defendant’s accounts or ordering or prohibiting the defendant to behave in a certain way. Secondly, interim relief granted by an arbitral tribunal can only be enforced after its enforceability is con - firmed by a state court. Polish law does not provide for the institution of an emergency arbitrator. 6.3 Security for Costs Polish law does not explicitly regulate the institution of security for costs. However, under Polish law, unless the parties have agreed otherwise, the arbitral tribu - nal, at the request of the party who has made the
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