POLAND Law and Practice Contributed by: Rafał Waszkiewicz and Bartosz Pyzder, Sołtysiński Kawecki & Szlęzak
13. Arbitration 13.1 Laws Regarding the Conduct of Arbitration
• the judgment was obtained by means of a crime, or the basis for issuing the judgment was a forged or counterfeit document; or • a final court judgment was already issued in the same case between the same parties. The court may also set aside an arbitral award on the grounds of the public policy clause, inadmissibility of arbitration in the case, and depriving the consumer of the protection granted by law. 13.4 Procedure for Enforcing Domestic and Foreign Arbitration Awards of a domestic or foreign arbitral tribunal require a declaration of enforceability (granting an enforceability clause). This process is carried out in a simplified procedure, but the procedure is more exten- sive than in case of granting an enforceability clause for a judgment of the state court. The courts of appeal have jurisdiction at first instance. Their decisions are subject to appeal. For a foreign arbitral tribunal, the court decides on the recognition or declaration of the enforceability of an award after a hearing, and a cassation appeal to the Supreme Court is allowed. 14. Outlook 14.1 Proposals for Dispute Resolution Reform Legislators are seeking new solutions to streamline proceedings with varying degrees of success. As a result, the provisions of the Code of Civil Procedure are frequently amended and have little stability. The newest amendment will allow professional attor- neys to file pleadings in the second instance and some minor pleadings in the first instance electroni- cally via the court portal. This will be allowed starting from 1 March 2026 and will be compulsory starting from 2027. Moreover, some other amendments to Code of Civil Procedure that aim to simplify the procedure are being discussed. It is also intended to extend certain dead- lines (eg, the deadline for filing an appeal or com- plaint).
Arbitration in Poland is allowed in a wide scope of matters. As a rule, arbitration is much faster than pro- ceedings before a state court. Litigation before a state court is not permitted when there is a valid and effective arbitration agreement and either the defendant or the participant raises this objection before the dispute on the merits. Such objection must be made in the statement of defence before the discussion on the merits of the case. If so, the court rejects the statement of claim. An arbitral award or a settlement reached before an arbitral tribunal has the same legal force as a court award or a settlement reached before a court of law once it has been recognised by the state court or declared enforceable by the state court. 13.2 Subject Matters Not Referred to Arbitration In general, matters can be submitted to arbitration. Arbitration cannot be used for the following subjects: • alimony cases; or • disputes involving non-property rights if they can- not be settled, eg, divorce cases. In addition, there are specific restrictions on the arbi- tration of consumer disputes. 13.3 Circumstances to Challenge an Arbitral Award A party may demand that an arbitration award be set aside where: • there was no arbitration clause, or the arbitration clause is invalid, is ineffective or has expired; • a party was deprived of the possibility to defend its rights before the arbitration court; • the award of the arbitration court relates to a dis- pute not covered by the arbitration clause; • the requirements as to the composition of the arbi- tration court or the basic principles of the proceed- ings before that court were not observed;
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