POLAND Law and Practice Contributed by: Tomasz Konopka, Katarzyna Randzio-Sajkowska, Katarzyna Stradomska-Balcerzyk and Michał Zieliński, Sołtysiński Kawecki & Szlęzak
Sołtysiński Kawecki & Szlęzak Jasna 26 Street 00-054 Warsaw Poland
Tel: +48 22 608 70 00 Fax: +48 22 608 70 01 Email: office@skslegal.pl Web: www.skslegal.pl
1. Criminal Law
(amounting to PLN23,300 in 2025, based on the cur - rent minimum wage of PLN4,666). Furthermore, the perpetrator could be liable for attempting to com - mit a tax offence. In this case, the penalty may not exceed two-thirds of the maximum statutory penalty prescribed for a tax offence. 1.2 Burden of Proof In the Polish legal system, as a general rule, the burden of proof “rests on who asserts, not on who denies”. Under the criminal procedure, this means the burden of proving the defendant’s guilt lies with the prosecution, and that fact must be established beyond reasonable doubt. The defendant is innocent until proven guilty. It must be proven beyond reasonable doubt that all prerequisites of an offence have been fulfilled. All doubts that cannot be dispelled must be resolved to the benefit of the accused. In exceptional cases, the criminal procedure provides for a derogation from the need to prove certain facts. In these cases, there is no need to provide evidence of a particular circumstance; however, it does not pre - clude a counter-proof being provided. The so-called “surrogates of proof” are notoriousness, obviousness, probability and presumptions, whether factual or legal. Notoriousness provides for the rule that the facts indisputably known by the legal authority and the par - ties shall not require proof. Obviousness is something more than notoriousness, as it relates to the knowl- edge that every averagely-educated and intelligent person possesses. A probability is a substitute for
1.1 Criminal Offences Pursuant to the Polish Criminal Code (CC), an offence may be classified as a felony or a misdemeanour. A felony is a prohibited act penalised with the depriva - tion of liberty for a period of no less than three years, or with a more severe penalty. A misdemeanour is an offence penalised with a fine exceeding 30 daily rates or exceeding PLN5,000, the limitation or deprivation of liberty each exceeding one month. A felony may be committed only intentionally, while a misdemeanour may also be committed unintentionally if the law pro - vides so, although the perpetrator could also be liable for attempting to commit an offence. Moreover, Polish law provides for a liability for less severe unlawful acts under the Code of Petty Offenc - es. A petty offence may be committed intentionally or unintentionally. However, the statute may exclude liability for a petty offence committed unintentionally. A perpetrator could also be liable for attempting to commit a petty offence if the law provides so. Notwithstanding the above, there is a further classifi - cation of tax offences regulated under the Fiscal Crim - inal Code (FCC). A tax offence is an act prohibited under the FCC and penalised with fines calculated on daily rates, limitation or deprivation of liberty. A fiscal petty offence is also an act prohibited under the FCC but penalised with a fine specified at an exact amount. A tax offence is classified as a fiscal petty offence if the amount of public debt depleted, or the value of the object of the act, does not exceed five times the minimum remuneration at the time of its commission
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