POLAND Law and Practice Contributed by: Tomasz Konopka, Katarzyna Randzio-Sajkowska and Jakub Kocuba, Sołtysiński Kawecki & Szlęzak
their way of life before committing the offence and their behaviour after committing the offence, in particular, efforts to make restitution or pro - vide compensation. 1.4 Recent Key Amendments to National Legislation A significant amendment to the CC, which came into force on 1 October 2023, introduced several fundamental changes, in particular, increasing the penalties for certain offences. The changes in the amendment include: • increasing the penalty of 25 years of impris - onment to 30 years of imprisonment; • introducing a kind of leniency programme, ie, an impunity clause, for offences of hindering or obstructing a tender procedure or enter - ing into an agreement to unduly influence the outcome of an ongoing or planned tender procedure (bid-rigging), in a situation where the perpetrator has notified the law enforce - ment authority or the competition authority of a member state of the European Union or the European Commission of the fact that the offence has been committed, and has disclosed all relevant circumstances of the offence before the law enforcement authority has become aware of them; and • extending the statute of limitations for murder to 40 years. The changes also apply to bribery and corrup - tion offences. For example, the act increases the penalty for corruption offences where the financial benefit exceeds PLN200,000 from up to 12 years’ imprisonment to up to 15 years’ imprisonment. In addition, the new amendment also introduces a new type of aggravated forms of corruption, that is, if the financial benefit exceeds PLN1 mil -
lion, the perpetrator is liable to between three and 20 years of imprisonment. Moreover, Article 306b of the CC introduced aggravated forms of certain offences against business transactions and property interests in civil law transactions (eg, acting to the detriment of the company, and money laundering). If the value of the property or the amount of damage exceeds PLN5 million, such crimes are punish - able by three to 20 years of imprisonment. If the value of the property or the amount of the damage exceeds PLN10 million, such crimes are punishable by five to 25 years’ imprisonment. Parallel aggravated forms are provided for most offences against property (eg, theft, robbery, extortion, fraud, embezzlement and misappro - priation). If the value of the property exceeds PLN5 million, such offences are punishable by three to 20 years’ imprisonment. If the value of the property exceeds PLN10 million, the offence is punishable by five to 25 years’ imprisonment. In September 2024, the Act of 14 June 2024 on the protection of whistle-blowers implementing Directive 2019/1937 of the European Parlia - ment and of the Council of 23 October 2019 on the protection of whistle-blowers of Union law entered into force. 2. Bribery and Corruption Elements 2.1 Bribery In all cases of corruption, a bribe is a material or personal benefit. Material and personal benefits include both benefits for the perpetrator and other people. Polish law does not define the minimum value of a material benefit, which is considered to be
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