POLAND Law and Practice Contributed by: Rafał Waszkiewicz and Bartosz Pyzder, Sołtysiński Kawecki & Szlęzak
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 have the same legal force as a court award or a settlement reached before a court of law once it has been recognised by the court or declared enforceable by the court. 13.2 Subject Matters Not Referred to Arbitration In general, matters can be submitted to arbitra- tion. Arbitration cannot be used for the following subjects: • alimony cases; or • disputes involving non-property rights if they cannot be settled, eg, divorce cases. In addition, there are specific restrictions on the arbitration 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 arbi- tration clause is invalid, 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 dispute not covered by the arbitration clause; • the requirements as to the composition of the arbitration court or the basic principles of the proceedings before that court have not been observed; • the judgment was obtained by means of a crime, or the basis for issuing the judgment was a forged or counterfeited document; or
• a final court judgment was 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, inadmis- sibility 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 and foreign arbitral tribunal require a declaration of enforceability (enforce- ability clause). This process is carried out in a simplified procedure. 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 enforce- ability of an award after a hearing. 14. Outlook 14.1 Proposals for Dispute Resolution Reform Legislators are seeking new solutions to stream- line proceedings with varying degrees of suc- cess. As a result, the provisions of the Code of Civil Procedure are frequently amended and have little stability. In last few years, several amendments to the Civil Procedure Code were passed, which inter alia: • introduced special proceedings regarding dis- putes between entrepreneurs and consumers; • changed the basic composition of the appel- late court from three judges to one judge;
1143 CHAMBERS.COM
Powered by FlippingBook