: 
By Piotr Rakowski and Robert Rybicki
Published October
2005
Piotr Rakowski
is a Counselor in the Permanent Representation of the
Robert Rybicki is the
Counselor in the Permanent Representation of the
Update to an article previously
published on LLRX.com on
Table of contents
Sejm (Lower House of Parliament)
Senate (Upper House of Parliament)
Central Offices controlled by the President of the Council
of Ministers
Central Offices controlled by relevant ministries
The
The
sources of the Polish law are divided into two categories: universally binding
law and internal law.
According
to the latest Constitution of
In order
to come into force, the statutes, regulations and enactments of local law have
to be published. The statutes also regulate the conditions for promulgations of
ratified international agreements and other international agreements; however,
in general they are published in the same manner as statutes.
The
aforementioned acts are published in the Official Journal of Laws of the
All other
acts constitute a part of internal law. They bind only the organs of public
administration and self-government which are subordinated to the issuing organs
and organizational units.
The
examples of such acts are: resolutions ("uchwała")
adopted by the Sejm, Senate and the Council of
Ministers, orders ("zarządzenie") issued by the
President of the Republic of Poland, the President of the Council of Ministers
and ministers, the acts of local law that are not universally binding and non-ratified
international agreements.
These
acts are published in the Journal of Laws of the
The
history of Polish constitutionalism provides a number of such acts issued in
An
English version of the current Polish Constitution
may be found on the Sejm (Lower House of Parliament)
page.
A statute
is a basic act of the universally binding law in
Ratified
international agreements possess the force of the statute. Once an agreement is
published, it becomes a part of the domestic legal system and may be applied
directly. Ratification is within the competence of the President of the
Some
agreements require prior consent before ratification and expressed in the
statute. In case where such an agreement contradicts with the statute, the
agreement prevails.
Regulations
are issued only by those organs that are expressly stated in the Constitution.
Moreover, regulations have to be issued on the basis of specific authorization
contained in the statute and in the purpose to implement the statute.
The
competent organs to issue the regulations are the President of Republic of
Poland, the Council of Ministers, the National Broadcasting Council, the
Chairman of the Committee who is a member of the Council of Ministers, and the
minister that manages the relevant area of public administration.
The acts
of local law are binding within territory where the issuing organ exercises its
powers. These acts may only be issued on the basis provided in the statute and
within the limits prescribed in the statute.
The
Polish legal system is based on the continental legal system (civil law
tradition). The common courts in
The
military courts are the military provincial courts and military unit courts.
They have judiciary control within the Polish Army in criminal cases and other
cases that were subscribed to them by relevant statutes.
The
administrative judiciary belongs to the
The Supreme Court is the highest central
judicial organ in the
The
Constitutional Tribunal is an organ of judiciary, competent to decide the
conformity of the issued law with the Constitution, disputes concerning
competence between the organs of central administration, the conformity of the
political parties' tasks with the Constitution and to hear constitutional
complaints filed by citizens. The English version of the act on Constitutional
Tribunal and other related acts are provided on the Polish Constitutional Tribunal web page.
The
Parliament was unicameral until 1989. In 1989, after a nationwide referendum,
the law was changed and the second chamber i.e., the Senate, was again
re-established (the Parliament was also bicameral before the Second World War).
The Sejm and the Senate exercise the legislative
power in the
The Sejm shares
its legislative function with the Senate as well as exercises control over the
activities of the Council of Ministers within the scope specified by the
provisions of the Constitution and statutes. There are 460 Members of the Sejm.
The Senate shares its legislative function with the
Sejm; simultaneously, it is part of the governmental
system in
The President of the Republic of Poland is the
supreme representative of the
The
Polish government is called the Council of Ministers
and it is chaired by the President of the Council of Ministers. The Council of
Ministers is appointed by the President of the
Most of
the Ministries and main government agencies have relevant legal provisions in
the Polish language, but there are also several acts translated into English.
The particular Web sites of the ministries where the relevant legislation may
be found are as follows:
There are
several central offices and agencies which constitute a part of public
governmental administration. They can be divided as follows:
The central
offices and agencies have links to English versions of the sites, as well as
provide some legal sources:
Polish
ombudsman (Commissioner for civil rights protection) is a body responsible for
the protection of civil rights and liberties. The Commissioner hears the
complaints from the individuals and may take up steps to annul the breaches of
law, has a right of initiative to eliminate the contradictions between the
adopted legal acts, sends conclusions to relevant organs in order to exercise
their right of legislative initiative, influences the directions of
interpretation of the law concerning civil right and liberties, and provides
for the Parliament and the public opinion reports on the state of civil rights
and liberties. All relevant information regarding the functioning and activities
of Ombudsman can be found on the official website.
There are
several professional law associations in
The
extensive list of Polish and foreign law firms may be searched through the Polish
yellow pages website.
The main
source of information regarding Polish membership in the European Union can be
found on the webpage of the European Information Center
of the Committee of European Integration, where, inter
alia, the English versions of the Polish "position
papers" may be downloaded (in relation to various areas of EU law and
negotiations chapters). Structure and tasks of the Permanent Representation of
the
A list of
the current state of legislation process may be located at the weekly updated Sejm's webpage, at the legislation progress site
A very
comprehensive source of legal acts is Commercial Law Centre
Foundation where legal acts of different areas of law are provided
e.g., administrative law, commercial law, civil law and civil procedure law,
tax law, etc.
Civil Law
and related - On the "Polish law server",
there are various texts on on the Polish legal
system. There are also downloadable versions of the Polish Civil Code
at the Rzeczpospolita's legal serwis
site (the main Polish daily newspaper).
Commercial
Law and related - ABC Publishing House is a large publishing
house which provides the Internet users with several regulations including the
Polish Commercial Law, Banking Law, Tax Law, Labour
Law, etc. The service is currently free of charge. You have to click on
"Service" and then on "Zbiory Praw"
to get access to the Polish versions of these laws.
Investing
in
Penal Law
- a Polish version of the Penal Code can be
downloaded from the aforementioned Legal server of Rzeczpospolita.
Broadcasting
Law - The central institution within Polish administration that is responsible
for supervising the legality, free broadcasting and media is the National
Broadcasting Council. The relevant legal provisions concerning the functioning
of the Council as well the acts issued by the Council may be found at the
English version of the National Council of Radio
Broadcasting and Television site.
A
comprehensive source of the EU law and its implementation into the Polish legal
system as well as other related topics may be found on European Law Foundation website.
The Polish Ministry of Foreign Affairs also provides useful
information with the Internet addresses of the
