Access by contractors from third countries—amendment of the Public Procurement Law
Today, 9 September 2025, an amendment to the Public Procurement Law entered into force which fundamentally changes the rules for access to the Polish public procurement market by contractors from certain third countries. The changes result from EU competition policy and judgments from the Court of Justice recognising this concept in cases C-652/22 Kolin Inşaat Turizm Sanayi ve Ticaret AŞ and C-266/22 CRRC Qingdao Sifang.
NGOs will be able to challenge local air quality programmes
On 25 August 2025 a bill to amend the Environmental Protection Law was posted on the Government Legislation Centre website. The proposal awards ecological organisations, among others, the right to challenge air protection programmes, revisions to such programmes, and sort-term action plans in this area.
Civil Procedure Code amendment—electronic service and mediation
On 21 August 2025, the President of Poland signed the Act of 5 August 2025 Amending the Civil Procedure Code, the Civil Code and Certain Other Acts. The key changes involve electronic service of documents, digitalisation of appellate instruments, and the increased importance of mediation.
Civil Procedure Code amendment—no more rejection of pleadings for trivial reasons
The recent amendment to the Civil Procedure Code repealed a problematic regulation that allowed the courts to reject pleadings. The regulation was abused in practice, delaying court proceedings.
As the first law firm in Poland we have started strategic partnership with Legora – AI platform for lawyers
Following a pilot programme started in 2024 and involving more than 70 lawyers across all practice groups, we have adopted Legora, the leading collaborative AI platform for lawyers. Legora is designed to maximise collaboration between legal services and machine learning, supporting day-to-day legal work such as case analysis, document and table review, drafting support, and more.
Bill to amend the Food Safety and Nutrition Act: Higher penalties and sweeping changes in oversight
The Ministry of Health and the Chief Sanitary Inspector, Dr Paweł Grzesiowski, have drafted a bill to amend the Food Safety and Nutrition Act and the State Sanitary Inspectorate Act (item no. UD247). The bill would introduce a number of changes, including significantly raising fines for violating food regulations.
Subsidised HoReCa investments in Poland under the magnifying glass: A step-by-step guide to inspections of projects under the Covid-19 recovery plan
Support from Poland’s National Recovery Plan under the A1.2.1 investment scheme was aimed as assisting micro, small and medium-sized businesses in the hotel, restaurant and catering industry in rebuilding after the difficult period of the pandemic. But when a map of the aid awarded under the scheme was published to showcase the scale of the programme’s success, it raised questions about whether the funding went to the places where it was most needed. This led to the launch of a sweeping review of the scheme—not random checks, but inspections of all beneficiaries. It’s no wonder that many businesses are considering now how to work through this process and protect their own interests.
The role of ecological organisations: Litigation over the environmental permits for the container terminal in Świnoujście and other projects
On 4 August 2025 the Province Administrative Court in Waraw denied complaints filed by ecological organisations from Poland and Germany against the decision of the General Director for Environmental Protection concerning the environmental conditions for implementing the project for construction of the container terminal in the external port in Świnoujście. The judgment is not yet legally final.
Poland’s extradition cooperation with Ukraine
Following the outbreak of the full-scale war in 2022, Ukraine became the country submitting the most extradition requests to the Polish authorities, overtaking the previous leader, Russia. Now about 50 cases a year reach the regional prosecutors’ offices, where procedures for extradition to Ukraine are initiated pursuant to Interpol Diffusions or Red Notices. The noticeable increase in the number of such cases in the prosecutors’ offices has also led to increased activity in this area by Poland’s regional courts and courts of appeal.
A tale of two claims: The Court of Justice questions Poland’s rules for unwinding invalid credit agreements
On 19 June 2025 the Court of Justice of the European Union issued an important ruling for Polish legal practice in C-396/24, Lubreczlik, responding to a request for a preliminary ruling from the Kraków Regional Court on the rules for settling accounts between the parties to an invalidated credit agreement.
Third-party use of a trademark in a prize draw: Permissible use or infringement?
Can a renowned trademark be used to encourage participation in a contest? Is displaying someone else’s trademark as a promotional prize merely informational, or is it trademark infringement? The Court of Justice addressed this issue in its judgment of 11 January 2024 in C-361/22, Inditex. The case involved a promotional campaign in the form of a contest, where the prize was a gift card from a well-known fashion brand. The promoter used the brand’s logo in a depiction of the card without the proprietor’s permission.
WIBOR litigation, part 1: Can the WIBOR benchmark be challenged as the basis for setting variable interest rates?
Variable interest rate loans based on the WIBOR benchmark are a major part of the Polish financial market. For years the WIBOR rate remained at a low level, but it shot up in 2022. The WIBOR 6M stood at 0.25% in January 2021, but by July 2022 it had hit a peak of 7.43%. Currently the WIBOR 6M is a little lower (5.05% as of 10 June 2025), but it has yet to retreat to its earlier low values.
