| In Principle

Creditors can now attach debtors’ bank accounts under uniform rules across all EU member states.

This is the conclusion flowing from a non-final judgment issued by the Poznań Regional Court on 2 February 2017 in a case involving one of the largest infrastructure projects in Poland, completed in December 2016.

A new package of tax incentives under the programme described in Poland’s “Innovation Whitepaper” went into force at the beginning of 2017. This legislative move is a bow to researchers and encourages further innovative projects.

Losses caused by human errors should be made up. But there are fields where it is particularly difficult to obtain damages to redress mistakes.

The broad limitations on trading in agricultural land introduced by amendment of the Agricultural System Act require extreme caution in any transaction potentially involving this type of property, as the definition of agricultural land assumes huge importance.

The Polar Code entered into force at the beginning of 2017. It is a major event for companies in the maritime industry navigating in Arctic and Antarctic regions.

The “big amendment” to Poland’s VAT Act entered into force on 1 January 2017. As the popular title indicates, numerous changes were made in the existing VAT Act. The changes were designed to close loopholes in the law and thus improve VAT collections.

From the start of 2017, the protection provided by previously issued individual tax interpretations became doubtful. The problem particularly concerns protection when tax advantages are obtained after 1 January 2017 in connection with adjustment to the factual situation or future events which were the subject of the individual interpretation.

In 2013 an OECD forum began work on the BEPS project, comprising 15 actions for tightening the international system of tax treaties and preventing tax avoidance by taxpayers exploiting loopholes in tax treaties. These measures cover a broad spectrum of issues connected with taxation of international trade.

The Bitcoin exchange rate has been smashing records recently. People who bought this currency at much lower rates may realise significant profits. But the issue of how to tax such income has generated doubts for a long time. A recent change in the statistical classification of trading in Bitcoin has only added to these uncertainties.

Contractors initially declare that they meet the conditions for participating in a procurement, and at a later stage submit confirming documents. This rule applies to all modes for awarding public contracts, but the law provides for certain exceptions.

An environmental impact assessment report must contain a description of the alternatives for the proposed project that were studied: the investor’s proposal, the most environmentally beneficial alternative, and a reasonable alternative. The last notion raises the most doubts.