| In Principle

It used to be accepted that the sovereign is infallible, and questioning the correctness of the sovereign’s decisions was bound to end badly. Today, fortunately for the people, there are instruments for holding the authorities liable for their wrongful acts and omissions.

It is theoretically possible to pursue damages from the State Treasury for injury caused by violation of EU law, such as non-implementation of directives. But procedural difficulties discourage most litigants from taking this path.

The real estate development business relies on decisions issued by administrative authorities for architectural and construction matters. The development process follows a number of successive phases, and only after positive completion of one phase can the process move on to the next phase.

The liability of public authorities for unlawful acts or omissions also extends to delay in the functioning of the courts, infringing the individual’s right to have his case heard without undue delay. A finding of excessive length of proceedings enables a party to pursue redress of the resulting loss through the courts.

Poland is introducing regulations implementing a new global standard for automatic exchange of information about tax matters, developed by the OECD.

The amendment to Poland’s Penal Code which entered into force on 15 April 2016 modified the rules concerning liability for perjury. The increased sanctions affect persons making false statements pursuant to requirements arising out of implementation of FATCA rules in Poland.

Introduction of the OECD’s common standard for automatic exchange of financial information, as well as worldwide enforcement of FATCA by the United States, means that structures previously offering confidentiality will now be affected by the mandatory international system of exchange of tax information. This applies in particular to trusts and foundations.

Work in the OECD to expand the exchange of tax information seeks to bring into the mainstream jurisdictions that have typically been regarded as tax havens or countries applying harmful tax competition.

Member states of the European Union, following other jurisdictions around the world, are stepping up their work on extending the scope of automatic exchange of tax information, which is regarded as the most effective means of combating tax avoidance.

With economic globalisation, foreign investors often decide to pay capital contributions to Polish companies in foreign currencies. This raises the question of how to convert these amounts into Polish currency.

Operators of crowdfunding platforms should carefully follow the work on the Network and Information Security Directive. The last draft of the proposal suggests that crowdfunding platforms could be covered by the directive.

A software manufacturer’s role in criminal investigations and hacking its own programming