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.
Thanks to the amendment, it will be easier for the parties in civil proceedings to reach a settlement in remote hearings. If physical signing the settlement is not possible, the court will note the reason in the record, which opens the path to reaching settlements online. It will thus not be necessary for the parties to sign the settlement before the court, which often required travelling long distances to the court only to submit a signature. Instead, the court will confirm the conclusion of the settlement in the written record, which will constitute a writ of enforcement.
Starting 1 March 2026, it will be possible to file court papers via the information portal for the common courts (Portal Informacyjny Sądów Powszechnych). For professional counsel, this will enable electronic filing of instruments such as:
- Appeals (apelacje)
- Interlocutory appeals (zażalenia) (apart from interlocutory appeals to the Supreme Court of Poland)
- Requests for a written justification for a ruling
- Notices of joinder of a case
- Consents to mediation
- Applications for issuance of an enforcement clause (with certain exceptions).
If an enclosure cannot be transmitted via the portal, it can be provided to the court in traditional form within three days after electronic filing of the document. If the portal is down on the court’s side on the deadline for filing a court paper, the document can be filed on the next business day after the system is back up. However, in that case it will be necessary for the party to show that there was a problem with the system. Starting 1 March 2027, it will be mandatory for professional counsel to file appeals and interlocutory appeals via the portal.
Based on the new Art. 4583a of the Civil Procedure Code, it will be mandatory for the court to direct to mediation the cases referred to in Art. 4582 §1(5) (cases arising out of contracts for construction works, or contracts supporting the performance of construction works, closely connected with the construction process)—unless there are grounds for issuance of an order for payment in the case.
Entering mediation as such will be voluntary—a party may decide not to consent to mediation. However, the solution adopted in the amendment may result in prolonging the proceedings. When the parties are interested in reaching a settlement, the parties themselves should seek to direct the case to mediation, and most often they do. The approach taken in the amendment will tend to prolong the circulation of court correspondence and delay the actual consideration of the case.
In the amendment, the parliament also allowed for the possibility of submitting powers of attorney in electronic form, bearing a trusted signature, personal signature, or qualified electronic signature. This eliminates a number of doubts and differing practices between the courts on whether they would accept powers of attorney bearing an electronic signature.
The amendment also eliminates the duty to include in a court paper a declaration on service of a copy of the document on the other party, and to dispatch the item by registered mail. The strict requirement to reject pleadings because they lack this declaration is repealed. If the court has any doubt, it can instead demand that the party present proof of service or dispatch of the item. Then, if the party does not provide such proof within the designated time, the document will be rejected. This is a positive change, because it gets rid of this formalism and the risk that a pleading will be returned for failure to include such a statement.
Agata Jóźwiak, attorney-at-law, Dispute Resolution & Arbitration practice, Wardyński & Partners
