| In Principle

On 1 December 2021, the Minister of Infrastructure published a long-awaited regulation on evaluation of applications for licences to erect artificial islands (offshore location licences). Investors who obtain permits will be able to participate in future auctions for offshore wind farms.

According to recent press reports, as many as 210 air carriers that operated air transport on routes to and from Poland in 2018 may be fined for breach of the Passenger Name Record Data Processing Act. In just four months (June–September 2021), the commander-in-chief of the Border Guard instituted some 17,000 proceedings against them seeking to impose administrative penalties, exposing them to fines that could total as high as PLN 640 million. Given that between 2018 and 2020 there were nearly 940,000 passenger-related flight operations (on both domestic and international routes) in Poland, this may represent just the tip of the iceberg.

Under current Polish law, it is illegal to sell OTC drugs from a motor vehicle. This was acknowledged by the Chief Pharmaceutical Inspectorate and confirmed by the Province Administrative Court in Warsaw in its judgment of 23 March 2021 (case no. VI SA/Wa 2691/20).

Work is underway on a bill implementing the EU’s Whistleblower Directive (2019/1937). It is not yet clear whether the directive will be implemented into Polish law on time (by 17 December 2021), but many companies are already drafting the necessary documents and organisational procedures.

Daniel Smarduch discusses the transactions involving receivables from the Polish perspective. Receivables as an asset are present everywhere in the business world. This asset could be a problem for some, but at the same time an investment opportunity for others.

During the decade after the current Developers Act entered into force in Poland, it was repeatedly argued that its provisions were vague or diverged from the market reality, so that the act did not live up to the hopes placed in it. As a result, in the last few years, work was undertaken to introduce a new law to fill the existing gaps and, above all, provide greater protection for buyers of residential units and single-family houses.

One of the new features of the new Developers Act is comprehensive regulation of the reservation agreement, so far not governed by separate provisions. It is worth thoroughly analysing the shape the drafters decided to give to this type of agreement when introducing it officially into the Polish legal system.

On 1 July 2022, most of the provisions of the new Developers Act will come into force. One of the changes is to make the handover procedure for a residential unit or single-family house more detailed, and to introduce new rights for buyers. The new rules are particularly controversial among developers.

A developer commencing sales of residential units or single-family houses in Poland must prepare a prospectus for the property. The prospectus should include information on other projects planned in the vicinity of the development. In this regard, the current provisions are imprecise and raise concerns. Does the new Developers Act eliminate them?

The new Developers Act substantially modifies the rights and obligations of banks in connection with real estate developments. The new regulations significantly increase the scope of rights and obligations of banks, which will entail a greater expenditure of time and effort on their side. Thus the new rules may increase the cost of banks’ participation in the execution of residential developments.

Analysis of the transitional provisions of the new Developers Act is complicated and unfortunately does not lead to unequivocal conclusions. Indeed, we believe these provisions should be amended immediately to remove doubts, so that developers can prepare for application of the new law and avoid litigation in the future.

Aleksandra Drożdż explains the liability for binding instructions that the parent company will be able to issue to its subsidiaries under the proposed provisions of the holding law.