Dispute 20. mei 2020

Poland: Anti-Crisis Shield 3.0 – suspension of court and procedural deadlines lifted

20. mei 2020
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Piotr Wojnar
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act legal Poland

May 16, 2020 was the effective date for most provisions of the so-called “Anti-Crisis Shield 3.0.” The Act lifts the suspension of court and procedural deadlines. When will time limits start to run and how to count them?

Until now, during the coronavirus epidemic, time limits in court proceedings (incl. civil, criminal and administrative ones) have been suspended. This resulted from article 15zzs section 1 of the so-called Anti-Crisis Shield 1.0 to the Act of March 02, 2020 on Special Solutions Related to Prevention and Combating of COVID-19, Other Infectious Diseases and Crisis Situations Arising from them. Anti-Crisis Shield 3.0 revokes the aforesaid provision. Pursuant to article 68 sections 1 and 2 of the amended Act, time limits will start running after 7 days of the Act’s effective date, i.e. on May 24.

Anti-Crisis Shield 3.0 has some legislative deficiencies. The revocation of the suspending provision becomes effective on the day following the Act publication date (i.e. May 16). As a result, there is no legal basis for suspension of time limits between May 16 and 23, 2020. Nevertheless, the lawmaker’s intentions are clear. We believe there is no doubt that time limits will start running on May 24.

It needs to be noted that the terms which have not begun to run at all will start anew. Those which began to run before Anti-Crisis Shield 1.0, and were subsequently suspended, will continue (rather than start once again).

Example 1:
The act suspending time limits came into force as of March 31, 2020. The court delivered a payment order to the defendant on April 15, 2020. The two-week deadline for submission of an objection to the payment order did not start running at all. The new Act came into effect as of May 16, 2020. The term starts running after 7 days of the Act’s effective date. Consequently, May 24, 2020 is the first day of the term. We need to bear in mind that the time limit cannot end on a Saturday or Sunday. In this case, it expires on June 08, 2020.

Example 2:
The court delivered a payment order to the defendant on March 18, 2020. The act suspending time limits came into force as of March 31, 2020. The deadline for submission of an objection is suspended. However, 12 days out of that 2-week term have already passed (March 19-30). Only 2 days are left. The new Act came into effect as of May 16, 2020. The term continues running after 7 days of the Act’s effective date. Consequently, May 24, 2020 is the thirteenth day of the term. It expires on May 25.

Please feel free to contact us for any questions you might have.

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Piotr Wojnar
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act legal - BSWW legal & tax
Over de auteurs

Piotr Wojnar

Managing partner

Piotr specializes in commercial law, with a strong focus on assistance in corporate issues for public companies. He also has extensive litigation background within the areas of civil law, administrative law and criminal law. He has advised on numerous public and private share issues, incl. those of COMP S.A. and Bank BPS S.A. Piotr has piloted M&A transactions for listed companies (incl. Novitus S.A., ZUK S.A. and Elzab S.A.), participated in the establishment of brokerage houses and investment funds (incl. TMS S.A., Analizy Online Asset Management S.A., IFM S.A. and Opera TFI S.A.), as well as provided assistance with respect to their daily operations. He has been recommended in Capital Markets, Commercial, Corporate and M&A and White-Collar Crime by the Legal 500 EMEA 2020, one of the leading international legal directories. The white-collar crime practice, co-headed by Piotr, is considered by The Legal 500 EMEA to be among the elite of Polish law firms specialized in that area.

Barbara Szczepkowska

Partner

Her practice focuses on bankruptcy and restructuring proceedings regarding businesses, during which she represents creditors and debtors alike. Having advised receivers, court-appointed supervisors and administrators, she boasts vast experience in advising insolvency practitioners. During restructuring processes, she has drafted key documents addressed to bodies handling the proceedings, such as restructuring plans and arrangement viability opinions. She assisted in proceedings involving over 1500 creditors and PLN 500m in debt, advising clients on all the facets of the process, from the selection of best-suited type of restructuring proceedings, through petition drafting and the court’s approval of the arrangement. Moreover, Barbara offers support in pre-pack liquidation proceedings. Bankruptcy and restructuring proceedings have also been the focus of numerous legal opinions prepared by her. Barbara has successfully protected clients’ interests in a few dozen personal bankruptcy processes ending in the release of former business owners and management board members (among others) from their debts. One of her clients had a record-high debt of over PLN 90m. She also represents clients before courts in a variety of other cases, including ones regarding complex fraudulent transfer claims (also ones involving a receiver) and major damages recovery cases, e.g., against receivers in connection with damage caused by them in bankruptcy proceedings. She also handled litigation between a creditor and a receiver aiming to determine whether the transfer of the bankrupt’s patent rights to the receiver was ineffective vis à vis the bankruptcy estate, which she won following an appeal. Prior to joining act BSWW, Barbara worked for many years for Zimmerman i Wspólnicy.

Marek Miszkiel

Partner

Marek provides ongoing legal support to businesses, mostly construction and investment companies. He has participated in numerous due diligence audits regarding real properties and companies. Marek is also adept at solving commercial disputes in terms of pre-trial and trial procedure. His range of duties also includes representing both creditors and bankrupts alike in bankruptcy proceedings.

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