Originally from Arbitration Law and Practice in Central and Eastern Europe

1. GENERAL LEGAL FRAMEWORK

1.1 National law

a) Current status
What is the current status? When was it enacted? Have there already been amendments?

The principal provisions on arbitration are set out in Part V (Articles 1154 – 1217) of the Polish 1964 Civil Procedure Code (hereinafter the “KPC”). They apply to all institutional and ad hoc arbitrations if the place of arbitration is in Poland. In certain cases specifically stipulated in KPC they also apply to arbitrations if the place of the arbitration is outside of Poland or is not determined (Article 1154 of KPC). The place of arbitration can be stipulated by the parties to the arbitration agreement or, in absence of such agreement, by the arbitral tribunal. If the place of arbitration was not defined either by the parties or by the arbitral tribunal, the place of arbitration is deemed to be in Poland if the final award was rendered in Poland (Article 1155 of KPC). Other regulations are contained in Article 777 § 1 point 2 and Article 1105 § 3 of KPC. To date these provisions have been amended on four occasions. In 1989 certain provisions restricting state-owned entities’ right to conclude arbitration agreements were deleted.1 On the same occasion a minor amendment was adopted specifying that a commercial court is the appropriate one to assist an arbitration tribunal in commercial cases.2 In 1990 Article 1105 of the KPC was significantly amended in that the distinction between the rights of state-owned entities and these of other parties to refer disputes to an arbitration tribunal abroad was removed.3 The third amendment was introduced in 2004 and came into force in February 2005. It introduced a number of changes, including the following: