Originally From World Arbitration and Mediation Review (WAMR)

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Polish Legal Framework of Arbitration Overhauled
by Adam J. Sulkowski,
Assistant Professor, Charlton College of Business
University of Massachusetts, Dartmouth
&
Dr. Andzrej Tynel
Baker & McKenzie, Warsaw, Poland
In Poland, both domestic and international arbitrations are regulated by the Civil Procedure Code, enacted in 1964. A completely new set of regulations concerning arbitration were passed on July 28, 2005, and have been in effect since October 2005. The references below are to the new articles introduced into the Civil Procedure Code.
The new regulations are based on the UNCITRAL Model Law and eliminate many restrictions on the freedom of parties to arbitrate. U.S. legal practitioners and their clients will find that, in several respects, the new Polish regulations resemble the contemporary U.S. legal regulation to arbitration and are favorable of alternative dispute resolution.
Some new provisions clarify previously ambiguous issues:
• Powers of attorney will now include the power to enter into binding arbitration agreements (art. 1167).
• Courts will be able to nullify contractual provisions that give unequal power to parties to an agreement, especially provisions that entitle only one party to opt for arbitration.
Several noteworthy changes are related to the arbitrability of disputes:
• All asset-related disputes will be arbitrable except for those involving child support payments (art. 1157).
• Labor and employment disputes will be arbitrable, as long as a written agreement to arbitrate is entered into after the dispute begins (art. 1164).
• Disputes within corporations, cooperatives, and associations will be arbitrable; a company and its shareholders will now be bound by arbitration clauses in the articles of association (art 1163 § 1).
• Disputes between Polish parties will be arbitrable in foreign arbitration courts.
Several reforms relate to arbitral jurisdiction and procedures: