Newsroom
We are pleased to annouce that on January 28, 2022, Xawery Konarski, partner of our law firm, received the annual Polish DPA award from Minister Jan Nowak, President of the Office for Personal Data Protection.
The award has been given for over 20 years of activity in the field of education and development of personal data protection and new technologies laws in Poland.
The Appeal Court has rejected an appeal filed by T-Mobile Polska against
a judgment made by the Court of Competition and Consumer Protection, finding the operator to be in breach of the collective interests of consumers. The operator was fined PLN 15 m for activating additional paid services without customer consent.
The Supreme Court has dismissed a demand made by BP (case IV CSKP 67/21) in a case that has lasted twelve years. In the case, the plaintiff demanded cessation of parasitic exploitation of reputation and marks in the form of use of the color olive green at petrol stations owned by a Polish company. The plaintiff based the demand on the Industrial Property Law and the Act on Combatting Unfair Competition. In the statement of reasons for the judgment, the Supreme Court considered the difference between the shades used, and the different logos used, and stated that the applicable criterion was that of a reasonable customer – in this case a driver, who is not moving at high speed when approaching a petrol station, and therefore differentiates between colors.
In September, a judgment issued by the Warsaw Regional Court dismissing a final appeal in a case brought against the State Treasury for breach of personality rights due to inadequate action to ensure clean air became legally binding and final. This is the latest in a series of rulings that reinforce the line supported by a Supreme Court resolution of 28 May 2021 (case III CZP 27/20). In the resolution, the Supreme Court states that health, freedom, and privacy are protected due to being personality rights (art. 23 of the Civil Code in conjunction with art. 24 of the Civil Code and art. 448 of the Civil Code) and failure to comply with air quality standards stipulated in the law may breach (endanger) these rights.
Amendment to the Administrative Procedure Code
An amendment to the Administrative Procedure Code has come into force, revising art. 156 and other articles to align the legal system with a Constitutional Tribunal judgment of 12 May 2015 (case P 46/13). Under the amendment, it will be possible to annul administrative decisions that are more than ten years old, and review whether decisions that date back thirty years are lawful. To date, the Administrative Procedure Code did not specify a time limit after which a decision issued without legal grounds or in gross violation of the law could not be annulled.
Read more >>
Poland RES Act amendment
On 9 September, the Senate approved an amendment to the RES Act under which the maximum capacity of energy sources classed as small installations will be increased from 0.5 MW to 1 MW. This is intended to help to increase the number of investors who intend to generate and sell energy from higher-capacity installations without a concession being required. In addition, there would be no requirement to include RES installations of a capacity of up to 0.5 MW in spatial development studies (in the case of photovoltaic power stations on land of class 5 and 6, and on barren land, this threshold is to be raised to a nominal capacity of 1 MW).
The Council of Ministers has approved a proposal to amend the Commercial Companies Code and certain other acts. The intended amendment would implement a holding company law into the Polish legal system, to regulate private law relationships within capital groups (the relationship between the dominant company and subsidiaries). Under the bill, the managing bodies of the dominant company will be able to manage the capital group more effectively (right of oversight over subsidiaries, or squeeze-out rights, and a right to review information about subsidiaries).
Read more >>
Amendment TO the RES Act and the Energy Law Act
In June 2021, the Government Legislation Centre published a proposal to amend the Energy Law and RES Act. One of the most controversial parts of the proposal envisages a departure from the system of billing for prosumer installations (connected to the grid since 1 January 2021) using the net metering method.
At the moment, micro-installation billing is based on a system of 1 to 0.7 for installations with an installed capacity exceeding 10 kW, and 1 to 0.8 for installations of up to 10 kW. This means that the seller has an obligation to return to the prosumer, when necessary, during the billing reference period, 0.7 or 0.8 kWh, as the case may be.
If the currently proposed wording of the amendment becomes law, micro-installation investment projects will not be as beneficial as today. This will mean the gradual development of energy storage facilities, and this in turn will make off-grid energy storage more cost-effective.
Under the proposal, dynamic prices for electricity will also be introduced, to encourage users to adjust their consumption to peak times of generation of renewable energy.
The proposal is an opportunity for growth of businesses dealing with energy aggregation, and also of energy smart management and storage start-ups.
TKP Academy – Student Program
Enrollment has now begun for the first proprietary educational program run by TKP.
- Are you in your III, IV, or V year of legal studies or a law graduate or graduate of similar studies?
- Do you want to know what new technologies law is like in practice?
- Are you looking for opportunities to gain your first professional experience and expand your knowledge?
- Are you keen to develop practical skills?
Fill in this form stronie and take advantage of TKP experts’ know-how. Applications will be accepted until 15 October.
Anna Sokołowska-Ławniczak Ph.D. has been appointed to the INTA Unfair Competition Committee
The International Trademark Association (INTA) has announced a list of industry leading member volunteers who will serve on its committees for the 2022-2023 term. We are glad to inform that our Partner Anna Sokołowska-Ławniczak Ph.D. has been appointed to the INTA Unfair Competition Committee.
“The Unfair Competition Committee will monitor developments in treaties, case law, legislation and implementation in various jurisdictions, complete analysis and propose policy recommendations to the Board. Work includes report and submission writing, interaction with related organizations, and advocacy in conjunction with relevant INTA committees and staff.”
We're appointed the exclusive IR Global member
We’re appointed the exclusive IR Global member for TMT in Poland. IR Global is a multi-disciplinary professional services network that provides legal, accountancy and financial advice to companies around the world.
Dr Andrzej Kaczmarek joins the team at TKP
We are very pleased to announce that Dr Andrzej Kaczmarek, has joined the TKP team as of counsel. Dr. Andrzej Kaczmarek is an expert on information security management and legal compliance assessment of functionality of IT systems used for personal data processing.
Welcome to the team!