Effective administrative cooperation and mutual assistance in direct taxation are crucial for the proper application of tax laws and for combating tax fraud and evasion in the EU. However, these collaborative efforts face legal and practical challenges, particularly due to the internal market and cross-border mobility of taxpayers and businesses. This paper reviews the legal structure established by Council Directive 2011/16/EU and related instruments, and examines recent develop-ments and proposals to enhance said cooperation – including automatic information exchange, joint audits, tax ruling exchanges, and mutual assistance in claim recovery. It also explores the potential benefits and drawbacks of extending cooperation to non-EU jurisdictions and the role of the OECD and other international organisa-tions in promoting the cooperation in question. The paper concludes that while significant progress has been made, some challenges need still to be addressed. It recommends measures to improve the effectiveness and efficiency of said coopera­tion while respecting the rights and interests of taxpayers and Member States.

This article argues that regulatory sandboxes have become a necessary legislative tool to foster new business models. In the past, some new ideas failed because of the lack of such a legislative tool, shown by the Uber case. AI may play a dual role as an object of regulation and a tool of supervision, including RIA, which poses an additional threat to society at a time when it is becoming apparent that it may escape human control. This requires a reversal of the goals of a sandbox where providing security becomes more important than nurturing novelty. While the EU Commission and scholars encourage trust in AI, distrust should be the guiding principle. In addition, the rule of law may be compromised due to the use of regu-latory sandboxes as a back door for the legislative and administrative authorities to go around the established principles.

The article analyses CJEU judgments passed as a result of preliminary rulings and their impact on the judicial decisions of the Supreme Administrative Court. Admini­strative courts are highly committed to and keen on referring preliminary rulings to the CJEU, which is a noteworthy fact. In assessing the implementation of the right legal instruments, the CJEU, by way of its judgments, often grants protection to taxable persons. These judgments have often resulted in legislative changes or changes in the interpretation of legal provisions. In some cases, the previous line of judicial decisions of the Supreme Administrative Court is legitimised and proven as correct.
What deserves particular attention is the CJEU’s existing judicial practice of dealing with tax law abuse cases, which is used by the SAC when examining cases involving tax carousels.

Following a complaint to an administrative court by two judges, the Prime Minister used the self-revision procedure and revoked his countersignature of the Presi-dent’s official act. This is a true precedent in the history of Polish constitutionalism. Yet, the permissibility of judicial review of presidential acts performed in individual cases should not give rise to any doubts. This is because such acts are subject to the general control regime set forth in the Act of 30 August 2002 – Law on Proceed-ings before Administrative Courts. What we can learn from other judicial systems indicates that the acts of central executive authorities are not, with some exceptions, exempt from such supervision. An analysis of the judicial decisions of, for instance, the Supreme Administrative Court of the Czech Republic, which recognises its jurisdiction over appointments of judges serves as a convincing example.

The functioning of the Customs Union requires the Member States to apply uniform customs regulations for the entire economic area governed by common rules for trade in goods with non-EU countries. This poses significant challenges to all customs administrations implementing customs policy within the Customs Union. In this regard, the Member States should act to allow for proper economic development and a high level of protection of the social and economic interests of the integration grouping. These interdependencies make it necessary to coordi nate the actions of the administrations regulating foreign trade in individual Member States of the Customs Union. In the European Union, the need to coordi nate activities under-taken within the entire customs system has become the foundation of a thorough reform of legal regulations defining the constitutional, substantive, and procedural models of functioning of the Customs Union. The legislative changes being imple-mented aim to bring about an IT reform translating into the integration of IT solu-tions for the administration of foreign trade in goods and the establishment of new administrative entities to ensure proper coordination of activities within the customs system of the European Union.

This paper presents the main ideas behind a new type of resolution, which, accord­ing to the proposed amendments to the Law on Proceedings before Administrative Courts, would be passed by the Supreme Administrative Court. The purpose of so­called pilot resolutions would be to prevent inconsistency in rulings concerning cases that are identical in legal and factual terms. In the concluding remarks, we underline the positive aspects of the proposed changes and argue that their incorpo­ration into the existing system would enhance legal certainty and increase the predictability of judicial decisions.

The judicial review of administrative courts covers the legality of acts and actions of public administration bodies. The oversight over the activities of bodies of other authorities is, therefore, excluded from this review. However, there are cases in which administrative courts, invoking the so-called pro-constitutional interpre-tation, attempt to extend their jurisdiction also to be able to review the acts, actions or inactions of legislative and judicial authorities. Despite the fact that according to the Constitution of the Republic of Poland, the executive power (equated by legal scholars, commentators, and practitioners with the exercise of public administra-tion) is exercised by the President of the Republic of Poland and the Council of Ministers, the dominant judicial practice is that the acts of the President, which constitute the exercise of his prerogatives, are not subject to the jurisdiction of administrative courts. The author argues against this practice.
The discussion addresses also the demands and proposals made in the litera-ture dealing with the subject for entrusting administrative courts with the review of decisions issued in social insurance cases, as well as the establishment of a separate judiciary in tax or – more broadly – financial cases. The author strongly opposes these demands and proposals as well.

The analysis offered in this paper explores the legal definition of civil status and points out the different meanings of this concept in the basic branches of law as well as its relevance to the application in Poland of the norms of the Act of 28 November 2014 – Vital Records Law. The essence of vital records has also been considered. The discussion addresses the administrative-legal nature of civil status registration activities, highlighting their permissible legal forms. This is followed by a review of the most important features and scope of judicial review exercised by common and administrative courts, which serves as the background for an evalua-tion of the dispersed judicial review. The conclu sion offers de lege ferenda proposals relating to a uniform model of judicial review of civil status registration activities.

Legal certainty is one of the fundamental values of a democratic state governed by the rule of law, and striving to achieve it at the highest possible level is highly desirable. An essential factor influencing the degree of legal certainty is the predic­tability of judicial decisions. This is particularly significant for taxpayers, as it reduces the level of legal uncertainty. It is also relevant from a macroeconomic perspective, as a lack of legal certainty hampers a country’s potential for growth.
This paper analyses the state of Polish administrative courts’ practice of inter­preting tax law, which the authors consider unsatisfactory. It also offers a critical review of selected scholarly views on specific issues related to the core subject addressed.

This article is a contribution to the biography of Professor Andrzej Kabat – a prose­cutor, legal counsel, judge of the highest courts of the Republic of Poland, and a long­time academic teacher. The study discusses selected jurisprudential achieve­ments of Professor Andrzej Kabat from the period when he held the office of a judge of the Constitutional Tribunal and the Supreme Administrative Court. Moreover, there are also references to his research on the institution of questions of law sub­mitted to the Constitutional Tribunal, which is regarded as pioneering in the science of law, despite the fundamental changes in the political system. What marks the discussed output of Professor Kabat is both the relevance of his ideas and the great significance for the practice of application of the law.

This article is a contribution to the biography of Professor Andrzej Kabat – a prose-cutor, legal counsel, judge of the highest courts of the Republic of Poland, and a long-time academic teacher. The study discusses selected jurisprudential achieve-ments of Professor Andrzej Kabat from the period when he held the office of a judge of the Constitutional Tribunal and the Supreme Administrative Court. Moreover, there are also references to his research on the institution of questions of law sub-mitted to the Constitutional Tribunal, which is regarded as pioneering in the science of law, despite the fundamental changes in the political system. What marks the discussed output of Professor Kabat is both the relevance of his ideas and the great significance for the practice of application of the law.

The article addresses the problem of fabrication and falsification of scientific research in the context of the role that lawmakers can play in combating this practice. Legisla­tors may establish organisational units specialising in combating scientific miscon­duct (also referred to as ‘research misconduct’), having the authority to, for instance, to conduct investigations or recommend penalties. A researcher who commits such misconduct may face not only disciplinary, but also civil, administrative or criminal liability. The article discusses the results of a survey asking 70 Polish academics about their opinion on the role of legislators in countering fabrication and falsifica­tion in research. The findings show, for example, that respondents mostly support disciplinary responsibility for such misconduct (81%), and also believe that legisla­tors should combat this practice using ‘soft’ measures, such as promoting codes of ethics in research (70%). Half of those surveyed wanted such behaviour crimina­lised. According to almost half of the respondents, the Polish legislator does not combat such misconduct effectively.

Wide definition of “employment income” set out in Polish Personal Income Act of 26 July 1991 makes it challenging for the tax authorities and administrative courts to qualify remuneration items as taxable income. A special attention is focused on benefits in-kind which can include expenditure on travel, board and lodging for posted workers.
So far the well-rooted line of case law, based on domestic tax and labor law regulations in Poland, inclined treatment of such benefits in-kind as employment income of posted workers.
The analyzed judgment by the Supreme Administrative Court is of ground-breaking nature, considering the obligations of posting employer lined in the Directive 96/71/EC and Directive (EU) 2018/957 amending Directive 96/71/EC – both concerning the posting of workers in the framework of the provision of services.

Simplified proceedings, such as immediate coercion and direct coercion, are the subject of consideration in this study. The discussion focuses on the essence and aspects of proceedings referred to in Article 117 and 150 § 3 of the Act of 17 June 1966 on enforcement proceedings in administration. The aim of the research is to attempt to evaluate simplified proceedings as a tool in the system of protection of the most important human values.
The research mainly used the legal-dogmatic method of interpreting the content and ordering the legal structure. The analytical method was also applied, by means of which analyses were made of legal provisions concerning the basis for the appli-cation of the simplified procedures in administrative enforcement proceedings.
From the conducted research, it is clear that the primary goal of these proceed-ings is to counteract the indicated threats. The collected research material allowed confirming the thesis and presenting a de lege ferenda motion regarding the necessity to amend Article 117 of the Administrative Enforcement Act. The changes should consist in waiving the necessity to serve a reminder to the debtor before applying this procedure. The provision currently in force omits such a possibility, and the waiver itself may be the result of the need to save important values in an emergency.

Simplified proceedings, such as immediate coercion and direct coercion, are the subject of consideration in this study. The discussion focuses on the essence and aspects of proceedings referred to in Article 117 and 150 § 3 of the Act of 17 June 1966 on enforcement proceedings in administration. The aim of the research is to attempt to evaluate simplified proceedings as a tool in the system of protection of the most important human values.
The research mainly used the legal-dogmatic method of interpreting the content and ordering the legal structure. The analytical method was also applied, by means of which analyses were made of legal provisions concerning the basis for the appli-cation of the simplified procedures in administrative enforcement proceedings.
From the conducted research, it is clear that the primary goal of these proceed-ings is to counteract the indicated threats. The collected research material allowed confirming the thesis and presenting a de lege ferenda motion regarding the necessity to amend Article 117 of the Administrative Enforcement Act. The changes should consist in waiving the necessity to serve a reminder to the debtor before applying this procedure. The provision currently in force omits such a possibility, and the waiver itself may be the result of the need to save important values in an emergency.

The issue of the rule of law as a criterion for the action of public administration bodies has not yet been the subject of wider doctrinal reflection. The reason for this state of affairs is probably the rather sparing reference by public administration bodies to the rule of law as a basis for their decisions. Meanwhile, the obligation imposed on the authorities in Article 7 of the Code of Administrative Procedure should be treated as one of their fundamental duties in ongoing administrative proceedings. The present study focuses on signalling only some of the problems related to the notion of the rule of law on the grounds of general administrative procedure, indicating the ambiguity of this phrase and the related various understandings of it. The conclusions should be regarded as an invitation to discuss this undoubtedly complex issue.

Under the provisions of Act I of 2017 on the Code of Administrative Court Procedure, a brand new institution has been introduced in Hungary: as of 1 January 2018, in administrative court proceedings, the judge may, with the agreement of the parties, allow for a court mediation procedure in the cases in which the law does not preclude it. The primary method to approach the topic is the review of the relevant primary legal sources [actual law in the form of the constitution (Fundamental Law of Hungary), acts, governmental decrees, orders of the President of the National Office, court cases, etc.] and secondary legal sources (Hungarian and international scientific literature explaining the primary sources, the legal practice and also the specific circumstances determining the broader social environment) through which we may define relevant scientific problems, create our own definitions and prepare a catalogue of practical problems, specifically for Hungarian issues regarding the topic. Moreover, this article tries to build on the results of the interviews with judges, representatives of different defendants (administrative authorities) and others. Qualitative interviewing, including the interviewing of judges and other participants of such proceedings, is a relatively new method in the field of legal studies, at least in Hungary.

The main thesis of the article concerns the pluralism of expert legal language. Such an assumption contradicts the tradition of development of legal dogmatics, which, especially in its conservative approach, assumes monism of legal language. New trends in social sciences introduce post-positivist approaches that suggest a multiplicity of research perspectives. This multiplicity is also translated into modifications of the conceptual grid. The Eurocentric vision of law is one of many parallel narratives, and the reception of European models has nowadays an increasingly conscious and functionally justified character.
The various narratives which condition the understanding of law in many contexts related to who interprets a given norm. This is not strictly related only to the legal family itself, or to the particular system of law in which the interpreted norm is anchored. It is rather about pluralism connected with diversity of perception resulting directly from conditions connected with the researcher-interpreter himself. It may be an expert in law connected with an academic centre, or a judge, whose education, cultural environment he comes from, mother tongue he speaks, or specific professional experience influence his understanding of the world and his understanding of law. In this case, there is a multiplicity of narratives and a plurality of legal language.