The article deals with the latest amendment to the Pharmaceutical Law Act, dated 13 July 2023, which is related to anticoncentration restrictions on the issuance of licenses to run generally accessible pharmacies. On 4 October 2023, the President of the Republic of Poland, pursuant to Article 191 section 1 item 1 of the Constitution of the Republic of Poland, filed a motion to examine the constitutionality of this amendment. In the motion, the President argued that the amendment intro-duces a new ban on pharmacy market concentration (Article 99 section 3aa of the Pharmaceutical Law), which was introduced in violation of the principle of protec-tion of acquired rights and without adequate vacatio legis. In light of the President’s motion, the subject of this article is an analysis of the provisions of the amendment with regard to the changes involving the addition of sections 3aa and 3ab under Article 99 and sections 2a-2d under Article 103 of the Pharmaceutical Law in order to determine their legal nature, comply with the principle of protection of acquired rights, and to decide whether the adopted vacatio legis period is appropriate.

Over the past few decades, there has been an increased number of deaths in road accidents. The joint efforts to lower the rate of accidents and deaths are visible in the latest analysis reports of Motor Vehicles Act amended in 2019 over the thirty years of applicability of the Motor Vehicles Act of 1988. In the current research projects, the researcher examined the implications of the new road safety measu-rements included in the provisions of the 2019 Amendment Act and investigated the effectiveness of new safety parameters by comparing the percentage of accidents before and after the enforcement of the Act. The researcher has analysed a codified and narrative text to examine the provisions of this Amendment Act of 2019 through the reports of National Crime Records Bureau, Ministry of Home Affairs, and Mini-stry of Road Transport and Highways (MORTH). The analysis of the data gathered shows that the provisions of the Act are meant to give effective tools to improve road safety measures.

The subject of the study are changes in the statutory form of cash benefit resulting from the amendment to the Penal Code of 5 August 2022. The aim of the article is to verify the hypothesis, according to which the essence of the introduced regu lations is to strengthen the position of a pecuniary benefit as a repressive and com pensatory measure. The adopted solutions mean that the new model of pecuniary benefits breaks away from the political and criminal assumptions that determined the normative shape of this penal measure in the original version of the Criminal Code of 1997.

The issue of constitutional protection of natural resources does not arouse the interest of lawyers, including constitutionalists, in Poland. In none of the drafts of the new Constitution of the Republic of Poland presented after 1989 was this issue regulated. After the new Constitution of the Republic of Poland came into force in 1997, no draft amendment to this act dealing with natural resources was submitted either. The constitutional surveys conducted in 2011 and 2017 did not explicitly call for a complete or even very extensive amendment of the Constitution. Most often, they indicated the need for punctual amendments or concerning certain areas of constitutional regulation. In light of the experience with forest management, it would be advisable to extend constitutional protection to all strategic natural resources.

The issue of constitutional protection of natural resources does not arouse the interest of lawyers, including constitutionalists, in Poland. In none of the drafts of the new Constitution of the Republic of Poland presented after 1989 was this issue regulated. After the new Constitution of the Republic of Poland came into force in 1997, no draft amendment to this act dealing with natural resources was submitted either. The constitutional surveys conducted in 2011 and 2017 did not explicitly call for a complete or even very extensive amendment of the Constitution. Most often, they indicated the need for punctual amendments or concerning certain areas of constitutional regulation. In light of the experience with forest management, it would be advisable to extend constitutional protection to all strategic natural resources.

The amendment of Article 209 of the Polish Criminal Code, which took place on 31 May 2017 with the entry into force of the Act of 23 March 2017 on Amendments to the Criminal Code Act and the Act on Assistance to Persons Entitled to Maintenance (Journal of Laws of 2017, item 952), resulted in significant changes not only in the wording of the said article itself, but also in the picture of the statistical effects of pre-trial and court proceedings for the crime in question. From the very beginning, the said amendment raised questions and reservations among a substantial number of supporters of the established line of judicial decisions issued in the domain of criminal law. They considered it unfit to keep to the principles of adequacy and proportionality, as well as posing a threat to a significant – and ultimately destructive – increase in the burden on law enforcement authorities and the judiciary in general. At the same time, taking into account the main objectives and ideas of the amendment, which was intended in particular to improve the enforcement of maintenance obligations, it needs to be said that it proved ineffective and was actually a manifestation of penal populism.

The article covers the issue of the functioning of one of the advisory bodies of central governmental administration, i.e. the Council for Nuclear Safety and Radiation Protection Affairs, which is associated with the President of the National Atomism Agency (PAA), the chief nuclear supervision body in Poland, which is the competent authority in nuclear safety and radiation protection affairs, as defined in the Atomic Law (Prawo atomowe). The article presents the objectives of the functioning of the Council as an advisory body to the nuclear supervision authority on the basis of international and European law and the views of the nuclear energy law doctrine. In relation to the Council, an important role is played by soft law acts, especially the so-called IAEA safety standards. Despite the fact that they are not legally binding, they constitute a valuable and extensive collection of recommendations supporting regional and national legislative activity. The purpose of this study is also a critical analysis of the amendment to the Atomic Law from 2016 in the section relating to changes made to the way of shaping the Council’s make-up. They caused the loss of one of the Council’s most important attributes, i.e. independence in the decision-making process and they deprived the President of the PAA (decision-making body) of influence on shaping its make-up. The changes introduced should be interpreted as an unequivocal negation of the ratio legis of appointing the Council and a significant step backwards in relation to the existing practice and legislative trends in recent years. The author postulates restoring the previous legal solutions as the ones that will allow the Council, the advisory body, to fulfil its function in the right way, really supporting the decision-making authority for which it works.

Since 7th November 2019 most provisions of The Act of 4th July 2019 on Amendments to the Code of Civil Procedure and on Amendments to the Other Acts have been applied. Among many revolutionary changes to the rules on conducting trial proceedings, worth noticing is the content of the Code of Civil Procedure Art. 2711. It concerns the admissibility of evidence that differs from traditional oral form. This paper discusses the practical problems in admissibility and examination of evidence from witness testimony in written form. The issues summoning of the witness, forms, cautions and list of questions that are demanded to be answered in a witness statement are also addressed here. Furthermore, there are proposals of practical arrangements, so this new provision would be applied by court, therefore it would contribute to the efficiency of judicial procedures. This article published in January 2020 is considered to be the preliminary proposal to academic and practical discussion about legitimacy of implementation of described solution and its effective use.

The paper is devoted to selected issues concerning acts from the same day, i.e. 29 July 2020: the Electronic Communications Law, and the act introducing the Electronic Communications Law. Both drafts have been prepared in connection with implementing the provisions of Directive (EU) 2018/1972 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 11 December 2018 Establishing the European Electronic Communications Code (‘the EECC’) into the Polish legal order. Only selected issues from both draft acts were presented, for which the basic selection criterion was their significant practical importance in terms of their influence on the functioning of the telecommunications market in Poland. The purpose of the analysis and research was to answer the question whether the proposed regulations were compliant with the EECC and whether, from the perspective of the requirements of practice, effective solutions had been adopted. The analysis was based on comparing the projected EECC regulations and on possible practical consequences after their implementation. The analysis covers the projected provisions – from the Polish law and the EU law. The conducted analysis indicated a need for modifying them, in particular: imposing security obligations; the scope and manner of replacing the existing documents for customers with new ones; the conditions of customerv ideo verification; transitional provisions. The article presents proposals for specific amendments to the projected provisions. The presented issues are not only of theoretical importance, but also of great practical importance when it comes to the functioning of the telecommunications market and, above all, when it comes to customerswho use telecommunications services

This article concerns the problem associated with the nature of the institution of a petition for reconsideration of the case in view of regulation No 16 of the Administrative Procedur Code in the version before the amendment dated 3 December 2010, which entered into force on 11 April 2011. Despite the amendment, to this day the provision is the source of many disputes, which is reflected in a very non-uniform judicial practice. On the basis of this regulation can be observed, how defective constructed legal provisions affect the administration of justice and the application of the law by creating situations in which the courts take over the functions of law making. On the selected example is shown, how one decision of the Supreme Court, being the basis of decisions of courts of appeal, causes that victims defective administrative decision are charged with the responsibility for legislative errors. Knowledge of the matter, which is the subject of this publication, is extremely important for all practitioners as well as theorists of the law because of the importance of the issues, which accompany the main theme. The work is based on an analysis of the concept of finality and validity of administration decision and depth on theoretical consideration and extensive discussion of the judicial practice of administrative courts, civil courts and Constitutional Tribunal.

One of the consequences of the post-1989 significant legislative activity of the Sejm of the Republic of Poland is the fact that legal acts that play a special role in the legal system (codes) are also subject to numerous amendments. What is the influence of such amendments on the cohesion and transparency of the legal regulations included in these codes? Was the intention to fulfil the demands of the business trading of the time, undoubtedly deserving of approval, by modernising the existing regulations, introducing new ones, and – potentially – abandoning those whose practical significance and application is currently marginal in the context of the discussed matter an essential motive for undertaking many legislative changes applied to the Civil Code regarding the legal regulations of economic relations – including in particular the legal regulations of the specific part of commercial contracts law – after the transformation of the socio-economic system in the years 1989–1990? Is it therefore possible to say with respect to the present shape of the specific part of commercial contracts law in the Civil Code that this is in an optimal state? Or perhaps there is an excessive or insufficient number of legal regulations in this matter? Are there any draft amendments to the said area of legal regulations? What directions do they follow? The subject matter of this paper is to search for answers
to the questions asked above.

This article seeks to explore the issue of the required form of agreement on the transfer of rights and obligations of a party to a contractual relationship by a third party, which in the Polish legal system functions as an innominate contract and is more common in foreign legislations (Vertragsübernahme, transfer of contract, cession de contract). This issue has been analysed taking into account the various possible configurations of parties to such an agreement as well as the various legal natures of the rights and obligations transferred. So far, this matter has not been thoroughly discussed in the Polish legal literature. According to the author, in line with the unity theory, an agreement on the transfer of rights and obligations of a party to a contractual relationship should be classified as a single legal transaction and not as two separate (independent) transactions of claim assignment (Article 509 of the Civil Code) and debt transfer (division theory). Therefore, it requires a written form otherwise being invalid. This requirement applicable to an entire agreement results from Article 522 sentence 1 of the Civil Code; it also meets less strict formal requirements regarding claim assignment (Article 511 of the Civil Code). In this paper, the author also discusses the question of whether Article 77 § 1 of the Civil Code and pactum de forma regarding amendments to an agreement (Article 76 sentence 1 of the Civil Code) apply to the form of the agreement in question.

The 2018 amendment of the Polish Electoral Code established the institution of electoral officials, who replaced the institution of electoral plenipotentiaries, existing since 1998. One of the main differences between the two institutions is that electoral officials may not work at commune offices in charge of preparing and holding election in the area of their jurisdiction. The aim of the adopted solution was to isolate local government administration from the election process. The article offers a critical analysis of the institution of electoral officials. The subject matter of the discussion is both the legal regulation and the conclusions drawn from the examination of the institution in question, conducted by the Stefan Batory Foundation after the end of the 2018 local government elections, when the electoral officials fulfilled their statutory duty for the first time. The discussion leads to the conclusion that the establishment of the institution of electoral officials was not well thought out, and actually took place without appropriate consultation. The provisions of the Electoral Code are often vague. They have not been clarified to a sufficient extent in the resolutions adopted by the National Electoral Commission either. It is reasonable to have electoral officials appointed for a six-year term of office by the Head of the National Electoral Office. What is surprising, however, is that electoral officials may run for an office during elections taking place in a constituency outside of their area of activity as well as engage in election cam paigns – except for their own campaigns – while they should remain completely impartial during the election. The vague status of electoral officials and of the principles of their remuneration made it very difficult to attract individuals willing to perform this function. The headcount originally assumed had to be reduced by half; now it is 2,600. It is also necessary to reconsider the number of electoral officials assigned to individual communes. A major flaw of the adopted regulation is the lack of a clear division of duties and responsibilities between electoral official and communes. All this casts a bad light on the institution of electoral officials. It is argued that they were poorly prepared to perform the duties they were entrusted with. They also lacked the necessary theoretical knowledge and were not familiar with local conditions and constraints. Therefore, instead of helping, they made the work of commune officials only harder. But the call for dissolving the institution altogether is not legitimate. It is necessary to return to the previous solution, where the electoral officials in a commune were the officials working at commune offices, regular employees of these basic local government units. In communes with larger populations, there may be even more such officials. It is essential to reinforce the status of electoral officials, which is why it is important to clearly definthe nature of their relationships with the commune heads (town/city mayors) as well as to strengthen their position and grant them authority in the field of duties carried out as part of elections and referenda over other commune officials. It is also requisite to appoint them for terms of office of a particular number of years, and remunerate them in fixed monthly amounts – with the amounts increased in periods of preparing and holding elections or referenda. Only this way will it be possible to have a proper Electoral Official Service composed of professional commune officials specialising in organising and holding elections and referenda.

The aim of the publication is to establish the function of the legal regulation of the principle of resolving legal doubts in favour of the citizen (in dubio pro libertate), introduced by the amendment of 2017 to the Code of Administrative Procedure. The purpose of the article is also to compare the state of the regulation in force at the time of its entry into force with the legal state created after the introduction of the amendment. It has been argued that the introduced principle worsened the legal situation of citizens in relation to their situation before its entry into force. The paper briefly presents the functions of law, including procedural law. This principle has been discussed and it has been established that it has a protective function. First and foremost, to ensure the security and stability of the law when the legislator has failed to fulfil its duty to legislate correctly and fairly. This function is of particular importance in cases where an administrative body unilaterally determines constitutional rights and freedoms. Resolving legal doubts in favour of the citizens is of particular importance in administrative law, which is very dynamic area (inflation and atomisation of this law), specialised (e.g. technical conditions of development) and complex due to the existence of various hierarchies of sources of law (constitution, statutes and secondary legislation, including local laws). The principle also protects other values, such as an important public interest. As a result of the comparison of the state of regulation before 2017, it was established that as long as the principle of in dubio pro libertate was a postulate of the doctrine, court judgments, interpreted from other principles of administrative proceedings, it did not suffer such significant limitations and could serve more fully to protect an entity. It the current state of law, administrative bodies can make use of it in a limited way only to several proceedings. Nor does it apply if there is – as is common in administrative proceedings – an important social interest or conflicting legal or factual interests of the parties concerned. The originality of the work results from taking into account the case law developed since the entry into force of the principle and the comparison and analysis of the situation of citizens before and after its introduction into the Code. The research carried out for the purpose of this work will be based on the comparative legal method as well as legal-dogmatic analysis, including the analysis of Polish normative material and the resulting views of the judicature and doctrine of law.

The research objective of this paper is to determine the impact that the repressive nature of the European Commission’s amendments to Directive 2008/115 will likely have on the two basic values of the return policy, that is, its fairness and effectiveness. The basic thesis of this study is that the direction of the directive’s recast, assuming – inter alia – an extension of the list of circumstances for applying the entry ban and detention, is contrary to the declared fairness of the migration policy towards third-country nationals. At the same time, the effectiveness of the planned changes is already questionable at the stage of draft legislation. These considerations are based on a juxtaposition of the proposed changes with currently binding legislation, the Commission’s soft law and the case law of the CJEU. The final effect of these analyses is the finding that the solutions proposed by the Commission will lead to an inevitable increase in the use of coercive measures against irregular immigrants in a way that stands in fundamental contradiction to the declared fairness and proportionality of EU actions. In this context, the effectiveness of the return policy should not be identified with a percentage of returns, but rather with the recognised necessity of overall and perfect control over irregular migrants. At the same time, the Recast Return Directive will contribute to the development of an already existing tendency to treat migration law as an instrument of security and public order, and to use administrative law measures so that they function in a manner equivalent to that of a criminal sanction.

The inspiration behind the article is the two new provisions of the Polish Criminal Code, penalising the up to now unpunished behaviour leading up to murder, introduced by means of the Act of 13 June 2019 on the Amendment of the Act – Criminal Code and Certain Other Acts. Despite the doubts regarding the constitutionality of the act in question, it is reasonable to look into the mechanism of preparation to murder and contract killing, if only because of the fact that these solutions may return in further draft amendments to the Criminal Code. The analysed provisions has given rise to a more general reflection on the legitimacy of penalisation of preparation to murder in the light of contemporary indications of the theory of criminalisation. The discussion also features remarks on the already functioning types of prohibited acts, used, among others, to criminalise acts undertaken at the stage of preparation to murder. The conclusions have led to a demand for the adoption of a provision sanctioning an incomplete variant of preparation to murder and for a total abandonment of separate criminalisation of contract killing.

The aim of the article is to evaluate the draft of a new Family Code developed by the Social Codification Commission for Family and Guardianship Law attached to the Children’s Rights Ombudsman with regard to the advisability and legitimacy of the changes proposed in it, as well as to analyse its selected detailed solutions in the context of their impact on the protection of the child’s welfare. The aforemen tioned detailed issues concern, among others, the issues of parental custody and material and legal grounds for divorce. The proposed changes, namely the replacement of the institution of parental custody with “parental responsibility” and the introduction of a new divorce premise are perceived by the authors of the article as clearly negative.
The authors of the article are also critical of the procedure of preparation of the discussed draft. In their opinion, the applicable Family and Guardianship Code is not an anachronistic legal act and can and should continue to play the role of a basic regulator of legal and family relations in our country. The proposal to replace it with a new code is not sufficiently justified, either legally or socially, and its adoption may prove to be dangerous for the stability of the legal and family regula tions, shaped by the latest amendments to family law and contrary to the principle of protection of the best interests of the child.

In 2018 Student Services Employee Association (Stowarzyszenie Forum Dzieka na-tów) was established. One of its aims is to get involved in a dialogue with organi­sations and institutions dealing with higher education, in particular with the Ministry of Science and Higher Education as the relevant public authority. In this regard the Association proposed three amendments to the Act of Higher Education and Science in terms of administrative procedure, in particular: notice on initiation of procedure, simplified procedure and silent settlement of case, which were sub-mitted to the Ministry. As a bottom­up initiative of student services employees at HEIs, it enables them to get involved in consulting acts on higher education and proposing amendments to these regulations. This role of the Association is significant due to the fact that in many HEIs student services employees have no ability to provide feedback on the regulations that they are executing.