New video series: “News from Poland—Business & Law”
The programme is a synthesis (up to 10 minutes) of important current events in the Polish economy and changes to Polish law, especially those that may concern management board members and affect the risk of serving on boards.
The data economy and trade secrets
In previous articles in our series we discussed whether data can be subject to property rights or can be protected within known categories of intangibles. Today we will consider if and when data can be protected as a trade secret.
Increased activity of the Polish data protection authority
Last year ended with a series of fines imposed by the President of the Personal Data Protection Office. They show the importance of taking take care of data security—and how costly it can be if you don’t.
Data as collateral?
To complement our previous considerations about the civil-law status of data, we should analyse the possibility of using data to create security interests in business transactions. The increasing economic value of data inspires a search for effective ways to collateralise these assets.
The impact of Brexit on cross-border bankruptcy and restructuring proceedings
How will Brexit affect cross-border bankruptcy and restructuring proceedings involving the UK? Will judgments issued by an insolvency court in the UK still be recognised in Poland?
Tales from the National Appeal Chamber: Non-statutory grounds for in-house procurement?
Municipal waste collection and transport is the subject of many in-house procurements in Poland. Art. 67(1)(12) of the Public Procurement Law provides one of the possible grounds for awarding such contracts, requiring the contracting authority to meet three conditions. But are there really only three? This issue arose in a case in which the National Appeal Chamber had to decide whether the contracting authority must also meet other, non-statutory conditions to properly award a sole-source contract.
Inheritance of data
A natural extension of the consideration of the legal status of data is the question of whether data can be inherited. This is no longer just a theoretical issue. Data are increasingly valuable, making it vital to answer the question of whether data constitute an asset of the decedent’s estate that can be taken over by the heirs.
The EU global sanctions regime: How human rights affect supply chains
On 7 December 2020, the Council of the European Union adopted a decision and a regulation establishing a global sanctions regime for human rights violations. On this basis, the EU will be able to impose sanctions on persons, entities and bodies involved in or responsible for serious human rights violations and abuses worldwide—no matter where in the world such actions take place. As soon as possible, EU undertakings active on the global market should adapt their internal compliance systems and reflect human rights issues in designing their supply chains.
Statute of limitations runs anew after postponement of payment: A new resolution of the Supreme Court
Recently, the Supreme Court of Poland adopted an important resolution specifying the rules for running of the statute of limitations after a postponement of payment (creditor’s extension of the payment deadline). Under the resolution, if payment is postponed, the statute of limitations begins to run again from the new payment deadline. Thus, the view expressed by the Supreme Court allows the repayment of the debt to be divided into instalments along with postponement of the due date, and thus postponement of the beginning of the limitation period.
Tales from the National Appeal Chamber: A contractor may freely allocate the value of individual parts of a lump-sum fee
When valuing bids in a public procurement procedure as a lump sum, contractors may freely determine the value of individual parts of the contract. For the contracting authority, only the total value of the contract is relevant, and not the valuations of individual parts. But in every case the contractor should examine the documentation to determine whether the contracting authority has included any limitations in this respect. This is the guidance that can be drawn from the ruling by the National Appeal Chamber of 20 October 2020 (KIO 2101/20).
What is the right to personal data?
When seeking inspiration for the future legal status of data, it is worth taking a closer look at how the right to personal data has been shaped. In particular, we could consider whether it is a property right and whether the current legal framework for the right to personal data corresponds to reality and meets our needs.
Acquittal of a drunk driver does not exclude civil liability
In December 2020, the European Court of Human Rights issued its judgment in Papageorgiou v Greece (application No. 44101/13), holding that despite his prior acquittal, the imposition of civil liability on a driver for causing an accident under the influence of alcohol did not violate the presumption of innocence. The case provides an opportunity to discuss how the outcome of criminal proceedings impacts drunk drivers’ liability for damages.
