Reform of the CCP and court costs. It will certainly be more expensive, we'll see if it's faster.

The government is preparing an increase in court fees and a comprehensive amendment to the CCP. According to the justification of the draft - "it is proposed to adjust fees to the current purchasing power of money by, among other things, increasing some court fees, reducing the number of fixed fees.". Below briefly about the planned changes.

FEES

1. The strongest increase will be in fees in cases of amounts less than PLN 20,000 - so far the rule for ordinary and writ-of-payment proceedings was that the fee was 5% of the amount. Now fixed "fork" fees will be introduced. In the case of these small cases, in places the fee will increase even several times;
2. In cases from PLN 20,001 to PLN 2,000,000, the fees will not change (5% of the value of the claim);
3. Previously, the upper limit of the fee was PLN 100,000, but now it is to be PLN 500,000. This means a big limitation on the pursuit of claims in large cases;
4. In my opinion, the most severe will be change the costs of the injunction proceedings. After all, this is the mode by which factoring companies seek payment of debts from a promissory note - against the issuer and guarantors. Previously, the rule was: the fee for a lawsuit by writ of payment was only 1.25% of the amount claimed (e.g., the amount of the bill of exchange), or ¼ of the standard 5%. In contrast, it was the defendant who wanted to file objections to the payment order who had to pay 3.75% of the fee. Example: a promissory note for PLN 1,000,000 - the factor pays a lawsuit fee of PLN 12,500, the factor if he wants to appeal - PLN 37,500. After the reform: the factor pays a lawsuit fee of PLN 25,000, the factor if he wants to appeal - also PLN 25,000. For amounts below PLN 20,000, these costs will proportionally increase even more. For factories, this means an increase of 100% in the highest value cases.
5. Fees in some non-asset cases - such as land registries - will increase;
6. A fixed fee of PLN 100 will also be charged to a party that requests a witness, expert or party to be summoned to the hearing after the hearing plan is approved.
7. There will be a fixed fee of PLN 100.00 for the justification of the judgment;

SEPARATE PROCEEDINGS IN BUSINESS CASES

1. Proceedings are still to be conducted by commercial courts;
2. Proceedings are supposed to take up to 6 months by design, which of course seems unrealistic;
3. Economic proceedings will involve greater rigor and stricter requirements for the parties;
4. Cases are to have pre-trial hearings, which will help plan the trial, establish dates, issues in dispute, evidence, a schedule and a so-called plan. That is, we are moving toward the American style;
5. It will be necessary to present all claims and evidence at the very beginning of the proceedings on pain of disregard;
6. It is planned to introduce primacy of documentary evidence. Evidence from the testimony of a witness will be possible only in the absence of other means of proof or when facts relevant to the outcome of the case remain unexplained. This change from the point of view of factoring companies' operations is positive. It may contribute to the fight against the phenomenon of 'professional witnesses' and factoring companies acting jointly and in concert with their counterparties to the detriment of the factor;
7. It will be possible for a witness to testify in writing, if the court so decides;
8. A new feature will be an obligation for parties to provide an e-mail address, which is expected to improve contact between the court and the party. This will be a formal requirement of a lawsuit;
9. An interesting solution is also to be proof agreement, by virtue of which the parties will be able to exclude from the trial a certain type of evidence (e.g., witness / expert evidence). The potential for the application of this solution for the banking / financial industry, including factoring, is large and requires time to demonstrate the practical aspects of its operation.

The above outlines only the most important changes for the industry. In contrast, the changes to the CCP are huge and the impact on litigation will be significant. The role of the professional attorney for litigation will also increase due to the significant formalization of proceedings and the introduction of new sanctions and higher costs.

For details, see Print No. 3137 - Government bill on amendments to the Law - Civil Procedure Code and some other laws.

I will report on the final form of the law if it is passed on the Blog.