Poland’s regulation on the enforcement and recognition of foreign

judgments has been subject to important revisions over the past twenty

years. In general, Polish government is increasingly pro-enforcement.

However, the conditions of enforcement will be different depending on

the country of origin of the judgment. As regards the judgments

rendered in the EU member states, from 10 January 2015 the exequatur

procedure has been abolished – the judgments are enforceable without

any declaration of enforceability being required. With respect to other

judgments, in principle there will be a need to obtain a declaration of

enforcement.

 

 

Polish courts in principle display a pro-enforcement attitude. In

general, they will refuse enforcement only where the judgment violates

fundamental principles of Polish law, for example where it concerns

legal instruments fundamentally incompatible with Polish law (such as

punitive damages) or the foreign court proceedings violated the most

basic procedural principles (for example the defendant was deprived of

the right to present its case).

 

 

 

 

The procedure applicable to the enforcement of a given foreign

judgment depends on whether the country of the judgment’s origin and

the Republic of Poland concluded any treaties regarding the

enforcement of the judgments. This makes this issue quite complicated,

as there is no single legal regime governing the enforcement of foreign

judgments. Different procedures shall apply to:

 

• Judgments issued in the EU member states;

• Judgments issued in the non-member states being party to Lugano

II Convention;

• Judgments issued in the countries which concluded bi-lateral

treaties with the Republic of Poland;

• Judgments issued in the countries which did not concluded any bilateral
treaties nor conventions with the Republic of Poland.