Justitia 4.0 – the pros and cons of digital court proceedings and notarial records in Poland

In Poland, digital court proceedings take place, especially in civil matters. In light of the COVID-19 pandemic, new regulations have been introduced in recent months, according to which the court hearings may only be conducted in digital form. A “live” hearing may only take place in exceptional cases. In practice, however, we observe that courts in larger cities in particular adhere to these rules. In smaller cities, several hearings are still being conducted in “analogous” form.

Since September, the court mail has in principle only been served by means of an electronic platform of the jurisdiction and not in written form. Digital processes are still somewhat unusual in criminal matters. The same applies to the electronic notarial records; in particular, electronic notarial documents are not yet provided for by law.

The courts have two platforms: one serves to conduct digital negotiations and the other serves to deliver court mail. Unfortunately, the first-named platform has many flaws and there are often problems with audio or video transmission. In particular, the so-called hybrid hearings appear to be problematic if one party (such as an interpreter or expert) is in the courtroom and all others are sitting in front of their computers. Although e-hearings are no longer an exception, many practical problems remain unresolved – for example, how a document should be presented to the witness so that he/she can comment on them. The fact that the hearings are always recorded, regardless of whether they are carried out digitally or analogously, and that the recordings are made available to the parties is again positive.

Currently, a notarial document may not be issued in electronic form in Poland. However, it is possible, for example, to electronically certify that a copy or an extract matches the submitted document or to have an electronic extract from a notarial document created. An extract of this kind has the legal force of an original. We make use of this option, especially in the case of cross-border mandates. In addition, the notaries electronically transmit information about notarial documents to the company register and record notarial documents, which they have contributed to the creation, in a special e-directory. In practice, this solution is particularly useful in connection with the introduction of an obligation for companies to report all changes in the company register electronically from July 2021. In addition, there is also an electronic inheritance register in which the notaries in particular enter the information about registered certificates of inheritance.

Autor: Karolina Knysak