TAJEMNICA FUNDACJI RODZINNEJ A JEJ MATERIALNOPRAWNY WYMÓG ZACHOWANIA PRZEZ CZŁONKÓW RADY NADZORCZEJ
THE SECRECY OF A FAMILY FOUNDATION AND THE SUBSTANTIVE LEGAL DUTY OF ITS MAINTENANCE BY SUPERVISORY BOARD MEMBERS

Summary/Abstract: This publication addresses the obligation of members of a family foundation's supervisory board to maintain the foundation's secrecy. A family foundation, as an entity legally focused on activities related to broadly perceived protection and securing of the beneficiaries' interests, may, during its operation, come into possession of or produce certain information that should not be publicly available. Due to the purpose of the foundation's activity, the used means and the need to protect the subjective rights of beneficiaries, this information should possess a specific, confidential nature. This information, both from an individual and multi-entity perspective, has been defined by the legislator as the secret of a family foundation--a secret consisting of specific information related to the organizational, investment, and economic aspects of the foundation, and, what is particularly important, to its beneficiaries. Hence, confidentiality regarding the information encompassed by the foundation's secret should be associated with the lack of dissemination or publication. The above conditions define the scope of the information and necessitate certain actions aimed at maintaining this confidentiality by the obliged persons or entities. Therefore, the coexistence of two elements, which together constitute its subject, should be considered important from the perspective of the essence of the foundation's secret. The material element (indicating its subject and scope) and the formal element related to the need for the interested party (the foundation) to undertake certain security measures, ensuring this information remains in a specified, desired state of confidentiality. These measures, in the case of a family foundation, should also apply to members of its council, who, in performing their functions, will inevitably come into possession of certain information that, for the benefit of the foundation and its beneficiaries, must remain confidential. This confidentiality, in both formal and material terms, should protect the interests of the family foundation itself and, perhaps above all, its beneficiaries.

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