Zmiany wprowadzane w roku 2015/2016 w ustawie z dnia 21 listopada 2008 roku o służbie cywilnej – refleksje wybrane

Author(s): Adam Banaszkiewicz / Language(s): Polish Issue: 2/2016

Article refers to some elements of the content of the amendment of the Act of 21 November 2008 on the civil service, which was made by the Law of 30 December 2015. In one of the provisions, the amendment changed the manner of selection of candidates for senior positions in the civil service. At the same time the people it concerned were included in the civil service corps. Free and competitive recruitment was replaced by vocation, which in some cases is undertaken by entities performing their functions in the political way. The question is whether it will not affect the operation of these people, and above all, on the criteria for their selection. First the author reminds the essence of the civil service, the idea of its creation and history in Poland, and then refers to the current legal status. In the key part of the article the author points out the importance of political neutrality, which is one of the principles on which civil servants should base their action. Apart from that he expressed an opinion, what will the effects be in case of deviation from this principle (at the same time, then it may be motivated by a purposeful activity).

The „substance of the rights” of the Union citizenship in the recent case law of the ECJ – potential and limits of the concept

Author(s): Tomasz Milej / Language(s): English Issue: 2/2014

Orwell w realu, czyli o systemie Echelon z perspektywy polskiego prawa

Author(s): Marcin Andreasik,Daniel Karkut,Jacek Mazurkiewicz,Bartosz Mierzwiński,Mateusz Popielas,Karolina Trzeciak-Wach,Maria Zaporowska,Zofia Zaporowska / Language(s): Polish Issue: 2/2014

„Freedom and privacy of communication is guaranteed. The restrictions may be imposed only in cases specified in the Act and in the manner specified therein.” This pronounced and clear declaration, being not only a legal guarantee is included in paragraph 49 of Constitution of the Republic of Poland. We look at it from the hindsight, which was created by a system of global invigilation of communication, not only electronic one, called Echelon. It was widely known before Edward Snowden was heard in Hong Kong. Echelon was talked, written about and discussed not only in European Parliament but also at other formal forum. Yet, in our country this phenomenon did not arouse much interest either of lawyers, ministers, senators, government or politicians. There is probably the first attempt of assessing the consequences of Echelon from the view of Polish law. We limit ourselves intentionally to the point which was reachable for everyone before Snowden. We believe that it has a particular meaning: it illustrates that in our country there is a dramatic implementation of the constitutional right to democratic rule of law. It makes us realize where we live and what we can.

Law, Forms of Government and Liberty in Montesquieu’s Thought

Author(s): Krzysztof Łazarski / Language(s): English Issue: 1/2013

Rozwiązania instytucjonalno-prawne w zakresie cywilnej i demokratycznej kontroli i nadzoru nad Agencją Bezpieczeństwa Wewnętrznego

Author(s): Mateusz Kolaszyński / Language(s): Polish Issue: 1/2012

Administracyjne warunki formalnoprawne podejmowania działalności gospodarczej i zawodowej w zakresie świadczenia usług turystycznych

Author(s): Jacek Z. Szwaja / Language(s): Polish Issue: 1/2011

The article discusses the administrative formal and legal conditions (administrative procedures) required when starting a business in order to offer services in the tourism industry. The formal and legal administrative conditions are not uniform in this respect, which can be attributed to both the lack of a common legal basis specifying the conditions for providing particular types of services in tourism, as well as to differences in the procedure of undertaking business activity. The formal and legal conditions have been specified by regulations in the Act of 2 July 2004 about the freedom of business activity and in the Act of 29 August 1997 about services in the tourism industry. Assuming the criterion of the legal basis as the foundation of the division, the article discusses four different legal situations, which can occur under the current legal condition that applies to undertaking business activity in providing services for tourism. In relation to the required administrative procedure three types of business activity have been specified: activity which does not require an administrative decision, activity which can be commenced after issuing an administrative decision and activity which can be undertaken on conditions other than those mentioned above.

Problem odpowiedzialności prawnej w procesie prywatyzacji majątku Skarbu Państwa

Author(s): Wojciech Fill / Language(s): Polish Issue: 4/2010

Age Discrimination in Employment: Unanswered Questions?

Author(s): Diane Ryland / Language(s): English Issue: 4/2010

Jakość zmian prawa o szkolnictwie wyższym a orzecznictwo Trybunału Konstytucyjnego

Author(s): Agnieszka Bednarczyk-Płachta / Language(s): Polish Issue: 2/2018

On the basis of the Polish law about higher education, which was in force until the introduction of the present law about higher education and science, we can clearly see the tendencies and habits of the legislator in terms of the manner and quality of lawmaking. This publication is a kind of introduction to the analysis of new regulations, because without reference to what was, the regulations introduced in the new “Act 2.0” may seem only unconstitutional. This is alarming because by comparing the way changes are made in the previous legal and current state, it is clear that the legislator does not aim to create law in accordance with applicable standards, and also does not learn from mistakes. Constant changes in the law about higher education affecting the status of these entities and the way they operate under public law have not contributed to the wider opening of the discussions on the status of higher education institutions, as public administration entities, nor the quality of the created law. Since the adoption of the current law on higher education from 2018, the previous law has been changed over 30 times. The aim of the article is to indicate the mechanisms of the legislator’s actions, which, contrary to the legislative technique and suggestions of the Constitutional Tribunal (Trybunał Konstytucyjny, TK), changed the law in the previous legal state, which directly affects the current regulations. The legislative chaos, introducing and removing law institutions and solutions in isolation from their functioning under administrative law and the sense of justification of the Constitutional Tribunal, lack of stability and consistency in adopting new solutions, adversely affects not only the condition of science and higher education, but also difficulties in revision of current views of doctrine and case law on this subject.

Kierownicze stosowanie prawa pracy w zakresie ułatwiania podnoszenia kwalifikacji zawodowych pracowników

Author(s): Zdzisław Kubot / Language(s): Polish Issue: 1/2010

Prawno-ekonomiczne aspekty rewitalizacji terenów zdegradowanych

Author(s): Czesława Jasiewicz,Małgorzata Szczerbińska-Byrska / Language(s): Polish Issue: 3/2008

Juridical challenges regarding bitcoin.

Author(s): Adriana Pîrvu / Language(s): English Issue: 1/2020

Criptocurrencies are popular convertible virtual currencies, as they use security mechanisms such as cryptography for creating units of the currency and controlling the transaction. The main property of criptocurrencies is that they provide anonymity for the transaction, as they work based on Blockchain technology. Bitcoin is one of the most important criptocurrencies on the market. Whereas we like it or not, it seems that Bitcoin has become a powerful payment instrument, but also a payment system. The national Governments face now a new challenge: the necessity of regulating Bitcoin. But Bitcoin is incompatible with any kind of centralized control. We can only imagine that effective regulations can exist only through worldwide cooperation: “Bitcoin and other virtual currencies are present and growing in major economies, supporting the call for increased global cooperation”. This will be probably an expensive and complex process.

Działalność Studenckiej Poradni Prawnej w czasie pandemii COVID-19

Author(s): Kamil Najjar / Language(s): Polish Issue: 2/2020

Internet-related risks from the perspective of Polish adolescents with a focus on hate speech

Author(s): Artur Kapera,Jacek Kapera / Language(s): English Issue: 1/2021

The aim of the study was to present the main threats related to the use of the Internet by the Polish youth and to analyse them with particular emphasis on issues related to hate speech. Using the Internet, apart from its undoubted usability, brings with it a number of threats, among which are: malware (including spyware, ransomware, “crypto-miners” and adware), invasion of privacy (both by private individuals (stalking) and advertising companies), phishing, spam, hate speech, paedophilia, human trafficking, cyber-bullying, and, less frequently, targeted attacks. According to the survey, nearly 70% of the respondents encountered threats on the Internet. The phenomenon of hate speech affects 37% of respondents who fell victim to it and 18% who practised hate speech.

Decolonial thinking in Brazil: perspectives for overcoming digital colonialism through the protection of human rights

Author(s): Gustavo Borges Silveira,José Luiz de Moura Júnior Faleiros / Language(s): English Issue: 2/2021

The effects of colonialism persist until the present day, although many of its characteristics have been transformed through digital information technologies that enable algorithmically- driven environments in which the lack of regulation and governance perpetrates the exploitation of vulnerabilities. These colonial characteristics are equivalent to current digital information activities and they refer to the more general concept of coloniality. Thus, unlike colonialism, coloniality continues as a way of relating power, knowledge, being and gender, but on a more sophisticated environment. The emergence of new information and communication technologies, based on the mechanisms of Artificial Intelligence, has favored a virtual environment called Infosphere, in which informationally embodied organisms (inforgs), as well as the strengthening of a digital colonialism formed by technological companies from the Global North, allow the accumulation of wealth and profit at the expense of inequalities and social injustices imposed by a new hegemonic digital colonialism that emerges and is guided by surveillance capitalism, which, once again in history, causes epistemic violence in relation to other virtual knowledge sources, insofar as it considers people as the product or raw material of this nefarious system. The emergence of data protection laws all throughout the globe is still a recent phenomenon, but clearly not sufficiently effective as a counterpoint for the problem at hand. Improving information and AI ethics and algorithm development governance have been widely discussed and praised as adequate means to overcoming and/or diminishing the impacts of such unwanted practices. Even though that might still be regarded by some as a farfetched idea in a world of intercultural variety, pluralistic approaches to its understanding are an essential way of improving regulation. The Brazilian legal frameworks for Internet, privacy and data protection, which the research article will seek to deeply analyze, are still surrounded by skepticism due to the incipient sanction and liability enforcement mechanisms. Decolonial thinking is definitely an important subject and critically discussing the ever-challenging reality of the few global elites that currently dominate the Infosphere is an important step towards the desired ethical approach in Brazilian AI development. The forthcoming article has its main objective focused on the study of decolonial thinking in the aforementioned context of new hegemonic digital colonialism in Brazil. To achieve that goal, the deductive approach method shall be used, from the analysis of general premises in order to reach a particular conclusion, as well as bibliographic research.

Legislacyjna transformacja krajowego rynku gazu ziemnego poprzez biogaz na przykładzie rynkowych platform współpracy

Author(s): Maciej Włodek / Language(s): Polish Issue: 2/2021

In order to achieve the assumptions of the European Green Deal program by 2050, it should be emphasized how important is the cooperation between market participants: government, local governments, enterprises and citizens in order to fulfill the program assumptions. The essence that shapes cooperation platforms is Art. 7, points 7a and 7b of Directive 2012/27 / EU, which contains provisions on the involvement of energy service providers, citizens, as well as accredited entities and public authorities. I based my content on the implication of Directive 2018/2001 (Renewable Energy Directive II), on the promotion of the use of energy from renewable sources on market participants and the regulation (EU) 2019/941 on risk preparedness in the electricity sector and related to ensuring security of renewable energy. The above regulations show the essence of energy and climate decisions made at the national and neighboring countries level, and generally on energy prices, security of supply, emissions and mutually. Within the framework of a specific REE, as an example, agricultural biogas was analyzed, but also biogas from a landfill on the example of a case study of the city of Tarnow and the energy cluster established there. Legislative and economic difficulties in the development of agricultural biogas plants in Poland in relation to the German market were diagnosed, such as the lack of feed-in tariffs or the issue of certificates of origin. The considerations show the paths of introducing a system of incentives for market participants and identifying the key measure of renewable energy sources (specificity of the region) to be used by market participants.

Realizacja czynnego i biernego prawa wyborczego w wyborach do parlamentu w państwach byłej Jugosławii. Ujęcie prawnoporównawcze

Author(s): Marcin Hamielec / Language(s): Polish Issue: 1/2023

This article is a comparison of current electoral legislation on active and passive suffrage in parliamentary elections in the countries of the former Yugoslavia (Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Montenegro, Northern Macedonia, Serbia and Slovenia). Furthermore, the article verifies two research hypotheses. It was verified whether these countries show significant differences with respect to each other in the aforementioned scope, taking into account the fact that they were recently part of the one legal system. It was also examined whether the regulations implementing the active and passive suffrage in the relevant states can be considered as compatible with the democratic principle of universal suffrage. The analysis of relevant constitutional and statutory provisions allowed answering such questions. Both hypotheses were verified negatively. It turns out that in the states of former Yugoslavia there are significant differences in the scope of realization of active and passive suffrage in parliamentary elections. However, only the electoral provisions of Croatia, Serbia and Slovenia fully comply with the principle of universal suffrage.

Odwołanie od decyzji konsula RP w sprawach wizowych – podstawy właściwości rzeczowej sądów administracyjnych na tle orzecznictwa Trybunału Sprawiedliwości Unii Europejskiej i Naczelnego Sądu Administracyjnego

Author(s): Michał Gubernat / Language(s): Polish Issue: 1/2023

The article is the result of an analysis of the Polish and European legal order in the field of visas and the possibility of appealing against refusals issued by visa authorities, especially by the consul of the Republic of Poland. The author takes a closer look at the regulations of consular law existing until recently, repealed as a result of doubts about their constitutionality, confirmed by the Constitutional Court, and also raises the issue of the distinctiveness of proceedings before the consul of the Republic of Poland being the subject of the Act of 25 June 2015 – Consular Law. Along with pointing out the distinctiveness of proceedings before the consul, the author draws attention to the norm prejudging the exclusion of the application of the Code of Administrative Procedure “in cases belonging to the jurisdiction of Polish diplomatic representations and consular offices” (art. 3 § 2 pkt 4 k.p.a.) and to the norm contained in art. 5 pkt 4 of the Act of 30 August 2002. Law on Proceedings before Administrative Courts (PPSA), referring directly to the lack of jurisdiction of administrative courts in cases concerning previously all visas issued by the minister in charge of foreign affairs or consuls, and now only national visas for most purposes for which such can be issued. The author also takes a closer look at the content of the decision of the Supreme Administrative Court (NSA) II OSK 1346/16 and the judgment of the CJEU in response to the preliminary question in the Soufianne El Hassani case, which together led to a reflection on the primacy of the application of European law and the guarantees contained therein, which cannot be restricted by the law of a Member State, and ultimately became the catalyst for changes in the PPSA allowing an appeal against a refusal decision of a Polish consul to an administrative court. In the conclusion following the analysis of judgment of the CJEU C-949/19, which confirmed the jurisdiction of administrative courts over certain national visas, the author made de lege ferenda comments.

Regulacje prawnopodatkowe w kontekście nadania osobowości prawnej sztucznej inteligencji

Author(s): Piotr Wyjadłowski / Language(s): Polish Issue: 1/2024

The article discusses the impact of the growing involvement of artificial intelligence algorithms on taxation systems. It highlights the need to redefine tax systems in the context of allocating resources for public goods and compensating individuals excluded from the labor market due to automation. The article draws attention to the challenges in effectively taxing corporations that use AI, which generate significant revenue through licensing and commercialization of technology. It considers various concepts of granting legal personality to AI and the consequences of such a solution for tax regulation. The article also discusses legal regulations concerning tax obligations and methods of enforcing tax commitments.

Konwersja postępowania sądowego na postępowanie przed sądem polubownym – skuteczna reklama arbitrażu?

Author(s): Patryk Grochowski / Language(s): Polish Issue: 1/2024

The author describes the institution of conversion of court proceedings to arbitration, which was added to the Code of Civil Procedure in 2023. The article identifies the advantages and disadvantages of this solution both dogmatically and from the perspective of time and financial efficiency for business. The author also poses the question of the impact of the introduction of conversion on the popularisation of arbitration in Poland. Moreover, whether only the initiative of the legislator and the executive power has an impact on the promotion of the idea of arbitration.