Abstract: | On 4th February, 2011, Polish Parliament has enacted the act on private international
law, which was published in the Official Journal No 80, item 432, and came
into force on 16th May, 2011. The new law has replaced the old statute from 1965. It constitutes
the “national part” of the conflict of law rules, which are in force in Poland, and
is coordinated with the European private international law. The act governs the matters
excluded from the scope of the regulations Rome I and Rome II and supplements the
Hague convention of 19th October, 1996 on Jurisdiction, Applicable Law, Recognition, Enforcement
and Co‑operation
in Respect of Parental Responsibility and Measures for the
Protection of Children. The new law also implements the conflict of law rule established
in Directive 2008/122/EC of 14th January, 2009.
The act of 2011 fills out many of the gaps that existed previously (e.g. it determines
the law applicable for the power of attorney, the personal rights and the name) and alters
certain of the solutions adopted under the law of 1965. It permits, inter alia, a choice of
law for the matrimonial property regimes, the marriage contract and the succession.
Moreover, the obligations arising out of the unilateral legal acts have been treated differently
than in the law of 1965. As with respect to the formal validity of the legal acts
related to the dispositions of the immovable property or the corporate matters (such as
the creation, transformation or liquidation of the legal entity), the new law gives up the
rule according to which it was sufficient to satisfy the requirements of the form of the
lex loci actus.
Finally, the act establishes a general rule, based on the concept of the closest connection,
which apply in the circumstances where the act itself or other provisions of Polish
law fail to indicate the governing law. |