Authority

Poland - Central Authority & practical information

Central Authority:

Ministerstwo Sprawiedliwości (Ministry of Justice)
Departament Współpracy Międzynarodowej i Praw Człowieka (Department of International Cooperation and Human Rights)

Contact details:
Address: Ministry of Justice (Ministerstwo Sprawiedliwości)
Departament Współpracy Międzynarodowej i Praw Człowieka
Al. Ujazdowskie 11
00-950 Warsaw
P.O. Box 33
Poland
Telephone: +48 22 2390 870
Fax: +48 22 6280 949
E-mail: sekretariat.dwmpc@ms.gov.pl
General website: https://www.gov.pl/web/sprawiedliwosc
Contact person:  
Languages spoken by staff: Polish, English

 

Practical Information:
Forwarding authorities
(Art. 3(1)):		 The courts.
Methods of service
(Art. 5(1)(2)):

Formal Service (Art. 5 (1)(a))
The Polish Central Authority is not directly involved in the service of documents. Documents are sent to competent courts. These courts may use for formal service the post, a bailiff or the court’s service officials. The formal service may also be conducted by directly handing a document to the addressee in the court registry.

Informal delivery (Art. 5(2))
Informal delivery within the meaning of Article 5(2) may be conducted only by directly handing a document to the addressee in the court registry.

Service by a particular method (Art. 5(1)(b))
Service by a particular method requested by the applicant may be conducted, for example, by police officers or by notary.

For more information on methods of service, see European Judicial Network in Civil and Commercial Matters – Service of documents – Poland.
Translation requirements
(Art. 5(3)):

The document, which is to be served under Article 5(1) of the Convention, should be generally translated into Polish. According to Article 1135[1] par. 2 of the Polish Code Civil Procedure, if a court or other authority of a foreign state applies to a Polish court for the service of document on a person staying in Poland, without attaching a translation of the document into Polish, the document is served on the addressee if he chooses to accept it.

The only exception is provided by Agreement of 5 July 1987 between Poland and China, which allows enclosing a translation of judicial documents into English. However in practice, documents from China which are delivered to a Polish authority with translation into English should be translated into Polish by the Central Authority or by the competent regional court.
Costs relating to execution of the request for service
(Art. 12):		 The costs include the postage, which is not regained by the courts.
Time for execution of request: Two to three months
Judicial officers, officials or other competent persons
(Art. 10(b))		  
Oppositions and declarations
(Art. 21(2)):		 Click here to read all the declarations made by this State under the Service Convention.
Art. 8(2): Opposition
Art. 10(a): Opposition
Art. 10(b): Opposition
Art. 10(c): Opposition
Art. 15(2): No declaration of applicability
Art. 16(3): No declaration of applicability
Derogatory channels (bilateral or multilateral agreements or internal law permitting other transmission channels)
(Arts. 11, 19, 24 and 25)
Disclaimer:
Information may not be complete or fully updated – please contact the relevant authorities to verify this information.

Bilateral conventions on judicial co-operation: Belarus, Bulgaria, China (People’s Republic of), Czech Republic, Egypt, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Russian Federation, Turkey and Ukraine.

Regulation (EU) 2020/1784 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 25 November 2020 on the service in the Member States of judicial and extrajudicial documents in civil or commercial matters (service of documents) (recast)
Useful links:  
Competent authorities
(Arts 6, 9)		 Art. 6: See here.
Art. 9: See here.
Other authorities
(Art. 18)		 See here.

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Conventions (incl. Protocols and Principles)