1. Polish insolvency law General issues
Dr Marek Porzycki

2. History
Two pre-war insolvency laws: regulations of on bankruptcy and on arrangement proceedings
Unique situation post WWII – both regulations were not formally repealed but fell into disuse
After the return of the market economy in 1988/89 pre-WWII insolvency law could be used again and remained in force until 2003

3. Structure of Polish insolvency law following the 2015 reform
Until end 2015: Law of 28 February 2003 on Bankruptcy and Rehabilitation (Prawo upadłościowe i naprawcze), providing for bankruptcy proceedings (winding-up or reorganization)
Legislative work on a reform from early 2012
An amending law of to streamline consumer bankruptcy, entered into force on
From – two laws:
Restructuring Law of 15 May 2015 (Prawo restrukturyzacyjne)
Bankruptcy Law of 28 February 2003 (Prawo upadłościowe) [previous law under an amended title]

4. Structure of insolvency proceedings
Bankruptcy Law: bankruptcy proceedings (postępowanie upadłościowe)
- aimed at winding up of the debtor’s enterprise and satisfaction of creditors ( see traditional functions of bankruptcy) but restructuring also possible in some cases
Restructuring Law: 4 restructuring proceedings (postępowania restrukturyzacyjne), aimed at restructuring the debtor:
arrangement approval proceedings (postępowanie o zatwierdzenie układu);
fast arrangement proceedings (przyspieszone postępowanie układowe);
arrangement proceedings (postępowanie układowe);
reorganization proceedings (postępowanie sanacyjne)

5. Bankruptcy proceedings
covered by the Bankruptcy Law
applied to insolvent debtors
purposes: 1) creditor satisfaction, 2) restructuring of the debtor’s enterprise (less important), 3) in some cases: discharge of the debtor – natural person (‘fresh start’)
in principle leads to the winding-up of the debtor’s estate but in some cases an arrangement is possible
involves appointment of a liquidator (syndyk)
General bankruptcy proceedings are applicable only to enterpreneurs.
A specific type of bankruptcy proceedings exists for natural persons non-enterpreneurs, with a main purpose to discharge their debts (consumer bankruptcy)

6. Restructuring proceedings
covered by the Restructuring Law
applicable to debtors which are already insolvent or only threatened with insolvency
in principle aims at the conclusion of an arrangement (układ), allowing for the continuation of the debtor’s enterprise, but an arrangement for winding-up is also possible
appointment of a supervisor (nadzorca) or an administrator (zarządca)
purpose: avoiding bankruptcy by enabling restructuring of the debtor, while securing justified interest of the creditors
4 proceedings:
arrangement approval proceedings (postępowanie o zatwierdzenie układu)
fast arrangement proceedings (przyspieszone postępowanie układowe)
arrangement proceedings (postępowanie układowe)
reorganization proceedings (postępowanie sanacyjne)

7. Other particular insolvency proceedings
banks
implementation of bank resolution proceedings, according to EU Directive 2014/59/EU of 15 May  compulsory restructuring according to Law of 10 June 2016 on the Bank Guarantee Fund
bankruptcy proceedings if compulsory restructuring fails
insurance firms – specific bankruptcy proceedings
issuers of bonds – specific bankruptcy proceedings
real estate developers – specific rules both in restructuring and bankruptcy proceedings

8. Publicity of insolvency proceedings
Until 2015 – archaic rules from 1930s, with mandatory ads in newspapers. Fragmented and difficult internet access
Transitional period until / – based on the official Court and Commercial Gazette (Monitor Sądowy i Gospodarczy), available in the internet as chronologically sorted PDF files without search facility
Planned from / :
Central Register for Bankruptcies and Restructuring (CRRU) – web-based, searchable, providing centralized access to all insolvency-related information,
to take part in the planned EU-wide system of interconnected insolvency registers (see pilot project: justice.europa.eu/content_interconnected_insolvency_registers_s earch-246-en.do)
information on insolvency proceedings is also made public in the National Court Register (KRS) for those enterpreneurs who are registered there (excluding natural persons)

9. Legal acts
Consolidated texts of both laws in Polish are available in the Internet Legal Information System (Internetowy System Informacji Prawnej,
Bankruptcy Law of , as amended (Prawo upadłościowe, BL):
WDU (under „tekst ujednolicony”)
Restructuring Law of (Prawo restrukturyzacyjne, RL):
WDU (under „tekst ujednolicony”)
Translations into English are available on commercial basis.