Author: ts_pm

What should we pay attention to when establishing cooperation with a packaging recovery organization? Marta Banasiak discusses this issue in her latest article on Sozosfera.pl.

– Past experience shows that recovery organizations are very reluctant to introduce any changes in models of their proposed contracts. Time should be however devoted to a thorough analysis of their provisions so that future cooperation would take place based on rules clear for both parties. – says Marta Banasiak, M. Sc. in environmental protection, trainee attorney-at-law.

Link to the article: https://sozosfera.pl/prawo/wspolpraca-z-organizacja-odzysku-na-co-zwrocic-uwage/ 

On one of the slopes in Zieleniec, a 14-storey building is under construction, which is to accommodate more people normally live in whole Zieleniec. Joanna Sebzda-Załuska, attorney-at-law and managing partner of GWW Legal as well as Dorota Chramęga, attorney-at-law, represent a group of residents and entrepreneurs of Zieleniec protesting against construction of the investment project that may negatively affect the existing infrastructure and the environment. Applications for verification of decisions issued have been submitted, now everything depends on public administration authorities and the administrative court.

More information on the investment that has divided the local community can be found in the article on Onet.pl: https://wiadomosci.onet.pl/tylko-w-onecie/apartamentowiec-w-zielencu-budzi-kontrowersje-mieszkancow/j98k95g

Joint representation increases the security of transactions carried out by the company. At least two people, usually members of the board, must place their signatures under a contract.

– Obligations related to the representation of a limited liability company (spółka z o.o.) rest on members of the board. This applies in particular to concluding contracts on behalf of the company or acting as its representative before courts and offices. In some situations, representation of the company by management board may be problematic. This applies in particular to companies in which joint representation is required. Such companies cannot be represented only by one member of the board. In order to fulfill the requirement of joint representation, a declaration on behalf of the company must be submitted by at least two people. – writes Marcin Borkowski in Puls Biznesu.

The article is available at: https://www.pb.pl/pelnomocnik-spolki-przed-sadem-964951 

Environmental regulations regulating issues related to the management of packaging and packaging waste affect not only sellers. 

– One of activities subject to the abovementioned regulations is the production of packaging. Contrary to appearances, this activity refers not only to entrepreneurs involved in the manufacturing of this group of products. In practice, also entities that seem to have nothing to do with this type of activity are considered as the packaging manufacturer. But one by one … – writes Marta Banasiak, Environmental Law Expert at GWW.

The article was published on the Sozosfera.pl portal: https://sozosfera.pl/prawo/wytworca-opakowan-czyli-kto/

 

On Friday, 28 June, the Ministry of Finance published a regulation postponing the entry into force of new rules applicable to withholding tax. The new rules will apply from January 2020 and not from 1 July 2019. 

– According to Krzysztof Czekaj, a tax advisor at the GWW, the regulation of the Minister of Finance, published last Friday, regarding the new date of entry into force of some rules of collecting withholding tax gives rise to mixed feelings. He emphasizes that, on the one hand, tax payers and tax remitters will have additional six months to take action to secure transactions before designs of the tax office, and on the other hand, the publication of the regulation on the last working day prior to the forthcoming new entry into force of new withholding tax can be perceived as another argument confirming the thesis that the Ministry of Finance, realizing the quality of these regulations and the consequences of their entry into force, has decided to put aside problems for another six months, also from itself. – In the light of many doubts related to the draft explanations about the collection of withholding tax published lately by the Ministry of Finance, this thesis seems to be justified. We may only have hope that these six months will be productively used by the Ministry of Finance to implement at least part of the postulates regarding new WHT collection regulations (reported by both business representatives and tax advisors) and that the effects of works (including explanations) will be provided to public information much earlier than previous announcements of the Ministry of Finance in this matter – says Czekaj.

An article with the commentary by Krzysztof Czekaj was published on 01 July 2019 on the prawo.pl portal: https://www.prawo.pl/podatki/podatek-u-zrodla-wht-styczen-2020-rozporzadzenie-mf,438831.html 

Starting from next week, the issue of bonds in the so-called in closed mode will be subject to additional conditions. Changes introduced are the aftermath of the so-called ‘GetBack scandal’ and are supposed to prevent further abuses of this kind.

– From 1 July 2019, the issue of bonds will involve the need of meeting additional formal requirements. They consist in particular in excluding the possibility of issuing bonds in the form of a document. The bonds will be registered at Krajowy Depozyt Papierów Wartościowych S.A. (the National Depository for Securities – NDS). In the case of bonds that will not be issued through public offering, before the conclusion of a contract providing for registration of these securities in NDS, the issuer will be required to conclude a contract for performance of the issue agent's functions. An investment company authorized to keep securities accounts or a trust bank will be the other party to such a contract (an issue agent). The change in the regulations will result in an increase in costs of the issue of bonds as compared to nowadays. But it is not that much certain whether this will eliminate the risk of possible frauds. – writes Marcin Borkowski, PhD, attorney-at-law.

The article by Marcin Borkowski describing these changes and consequences thereof can be found at the Lexplorers blog: http://lexplorers.pl/wazne-zmiany-dotyczace-obligacji/ 

On 27 and 28 June, Aldona Leszczyńska Mikulska will be a speaker at the STEP (Society of Trust and Estate Practitioners) international conference, which will take place in Limassol, Cyprus. STEP is a prestigious organization gathering the most experienced advisors from around the world who deal with financial planning, family businesses and succession in business.

Aldona will present the specificity of the Polish Central Register of Beneficiaries (Centralny Rejestr Beneficjentów Rzeczywistych) to the participants of the conference, which will soon become a reality as part of the implementation of the European directive on counteracting money laundering and financing of terrorism. Interview with Aldona can be read at: https://www.step.org/interviews/60-second-interview-aldona-leszczy-ska-mikulska 

Nearly 70 lawyers from 27 jurisdictions have gathered in Warsaw as part of the annual, two-day spring conference of the Trans European Law Firm Alliance – a European network of independent law firms – to explore and discuss issues in the area of ​​compliance and artificial intelligence used in lawyers’ work.

Speaker in the debate on artificial intelligence used in the work of lawyers, Marcin Zręda, Strategic Director of the Legal Services Market and Enterprises inWolters Kluwer, made a short summary of the second day of the conference:

Issued touched upon on the second day of the conference concerned the use of artificial intelligence in compliance management. Marcin Zręda, Strategic Director of the Legal Services and Enterprises Market in Wolters Kluwer Polska, was one of the panel participants. He pointed to a great need for transparency in compliance management in companies.

– In the debate, we put at least a few open questions, for which there are still no good answers today and therefore they are worth discussing. We wondered to what extent the artificial intelligence is just a slogan that causes a faster heartbeat for a potential investor and by how much it will be an actuall element of the lawyer's work environment in just a moment – explains Zręda. He adds that according to recent studies only 60 percent of start-ups in the European Union declaring themselves to be using artificial intelligence actually do. – Once again, we tried to bust the myth of replacing a lawyer by a robot – here, a fragment of the discussion covered the concept of bias of artificial intelligence, to what extent is it threatening, if and how we can minimize it. The last of the interesting topics discussed during the panel was the so-called blackbox problem; what if we want to learn about the ‘thinking’ of a machine, which has made a specific decision, whether we can look ‘under its hood’ and understand something – says Zręda.

The article is available at: https://www.prawo.pl/prawnicy-sady/compliance-w-firmach-konferencja-telfa-warszawa-2019,435683.html

The European Union is preparing a revolution in respect of reducing plastic disposable products. What should producers of disposable plastic products be prepared for? What can consumers expect?

– Although the EU directive aimed at limiting the use of plastic ‘disposables’ is still at the design stage, its adoption is rather certain. The key issue will be the transposition of its provisions into national laws. The scope of obligations and the circle of obliged entities will in fact depend on the shape of solutions adopted in this group of regulations.

The article was published on the Lexplorers.pl blog on 4 Juhne 2019.

Link to the article: http://lexplorers.pl/plastikowa-rewolucja-czy-producenci-jednorazowych-wyrobow-z-plastiku-maja-sie-czego-obawiac/

On 1 January 2019, a number of changes to laws on the general anti-avoidance regulation (hereinafter referred to as GAAR) entered into force. One of them involves the change of the application model of the general anti-avoidance regulation.

– An important element of the new GAAR application model was the decision on the reversal of tax avoidance effects. It is not a decision that defines or especially that sets the amount of tax liability. As a result of its issuance, taxpayer has the right to correct its tax return. If the taxpayer does not correct the return in accordance with the decision on the reversal of the tax avoidance effects, proceedings will be initiated to determine the amount of the tax liability. In the course of these proceedings, the body in charge will have to take into account the content of the decision on the reversal of the tax avoidance effects .

The article was published on the blog Lexplorers.pl, on 11 June 2019

Link to the article: http://lexplorers.pl/pomieszanie-z-poplataniem-czyli-o-zmianie-modelu-stosowania-ogolnej-klauzuli-przeciwko-unikaniu-opodatkowania/