In the preface, Professor Bogumił Brzeziński writes: “The book presents the opinions of recognised tax law specialists, who draw attention to what they believe are areas of inconsistency between Polish tax law and EU law. Their opinions may be of use both in current tax law application practice and – one would hope – to Polish legislators”.
Author: ts_pm
7th Public Finances Forum
GWW is Legal Partner for Journalists’ award
We’ve been asked to continue our work as auditor on the Committee of Radio ZET’s prestigious Andrzej Woyciechowski Award. This means that GWW is a guarantor that the Competition’s rules are being kept, and Piotr Woźny, attorney at law, is Committee Secretary.
The award is given for the best journalist material whose author dared to attack stereotypes, break the bounds of convention and get the inside story on the reality around us. The Award Committee is made up of chief editors and directors of over a dozen of Poland’s most important radio, press and TV editorial sections.
RISING STARS Lawyers – tomorrow’s leaders
Congratulations to Katarzyna Blachowicz, attorney at law, who – as the competition’s creators require – makes her presence felt “uninhibitedly” in legal circles and combines a professional career with social and pro bono activities!
The competition’s aim is to find young lawyers who provide legal services of the highest standard with their knowledge, enterprise and social attitude. Among the criteria, apart from age (up to 35), are creativeness and ability to sense new market trends.
The organisers are the daily newspaper Dziennik Gazeta Prawna and the publishers Wolters Kluwer Poland.
Environmental’ battle lasting several years ends: GWW’s success at the Supreme Administrative Court
On 3 September 2015, the Supreme Administrative Court in Warsaw (case II OSK 41/14) dismissed another last-ditch appeal by one of the biggest ‘ecological’ associations against a ruling by the Province Administrative Court in Warsaw concerning an environmental decision by GWW’s client, a company forming part of the Elemental Holding capital group (case WSA IV SA/Wa 114/13).
GWW’s cooperation in those cases lasted several years, in the course of which administrative authorities and courts issued several dozen decisions. The Supreme Administrative Court ruling finally ends the dispute in great success for GWW’s client.
Throughout the project, the GWW Team comprised: Dr Tomasz Burczyński, attorney at law (admitted as radca prawny), partner at GWW Tax; Joanna Sebzda-Załuska, attorney at law (admitted as radca prawny), partner at GWW; and Jacek Wilczewski, attorney at law (admitted as radca prawny), of counsel at GWW.
A precedent-setting PPP case:
On 14 July 2015, the Province Administrative Court in Wrocław, in case file No. III SA/Wr 376/15, heard the complaint of Fondlar Sp. z o.o. with regard to the cancellation by the Lower Silesian authorities of the process seeking an entity to serve as the operator of the Lower Silesian Broadband Network Infrastructure under a public-private partnership (PPP) agreement, which includes expanding and operating the network.
GWW represented Fondlar, who had secured a tender seeking to appoint the operator of the Lower Silesian Backbone Network for the entire region of Lower Silesia. However, the region’s authorities refrained from signing a concession agreement and cancelled the tender. The Company filed a complaint against the decision with the administrative court. GWW represented the Complainant in this case. Joanna Sebzda-Załuska, attorney-at-law, partner at GWW, was the Complainant’s attorney before the Province Administrative Court.
The court battle lasted nearly three months and ended in GWW’s victory. The court granted the motion of Fondlar, represented by GWW, and found that the process had been cancelled unlawfully.
COMMENTARY – Joanna Sebzda-Załuska, attorney at law, partner at GWW:
The Province Administrative Court agreed with our arguments. The court found that the process seeking to select a concessionaire was completed on 30 January 2015 and any actions taken thereafter by the authorities of the Lower Silesian Province, particularly their May 2015 attempt to cancel the process, were groundless as there was nothing to cancel at that point because the process had ended well before that time.
This ruling of the Province Administrative Court has considerable significance for the Polish concession market for construction work and services. Why is that? It is the first time that case law has addressed the issue of a concessionaire exercising its right to cancel the process, taking into account the timing of the action being performed. Furthermore, the ruling confirms that a public entity is required to enter into an agreement after the award procedure is completed.
BACKGROUND
The Lower Silesian Backbone Network was conceived as a project co-funded by the European Union. Its objective is to provide broadband internet access throughout the region. The operator selected in the tender is responsible for launching the service for local network providers. In December 2014, Fondlar Sp. z o.o. was selected as the winner and waited until April 2015 to sign the agreement. However, the Lower Silesian authorities refrained from signing a concession agreement and cancelled the tender. The case was then referred to the Province Administrative Court.
MOST ATTRACTIVE EMPLOYER 2015
Were delighted to announce that GWW took 6th place among law firms and 11th place among legal and advisory firms (including the “Big 4”) in the Legal category of the MOST ATTRACTIVE EMPLOYERS 2015 ranking, according to the 2015 Universum Student Survey.
The result shows that, according to current law students, were part of a small group of the most desirable employers in the professional services field.
In the Legal category, students selected 50 firms that they see as being worthy of the title of ideal employer – a list that included just seven “classic” law firms. The top three places were taken by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Google Poland and EY.
Most Attractive Employers ranks the best employers and is prepared by Universum, an international advisory firm. Taking part in this year’s ranking were 23,584 students and 8,774 professionals (i.e. persons holding at least a licentiate or engineer’s qualification, as well as professional experience).
More information is available on Universums website.
Labour law: GWW’s success before the Supreme Court
COMMENTARY – Attorney at law (admitted as radca prawny) Katarzyna Blachowicz, who heads the labour law practice at GWW:
This is a precedent-setting ruling which is very good news for employers, which have so far been regarded as the stronger party in a relationship and have in effect often been treated more severely. The Supreme Court held that extending the termination notice period does not have an influence on the amount of compensation which an employee can demand in the event of an unlawful and unjustified termination of an employment contract, even if the employment contract introduces a longer termination notice period than the maximum stated in the Labour Code.
In practice this means that merely reserving a termination notice period longer than the statutory one is insufficient for compensation to be obtained in an amount corresponding to the remuneration for the entire termination notice period. An employee will not receive compensation in an amount higher than the remuneration for a three-month termination notice period unless the contract pointedly states that, in the event of its defective dissolution, the employee can claim compensation equal to the remuneration for the extended termination notice period. If, therefore, the parties to an employment contract want to increase the compensation, this must be clearly stated in the contract.
BACKGROUND:
The Supreme Court considered the case of a CFO who had a guaranteed six-month termination notice period in his employment contract (it was to end at the end of a quarter). The company terminated his agreement during restructuring, and he took the matter to court. The four-year dispute ended positively for GWW’s client – the Supreme Court upheld the decision of the second-instance court and held that the employee was entitled to compensation for a maximum of three, and not six, salaries, because the parties had not written a higher compensation amount into the employment contract, but merely a longer termination notice period. The compensation provided for in the Labour Code is therefore applicable.
LEGAL 500 EMEA 2015 RECOMMENDS GWW
We wish to emphasise, in particular, the recommendations for the Law Firm and individual GWW lawyers in areas of law connected with regulated sectors – TMT as well as energy law and natural resources. In the current Ranking:
- 1st place and the title of leader went to our TMT Team;
- the title of “leading individual” (outstandingly recommended lawyer) in the TMT category was awarded to Piotr Woźny / who has held this title since 2009;
- the title of “recommended lawyer” in the energy and natural resources law category was awarded to Wacław Knopkiewicz / who has held this title since 2012;
- the title of “recommended firm” in the energy and natural resources law category, which we have held continually since 2011.
Legal 500 EMEA also awarded GWW recommendations in the following six areas of law:
- Tax – 2nd place in the listing of recommended firms, continually since 2012;
- Energy and natural resources;
- Real property and the construction industry;
- Intellectual property;
- Litigation and arbitration;
- Corporate law / M&A;
Individually recommended or mentioned lawyers include:
TMT
Energy and natural resources
Tax
Real Estate & Construction
Dispute Resolution
- Krystian Szostak, former partner at GWW, heading the trial practice, as of 19 February 2015 Management Board Member for Legal and Regulatory Affairs at InPost.
Complete ranking results are available on the website of Legalease.
Tomasz Maliński Director of the Mediation Centre at the Warsaw Bar Association
Taking on the post of Director of the Mediation Centre at the Warsaw Bar Association confirms Tomasz Maliński’s great competence as well as the importance of the GWW brand in the legal profession.
Tomasz Maliński has been practising as a mediator for several years. He gained his mediator qualifications in postgraduate studies at the University of Warsaw in mediation and other alternative methods of dispute resolution, and subsequently completed a mediation apprenticeship and several workshops and training courses.