On 27 December 2021, the President of the Republic of Poland signed an Act of Parliament amending the Act – the Civil Code, the Act – the Code of Civil Procedure and certain other acts.

According to the amended act, the submission of the summons to a conciliatory settlement will no longer interrupt the running of the statute of limitations, but will only suspend its running for the duration of the conciliation proceedings. This means that after the conclusion of the conciliation proceedings, the statute of limitations will not start to run from the beginning, but will continue to run.

W obecnym stanie prawnym, powszechnie przyjmowano, że pierwsze zawezwanie do próby ugodowej przerywa bieg terminu Under the current state of the law, it was generally accepted that the first summons to a conciliatory settlement interrupted the statute of limitations. Both the case law and the doctrine assumed that it was an action taken directly to assert or establish a claim, or satisfy or secure a claim. There are doubts as to the effect of subsequent summons to a conciliatory settlement. It has been argued that repeated creditors’ summons to a conciliatory settlement may lead to a situation in which the claim does not become time-barred.

Nowelizacja usThe amendment to the Act aims to prevent the negative phenomenon, i.e. the repeated summons to a conciliatory settlement, and to restore the summons to a conciliatory settlement to its original purpose, i.e. the conclusion of a settlement agreement.

The Act will enter into force on 30 June 2022, however the existing provisions will apply to mediation and conciliation proceedings initiated and not concluded before the date of entry into force of the amendment.