How did the rules for appealing against arbitration awards change since the beginning of the new year?

Since 1 January 2016, with the introduction of a single-instance rule for appeals to set aside an arbitration award, the procedure for appealing against a judgement of the Court of First Instance which settled the appeal changed. Before the amendment a party not satisfied with the outcome of a case could appeal against the judgement of the Court of First Instance and subsequently file a last-resort appeal (Polish: skarga kasacyjna) with the Supreme Court (provided that the statutory requirements were met, e.g. the subject of the appeal was of appropriate value), which, as compared to proceedings before a state court, prolonged the entire procedure (and increased costs – the appeal was subject to a court fee).

Currently it is only possible to file a last-resort appeal against a judgement issued in proceedings to set aside an arbitration award. This means that a party not satisfied with how a court settled a case will not be entitled to appeal to a court of higher instance, but it will be straight away entitled to a special remedy, that is a last-resort appeal.

A shorter appeal procedure means that the parties are in fact deprived of the right to file an appeal to a court of one more instance.

Such changes bring the number of available instances closer to proceedings before a state court, where there are generally two instances and, possibly, the Supreme Court and particular elements of a case remain subject to the supervision of the Supreme Court, which ensures procedural guarantees.

What could the consequences of such change be?

The afore-mentioned changes should have a positive effect on the course of proceedings, most of all due to the fact that parties to a dispute will be able to obtain a judgement of a common court upholding or not the arbitration award under appeal faster. As a matter of fact, long-pending proceedings to set aside an arbitration award under appeal undermined the main advantage of arbitration tribunals, that is the speed of the procedure. In particular, this means that a party which obtained a favourable award will be able to execute it faster. Quite often separate proceedings to uphold or declare enforceability of an arbitration award are suspended until an appeal is settled.

This will also reduce the costs of proceedings as the intermediate stage of the appeal procedure has been eliminated and the parties will no longer pay the court fee, which constitutes 5 per cent of the value of the subject of the dispute. Such changes should encourage parties to an agreement to submit disputes for arbitration.

What other changes with respect to appealing against arbitration awards were introduced since the beginning of the new year?

The rule that a party is entitled to an appeal against an arbitration award did not change. Nevertheless, the deadline for filing an appeal has been reduced by one month – currently this must be done within two months. Before 1 January 2016 an appeal was filed with a court which would be competent to settle the case if the parties did not sign an arbitration clause. If the value of the dispute exceeded PLN 75,000, a regional court was competent. In other cases it was the district court. Currently an appeal to set aside an arbitration award should be filed with a court of appeal in whose jurisdiction is the court which would be competent to settle the case if the parties did not sign an arbitration clause, and in the absence of such basis – to the Court of Appeal in Warsaw. What is important, the new rules apply to cases initiated after 1 January 2016.

Ewa Ivanova (DGP)