Courts on trial as Europe approaches
Getting a property entered into land registry books (księga wieczysta) in Poland is not easy - in Warsaw it can easily take up to a year. By contrast, in countries of the European Union the same procedure takes hours.
This is just one aspect of the Polish legal system that could be facing a shake-up as accession to the European Union approaches. It is not simply a question of streamlining the administrative machinery of Polish law and stripping away bureaucracy.
Far greater is the massive challenge of ensuring compliance with the tidal wave of European Union laws - in the form of regulations and directives adopted in Brussels - which will strike Poland the moment the country becomes a full member of the EU.
Although lawyers perceive the health of the Polish legal system as satisfactory, its judicial mechanisms are dismissed as excessively slow and antiquated. There is virtually no computerization and files are routinely lost. Cases can take years plodding through the courts. The question is whether the Polish judicial system is ready to square with accession to Europe.
"The mechanisms behind state institutions in Poland haven't changed at all during the last 10 years," said Cezary Winiewski, a partner at Linklaters law firm in Warsaw.
Winiewski's view is confirmed by a general consensus among lawyers that the judicial system in Poland lacks efficient administration that could speed up some of the legal procedures including relatively minor ones, such as injunctions or land registry matters.
Przemysław Kamil Rosiak, a senior associate at law firm KLegal E.Stobnicka, D.Dobkowski Spółka komandytowa, said that judges in Poland's smaller local courts may have additional problems accessing EU documents and cases because of a further lack of information technology at this level.
"In fact, I would imagine that very few judges could understand the system of European Union law, and my expectation is that judges will learn from advocates working on cases," Rosiak said. "It will be my task to present to a judge as much information as possible and as many documents as possible to allow him or her to know this system and to know the cases."
Lech Giliciński, a partner in charge of banking, finance and IT practices at Weil, Gotshal & Manges law firm, also agreed that "at the very, very local level, this awareness may be even worse." He said that although the government has been upgrading some laws so that they approximate European law, "a lot more needs to be done" to prepare Poland's judicial system.
Giliciński is concerned that this will become acutely obvious in the period immediately following Poland's accession to the EU, when "the quality of justice and of law enforcement
may deteriorate for a while."
Rosiak said the blame for Poland's lack of preparedness rests on the shoulders of both the government - which dragged its heels on the issue - and an unwillingness on behalf of the judiciary. He added, however, that some courts are already applying EU law in judgements, such as the Supreme Administrative Court, the Anti-Monopoly Court, and the Supreme Court, which referred to a judgement from the European Court of Justice.
"So it is starting, and I think we still have some time and that this will be a good example for our courts," Rosiak said.
Relaxed
Meanwhile, officials at the Justice Ministry are relaxed, insisting that all will change for the better as the judicial system gears up for the EU with training programs for judges and court employees. With the first programs starting as far back as 1995, ministry representatives are confident that Poland's accession to the EU will be smooth sailing for its judicial branch.
According to ministry plans, many minor tasks that currently frustrate judges will be shifted to other court officials. At the same time, the ministry plans to increase the number of sšdy grodzkie courts which deal with minor legal problems, in order to address what they agree is a chaotic situation in local and district courts.
Justice Ministry representatives insisted that during the last two years they have trained more than 80 judges to serve as national contacts between the Polish judiciary system and the EU. They also spoke of preparing basic and specialized courses, which were announced in district courts all over the country and proved popular. According to the Ministry, there is a "high level of interest" among judges and prosecutors in the training sessions, specialized courses and National Contact Point courses.
The puzzle is that influential sources in the legal profession seem to know little, if anything, about these preparations. The National Judicial Council, a body responsible for supervision of the judiciary branch in Poland, does not share the enthusiasm of civil servants at the Ministry of Justice about the training programs - to the point of doubting whether they actually exist.
"We have not been informed of any training sessions in Poland or the EU countries," said judge and National Judicial Council spokesman Marek Celej.
Sightseeing
According to Celej, any trips to EU institutions that may have taken place up untill now have been "more of the sightseeing category than educational in nature." Celej said he fears that judges have limited access to materials regarding EU laws and regulations. He is also concerned that the need to adjust the Polish judicial system through the publication of materials and increased computerization may not be taken into consideration by the Parliament in the annual budget.
"As a matter of fact at the moment the awareness of EU laws and regulations with Polish judges is close to none," Celej said. "Without professional materials and information it will be difficult to implement any changes in the system," he said.
Justice Ministry representatives declined to make a comment on the Judicial Council's observations.
By Maria Kowalewska and Celia Barnes
