Problemy Prawa Prywatnego Międzynarodowego t. 28 (2021)

The paper answers one of fundamental questions for the Polish private international law (narrowly understood): is the principle of equal treatment all legal systems in this law illusion or reality? Achievement of the intended goal needed investigation of following issues, which related to this principle: genesis and theoretical basis, content and indications, deviations, domestic legislative tendency and views in domestic doctrine. Considerations included in the paper confirmed the existence of the principle of equal treatment all legal systems in the Polish private international law. However the realization of this principle is not fully satisfied and needs certain improvements.

The main purpose of this study is to determine which conflict of law rules constitute the basis for the search for the law applicable to private-law compensation claims provided for in Article 82 of the GDPR, and whether it is possible to apply the Rome II Regulation on the law applicable to non-contractual obligations in this regard. The authors first set out the main features of the claim, with particular emphasis on those areas where discrepancies may arise at the level of national law. They then qualify the claim as a tortious one, which leads them to pose a question about the applicability of the Rome II Regulation in this case. Special attention is given to the relationship between privacy and personal data protection. The authors argue that these two spheres have become gradually separated from each other and finally, under GDPR, claims for damages for a breach of personal data protection being independent of claims for an infringement of personal rights. Consequently, they assume that the law applicable to a claim under Article 82 of the GDPR should be indicated on the basis of the Rome II Regulation, despite the doubts arising from the exclusion provided for in Article 1.2.g Rome II. If approach is accepted, it will have significant consequences for the harmonisation of the application of the GDPR in the EU Member States, and for achieving the harmonisation of decisions at the level of national law.

The contribution focuses on the lost profits according to the CISG Convention (United Nations Convention on Contracts for the International Sale of Goods). The notion of lost profits and its extent according to Art. 74 CISG are presented. Moreover, aspects of calculation of lost profits, as well as limitations of the compensation for the lost profits are discussed. The author compares the notion of lost profits under CISG with the notion of lost profits under Polish private law. The author expresses his standpoint according to which the notion of lost profits under Polish law and under the CISG is quite similar, but by no means identical. The extent of the lost profits in two cases is different, as well as manners of its calculation. Therefore, caution is needed to avoid homeward trend and invoking Polish scholarship and jurisprudence as a guideline for solving the issues connected with interpretation of lost profits according to the CISG should be avoided.

The real seat is a recognised, although expressed in different terms, connecting factor of the EU international private law, relating to companies in they different legal relations. Under the regulations unifying particular areas of this law, relevant form the point of view of cross-border operations of companies, the real seat is the connecting factor determining the applicable law in the field of contractual and non-contractual obligations, and the company’s bankruptcy. Furthermore, it deretmines the jurusdiction for insolvency proceedings against the company, and i salso a jurisdictional connecting factor for general civil and commercial matters. The real seat connecting factor may also constitute a connecting factor determining the law applicable to company, accectable under the EU freedom of establishement.

The article concerns the problem of birth certificates of children of same sex couples, which have been transcribed into the Polish register of civil status. Although such transcriptions, after the resolution of the Supreme Administrative Court of 2.12.2019, seem not to be allowed, a significant number of foreign certificates had already been transcribed beforehand. The author argues that there are limited grounds to eliminate such acts from the Polish register. Especially in cases, in which the transcribed birth act — generated in Poland — names the woman who gave birth to the child (which woman is always considered to be the mother according to Polish law), such acts can properly fulfill their role by proving the fact of the child’s birth and by explaining the motherhood. The fact that the other parent (of the same sex) is not mentioned at all or is mentioned only in an annotation to a birth act can be well reconciled with the rules of the Polish law.

This article is an overview of the recent Polish case law on the application of the ordre public exeption in case of transcription of foreign birth certificates in Poland. In recent times, the ordre public exception was applied to prevent the transcription of birth certificates that indicate same-sex couples as parents of a child and birth certificates of children born by surrogacy. Simultaneously, it was commonly assumed that the transcription is obligatory in order to obtain Polish identity documents. For that reason, the refusal of transcription meant in fact i.a. the inability to obtain Polish identity documents. It caused not only practical complications in everyday life but it was also a serious breach of rights.
This article outlines the evolution of the transcription case law in Poland. Initially, the administrative authorities and the courts had been refusing the transcription due to its inconsistency with fundamental principles of the legal order. Subsequently, however, transcription was found admissible on the basis of the principle of the best interests of the child. Due to the divergence in the case law, the issue of transcription was the subject of the resolution of seven judges of the Supreme Administrative Court of 2 December 2019 (ref. no. II OPS 1/19). The resolution states that the transcription is contrary to the fundamental principles of the legal order. However, the resolution also underlines that the fact that a child is a Polish citizen may be confirmed solely by a foreign birth certificate so there is no need for transcription in order to obtain Polish identity documents.

The present article, on the basis of the high-profile Chevron case, rethinks the principle of corporate veil within a corporate group. It tries to convince the reader that a plaintiff holding an environmental damages judgement should be able to enforce it against any company in the corporate group of defendant regardless of the fact that such company was not a defendant in the underlying action (the new test). To attain this goal, firstly, the basic notions as an “environmental damages judgement,” a “corporate group,” and “the corporate veil” are explained. The article then elaborates on the importance of the corporate veil principle. Furthermore, it describes what would currently constitute a potential ground for piercing of the corporate veil in Canada. Later on, it provides a three-level justification for why the veil, in the described circumstances, should be pierced. Finally, the new test regarding piercing the corporate veil is proposed.