On 4th February, 2011, Polish Parliament has enacted the act on private international law, which was published in the Official Journal No 80, item 432, and came into force on 16th May, 2011. The new law has replaced the old statute from 1965. It constitutes the “national part” of the conflict of law rules, which are in force in Poland, and is coordinated with the European private international law. The act governs the matters excluded from the scope of the regulations Rome I and Rome II and supplements the Hague convention of 19th October, 1996 on Jurisdiction, Applicable Law, Recognition, Enforcement and Co‑operation in Respect of Parental Responsibility and Measures for the Protection of Children. The new law also implements the conflict of law rule established
in Directive 2008/122/EC of 14th January, 2009. The act of 2011 fills out many of the gaps that existed previously (e.g. it determines the law applicable for the power of attorney, the personal rights and the name) and alters certain of the solutions adopted under the law of 1965. It permits, inter alia, a choice of law for the matrimonial property regimes, the marriage contract and the succession. Moreover, the obligations arising out of the unilateral legal acts have been treated differently than in the law of 1965. As with respect to the formal validity of the legal acts
related to the dispositions of the immovable property or the corporate matters (such as the creation, transformation or liquidation of the legal entity), the new law gives up the rule according to which it was sufficient to satisfy the requirements of the form of the lex loci actus.
Finally, the act establishes a general rule, based on the concept of the closest connection, which apply in the circumstances where the act itself or other provisions of Polish law fail to indicate the governing law.

On May 17, 2010 the Supreme Court of United States ruled on Abbott v. Abbott, 2010 S.Ct 1983 providing its interpretation of 1980 Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction. The Supreme Court resolved conflicting appellate courts opinions on the matter of ‘ne exeat’ clause arguing that ‘ne exeat’ rights are the rights relating to custody of the person of the child within the meaning of Article 5(a) of Hague Convention and if those rights are violated, the child should be returned to his country of habitual residence. The minority opinion contains consideration that ‘ne exeat’ right is only a right of access. Thus, the noncustodial parent cannot demand return remedy. He or she can only seek assistance in carrying out his or her rights to see the child. Having in mind that the Supreme Court’s ruling may strongly influence relevant international case law this Article reviews the facts and holding of Abbott v. Abbott and concludes that Supreme Court decision is inconsistent with the object and purpose of Hague Convention.

The current German private international law provides no specific regulations on the law governing companies. The essential principles in this area were developed by the doctrine and the judicature. According to the basic rule, the law governing companies is determined by reference to the state in which the company has its actual real seat (central administration) (real seat theory). Although, following the case‑law of the Court of Justice of the European Union on the freedom of establishment the law applicable to the immigrating EU‑companies should be determined by reference to the state in which they have been incorporated (founded) (incorporation theory). Thus, the real seat theory (in its modified version) is still applicable to the non EU‑companies. The proposed
draft regulation on private international law of companies, associations and legal entities adopts in general as a basic rule the incorporation theory. The mentioned draft regulation provides provisions on, up till now not explicit regulated issues, among others especially provisions for determination of the scope of the law governing companies. For political reasons only, it is not certain if it comes into force.

The issue of the insolvency impact on arbitration is complicated, because it needs delve to different areas of law namely, the law on international arbitration, international insolvency law and private international law. It makes a number of problems both theoretical and practical, expression of this are court decisions and statements in the literature. Purpose of this study is an attempt to answer on some problems related to issues mentioned above. Paper presents basic principles of international insolvency proceedings, which play a crucial role from the standpoint of the impact of insolvency on the pending arbitration. Considerations carried out in the article have been divided into two groups, the first impact of insolvency commenced in Poland on pending arbitration in other EU Member State and the second impact of insolvency commenced in Poland on pending arbitration in the third country. Therefore in the article has been presented model of the recognition of foreign insolvency proceedings based on Regulation 1346/2000 and also there have been presented European conflict of law rules which indicate the insolvency statute. In article is also discussed application of international insolvency rules by arbitration courts.

On 31 October 2008, the Polish Prime Minister has sent the draft of the new Act on Private International Law to the Parliament. The first debate on the draft (so called “First Reading”) was held on 21 November 2008. All of the parliamentary groups have taken a favourable approach towards the draft. It was then sent to the Justice and Human Rights Commission, which has created an extraordinary subcommittee to further proceed with the work on the draft. After 16 hard‑working and occasionally heated sessions, the subcommittee has finalized its work on 9th August 2010. Relying on the report from the subcommittee, the Justice and Human Rights Commission has adopted the draft on 2 December 2010. During the Second Reading, one of the parliamentary groups has proposed 21 amendments to the draft. In the present article, the author critically discussed these propositions and argues that it was right to reject them. On 18th January 2011, the Justice and Human Rights Commission has decided to reject all of the proposed amendments but for one, which was to be made in article 54a. This amendment read: “A marriage in the understanding of the present act is only a relationship between a man and a woman. The rules of the foreign law relating to partnerships of persons of the same sex shall not be applied.” On 4th February 2011, the Parliament has enacted the Act without any amendments to the draft. There were some propositions for amendments during the deliberation in Senate. Finally however, on 3rd March 2011 the Senate has adopted the Act without any amendments. The Act has entered into force on 16th May 2011.

This document presents the English translation of the Polish Act on Private International Law of 4 February 2011. The Act's primary function is to govern the determination of the applicable law for private law relationships that are connected with more than one state. It establishes nationality as the primary connecting factor for natural persons and the law of the seat for legal persons. The legislation covers a wide array of topics, including obligations, property rights, family law, and succession.

The Hague Convention of 1961 indicates the law applicable for the form of testament in the situation when the testament was made in 1966 and the heir died in 1980 eventhough it happened before the Convention came into force in Poland (the Convention came into force in Poland on 2nd of November 1969). The abovementioned opinion was expressed by the Supreme Court in judgement of 15th of May 2009. The Supreme Court rightly rejected the statement of the participant in legal proceeding which appealed for cassation. The participant stated that the testament that was made in UK and concerned the property which was placed in Poland it can not be valid because it do not fulfil the polish legal requirements (article 948 of polish civil code). The participant stated that the justification for the statement is provided in article 1 of the Hague Convention. In the participant’s opinion the competence of the polish law provided in the article is exclusive. The statement is not right. The possibility provided in article 1 point e of the Hague Convention to fulfil the requirements concerning the form of the testament when the inheritance includes the property is additional. Also in that situation it is sufficient to fulfil the requirements of one of the legal system defined in article 1 point a, b, c, d. The phrase testamentary disposition that determines the scope of the application of the Convention includes also codicil.

Commentary refers to the judgment of the Court of Justice EU relating to the interpretation of Council Regulation (EC) No 1206/2001 of 28 May 2001 on cooperation between the courts of the Member States in the taking of evidence in civil or commercial matters. This paper especially aims at interpretation Art 14 and Art 18 Regulation concern reimbursement of taxes and costs for the execution of the request performance of the taking of evidence. The need to discuss these problems results from the fact that the most often kind of requests concern the examination of witnesses. The aim of the Regulation No 1206/2001 is to make the taking evidence in a cross — border context: simple, effective and rapid.