On 21 August 2025, the President signed an act amending the Polish Code of Civil Procedure. The amendments concern, in particular, electronic service of documents, mediation, and are aimed at simplifying proceedings. The first amendments entered into force within 14 days of their announcement, i.e. on 10 September 2025, while the next ones will enter into force on 1 March 2026, 1 June 2026, and 1 March 2027, respectively. Furthermore, the adoption of a draft of further amendments by the Council of Ministers is planned for the fourth quarter of 2025, many of which are to concern, among other things, proceedings regarding interim injunction in intellectual property cases.

1. Changes from 10 September 2025.

a) Return of a pleading due to formal deficiencies

The legislator decided to repeal Article 130(1a) of the Code of Civil Procedure, which stipulated that the court may return a pleading filed by a professional representative in the event of formal deficiencies. An order to return a pleading necessitated its resubmission, often together with all annexes. This was particularly problematic in intellectual property cases, where it is often necessary to prove reputation, which involves hundreds and sometimes thousands of pages of annexes. Although it would seem sufficient to submit the document itself with the deficiency remedied, especially since the annexes are already in the case file, nevertheless, as a procedural precaution, it was often necessary to resubmit the printed evidence.

It is therefore necessary to agree with the justification of the authors of the amendment that the provision led to excessive procedural formalism and, moreover, was used in a way that limited the effective legal protection of the parties to the proceedings and did not contribute to shortening the time needed to hear cases.

b) Mediation

Prior to 10 September 2025, mediation was not conducted if a party did not consent to it after a decision to refer the parties to mediation had been issued. After the amendments come into force, failure to express a position within one week of the decision being issued will not be treated as an objection to mediation, but as implied consent (Article 183(8) § 2 of the Code of Civil Procedure).

The amendment also introduced the possibility of affixing a minutes or settlement agreement in electronic form with a qualified electronic signature (Article 183(12) § 2(2) of the Code of Civil Procedure). The change is therefore of key importance for remote mediation, where the parties and the mediator do not meet physically. A similar change also applies to settlements during remote court hearings (Article 223 § 1 of the Code of Civil Procedure).

2. Changes from 1 March 2026

a) Possibility to submit pleadings via the electronic information portal

The changes coming into force on 1 March 2026 will enable professional representatives to submit pleadings such as appeals, complaints, requests for justification and applications to participate in cases via the electronic information portal. Furthermore, if a specific provision requires a pleading to be submitted via the portal, a pleading submitted in any other way will have no legal effect.

If, on the day on which the deadline for submitting a pleading expires, there are restrictions on the availability of the information portal attributable to the court, it will be possible to submit the pleading no later than on the next day after the portal becomes available again, provided that this day is not a public holiday. However, it will be necessary to substantiate the circumstances of the restrictions on accessibility in the pleading.

If, due to its nature, an annex to a pleading cannot be effectively submitted together with the pleading via the portal, it will be necessary to submit such an annex directly to the court, substantiating this circumstance, within 3 days of the date of submission of the pleading.

b) Powers of attorney

The amendment also concerns the form of power of attorney. The amendment confirms the possibility of submitting powers of attorney in electronic form bearing a qualified electronic signature, a ‘trusted signature’ or a personal signature. Importantly, the amendment is to apply not only to cases where a power of attorney is attached to a pleading submitted via an electronic system. It will be necessary to attach the power of attorney in a manner that allows for verification of the electronic signature submitted by the mandator.

c) Declaration of delivery of the pleading

Currently, a pleading submitted in the course of proceedings by a professional representative must include a statement confirming that a copy has been delivered to the other party. Failure to do so will result in the pleading being returned. However, the authors of the amendment rightly noted that the regulation was too formalistic and the sanction of return disproportionate. Article 132 § 1 of the Code of Civil Procedure has therefore been amended so that, in case of doubt, the court may, ex officio or upon request, demand proof of delivery of the copy.

3. Changes from 1 June 2026

The list of entities to which the court will be required to deliver correspondence via the electronic information portal will be expanded to include court bailiffs and permanent mediators. The obligation of courts will also be extended to the delivery of copies of pleadings or other documents not originating from the court, which the court has in electronic form via the portal. However, this applies to pleadings submitted via the portal but not subject to the obligation of mutual exchange of correspondence between representatives.

4. Changes from 1 March 2027

As indicated above, from 1 March 2026, it will be possible to submit certain pleadings via the information portal. A year later, however, this option will become an obligation for professional representatives. Professional representatives will be required to submit pleadings specified in detail in Article 125(1) § 2 of the Code of Civil Procedure, such as appeals or complaints, exclusively via the information portal.

5. Plan of proposed amendments by the Council of Ministers

The above-mentioned upcoming changes in regulations are only minor amendments compared to the government’s draft amendment to the Code of Civil Procedure (No. UD261), which is scheduled to be adopted by the Council of Ministers in the fourth quarter of 2025. The planned changes are intended to remove various flawed solutions introduced by the 2019 amendment. Among other things, it is indicated that the draft is intended to eliminate numerous interpretative doubts causing difficulties in their practical application, including changing some of the provisions concerning proceedings regarding interim injunction in intellectual property cases. The draft’s assumptions include a plan to remove the provision requiring a motion for an interim injunction to be filed within six months of becoming aware of the infringement.

Description of the government’s draft amendments to the Civil Procedure Code: https://www.gov.pl/web/premier/projekt-ustawy-o-zmianie-ustawy–kodeks-postepowania-cywilnego-oraz-niektorych-innych-ustaw14