Instytut Nauk Prawnych

The paper discusses the issue of national preventive mechanisms established by states in the performance of duties imposed by the Optional Protocol to the Convention against Torture and other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment, adopted by the United Nations. The purpose of the study is to present specific challenges related to the establishment and functioning of institutions responsible for monitoring places of detention at the national level. These challenges stem from the unique nature of the two-pillar system of prevention established by the OPCAT, and the dualism of national preventive mechanisms, which are rooted in both international and domestic law. The author’s research is based on an analysis of four significant aspects: the wide margin of appreciation granted to states in establishing national preventive mechanisms, the obligation to guarantee the independence of mechanisms, granting access to all places of detention, and cooperation with the Subcommittee on Prevention. The study includes examples of established national preventive mechanisms and an analysis of the first general comment to OPCAT, adopted in 2024.

The subject of the research is the issues of legal regulation of the bioeconomy in terms of ensuring safety. An analysis of scientific research by domestic and foreign scholars allowed for the identification of the relationship between the issues of bioeconomy and safety. It is noted that the concept of bioeconomy is often used in conjunction with the concepts of biosecurity, biotechnology, and innovation. The analysis of legal regulation of the bioeconomy confirmed the interdisciplinary nature of such regulation, its subordinate and simultaneously cross-cutting nature, and the presence of strategic planning acts in the area of socio-economic development. Special attention is drawn to the distinction in the structure of security provided in the context of bioeconomy development, such as business security, consumer security, and the security of authors and other rights holders. All these types of security can be included in the content of national security. In working on the research topic, methods of system analysis, systematization and classification, formal-legal, comparative-legal, and problem-oriented methods were employed. The main conclusions of the conducted research are the provisions that the study of bioeconomy development issues is mostly related to the development of biosecurity and other types of security. Biosecurity can be considered as an integral part of national security. In science, two approaches to understanding biosecurity can be distinguished. Within the narrow approach, biosecurity is limited exclusively to technological aspects, while the broader approach implies understanding biosecurity as an essential condition for the development of the bioeconomy and the preservation of life on Earth. Legal regulation of the bioeconomy and biosecurity is characterized by an interdisciplinary, multi-level, and cross-cutting nature. The novelty of the research lies in the conclusions that in the legal regulation of the bioeconomy, it is necessary to take into account not only sufficiently traditional aspects of security (biosecurity, etc.) but also aspects of the security of entrepreneurial activity, producers, consumers, authors, and other rights holders. The development of the bioeconomy, considering safety requirements, serves as the foundation of the economy of the future, a universal condition and principle of sustainable socio-economic development of the state under modern conditions, and a guarantee of its technological independence.

The study discusses the case law of the Supreme Administrative Court concerning the limitation of a taxpayer’s right to correct a tax return, regulated by Article 81b 1 of the Tax Ordinance Act. Among the rulings cited, particular attention was paid to the judgment of 11 January 2022, ref. no. I FSK 1320/21, in which the Supreme Administrative Court departed from the linguistic meaning of the above-mentioned provision, narrowing the meaning of the term ‘tax proceedings’ used in its wording.This example illustrates the low quality of tax law resulting from deficiencies in the determination of key concepts in tax law, even in the case of provisions that do not have significant deficiencies from the point of view of legislative technique, such as Article 81b 1 of the Tax Ordinance. The concept of ‘conceptual ambiguity’ was proposed to characterise the phenomenon described. The conclusions indicate possible remedies that could counteract future problems in the application of this provision.

Successive amendments to the Polish Code of Criminal Procedure have strengthened the position of the prosecutor at the judicial stage of criminal proceedings, favoring them not only over the accused, but also, in some situations, over the court. This article focuses on the institution of prosecutorial objections, analysing it from various perspectives, including that of constitutional guarantees regarding the deprivation of an individual’s liberty based on a court decision. The article presents arguments for refusing to apply provisions for prosecutorial objections in specific cases, and points out the need to reduce the prosecutorial role during court proceedings to that of a party of it, rather than a guardian of the law.

On 2 May 2024, the European Court of Human Rights issued a judgment in the significant case of J. Paul Getty Trust and Others v. Italy. The application concerned a confiscation order issued in respect of the antique Greek bronze statue known as the Victorious Youth. The current possessor – the J. Paul Getty Trust – requested that the confiscation order issued by the Italian courts be deemed incompatible with Article 1 of Protocol No. 1 to the Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms, which provides for the protection of property. The Government of Italy submitted that the statue formed part of Italian cultural heritage and had been unlawfully exported from the Italian territory. The ECtHR held that the alleged violation had not taken place and the Italian authorities’ actions had remained within the margin of appreciation enjoyed by the States Parties, but had been aimed at pursuing other values – than property – enshrined in the Convention.

W artykule przedstawiono wrażliwość elementówkonstrukcyjnych budynku na oddziaływanie o charakterze wyjątkowym.Podjęto się analizy awarii budynku mieszkalnego po uderzeniusamochodem ciężarowym. W obliczeniach uwzględnionoróżne symulacje obciążeń ze względu na prędkość poruszającegosię pojazdu. Celem przeprowadzonych badań i analiz byłowskazanie uszkodzeń konstrukcji nośnej obiektu wynikającychz oddziaływań wyjątkowych. Wnioski wynikające ze skutków katastrofywskazują na konieczność uwzględniania zdarzeń wyjątkowychoddziaływania pojazdów na konstrukcje budynków lubteż wyznaczenia stref bezpiecznych w obrębie dróg.

The concept of an enterprise is one of the key notions in private law. Its definition in Polish legal scholarship has undergone a visible evolution under the influence of various European legal traditions. However, in the face of digital transformation, the definition of an enterprise currently set out in Article 551 of the Polish Civil Code appears inadequate to the challenges of modern commerce. This article addresses the problem of defining an enterprise, considering digital transformation as a factor in this discussion, and examines the enterprise in both static and dynamic terms (as an object of trade). It is argued that reputation, or clientele, should gain greater importance as an element of an enterprise understood as an organised set of components. These elements may acquire distinct significance in commercial practice, thereby contributing to a structural and legal decomposition of an enterprise, which may prove of practical value.

In the history of Polish after the political transformation, the state of epidemic was introduced only once, in connection with the fight against the global pandemic of the SARS-CoV-2 virus called COVID-19. Similar steps were taken by most countries at the same time, although the names of the states being introduced to combat the pandemic differed in terms of nomenclature in individual countries. The state of epidemic is accompanied by the implementation of legal regulations of various nature, including those restricting civil rights and freedoms. The application of the law in connection with the state of epidemic – as the experience in Poland and around the world has shown – raises many doubts in the assessments of lawyers and courts. Due to this fact, as well as the experience gained during the state of epidemic in force in Poland, it is necessary to look at the legal conditions accompanying this state, as well as by analyzing the applicable legal regulations and their compliance with the Constitution of the Republic of Poland. Such a study will allow you to deepen your legal knowledge and better understand the rules and procedure in the event of an epidemic. It cannot be ruled out that similar situations of such a large scale may occur again in the future.

The partially critical gloss addresses the issue of access to public information. In the ruling under review, the Voivodeship Administrative Court (WSA) stated that a recording of an intervention made by a police officer using a body-worn camera constitutes public information. When denying a citizen access to this information, the authority should issue a formal decision. While generally agreeing with this ruling, the author highlights circumstances that justified the refusal of access in this particular case. Supporting the proposal to amend the Public Information Access Act to prevent the abuse of the right to public information (already at the stage of request consideration), the author suggests a broad revision of the act. As part of these legislative efforts, provisions should be introduced to explicitly restrict access to certain categories of public information. As an example, the author presents solutions from U.S. law that limit access to public information.

Celem filaru II OECD było ustanowienie globalnego minimalnego podatku dla dużych międzynarodowych korporacji, ale najbardziej trwały skutek prawdopodobnie wywoła rola, jaką odegrał on w zapoczątkowaniu niekończącego się okresu sprawowania maksymalnych rządów, którym towarzyszy coraz bardziej złożony i fragmentaryczny ponad- narodowy porządek podatkowy, a którego wymienione cechy tylko się nasilają w wyniku niedawnych zmian politycznych w Stanach Zjednoczonych. Ponieważ kraje spoza OECD starają się rozszerzyć zakres swoich wpływów na globalne stosunki podatkowe za pośrednictwem ONZ, kontynuując przy tym współpracę z OECD, namnażanie się komitetów, zgromadzeń oraz forów negocjacyjnych i współpracy pomiędzy organizacjami rządowymi i pozarządowymi dodatkowo komplikuje i tak już złożony proces kształtowania globalnej polityki podatkowej. Polityka handlowa „America First” [Ameryka na pierwszym miejscu] administracji Trumpa i przyjęte w ramach tej polityki stanowisko w sprawie współpracy międzynarodowej jeszcze bardziej skomplikowały tę dynamikę, uwypuklając wyzwania związane z osiągnięciem spójnych globalnych ram podatkowych. Nie sposób przewidzieć, czy ten kolejny okres globalnych stosunków podatkowych doprowadzi ostatecznie do wypracowania lepszej, bardziej sprawiedliwej polityki. Jasne jest, że poza wszelkimi istotnymi reformami polityki, jakie filar II może przynieść, stanowi on część cyklu tworzenia instytucji, który zrodził się z powszechnego niezadowolenia z poprzednich modeli sprawowania rządów, co skłania do stawiania ważnych pytań dotyczących przyszłości międzynarodowych stosunków podatkowych i wartości decentralizacji zależnej od większych nakładów zasobów.