November 28, 2023 marks twenty years since the entry into force of the Act of October 28, 2002 on the liability of collective entities for acts prohibited under penalty. This anniversary is a good opportunity to assess the functioning of this Act in the Polish legal system over the past 20 years, based on available statistical data. The starting point for the considerations is the thesis that this Act has no practical significance and is only a facade instrument. The analysis carried out in the article confirms this thesis – the 2002 Act is not de facto applied. Therefore, the article proposes changing the appropriate legal solutions, indicating the direction of the desired modifications.

On the need to really criminalize corruption in the private sector The article refers to the criminalization of corruptive behaviours in the private sector. It contains a thesis that Art. 296a of the Penal Code does not fulfil the requirements set forth in the international and EU law, as it constitutes an offence of economic corruption, covering corruptive behaviours undertaken both in the private and the public sectors. The aim of the article is to critically analyse the current wording of Art. 296a PC in the light of the international and EU law, as well as to formulate a de lege ferenda proposition of a new wording of this provision, which would finally penalize all corruptive behaviours in the private sector and at the same time put the Polish law in compliance with the international standards.