Journal of Business Law 09/2021

During the last decade, a number of EU legal regulations have been adopted in different areas to make the EU space more accessible for persons with disabilities and older persons. European accessibility standards and funding opportunities have been put into place to support their implementation in the environment built and in the information and communication technologies (ICT) and disseminate the Design for All approach. The primary rationale for these steps involves the goals of social cohesion and inclusion, often overshadowing the market arguments relevant to business stakeholders. Their fullest (so far) combination has been adopted in the European Accessibility Act. The analysis, from a Poland's perspective as a Member State, presents how important it is to involve business entities in the processes of planning, creating, implementing and evaluating the transposing legal provisions and tools for increasing the level of accessibility of space, product and service.

The amendment to the Polish Civil Code made in 2018 introduced a new regulation on limitations of claims against consumers. The aim was to strengthen the legal position of the consumer debtor. According to the new Article 117 § 2¹ of the Civil Code, after the expiry of the limitation period, satisfaction of such claims cannot be demanded and the lapse of the period is taken into account by the court ex officio. This effect is therefore independent of the will of the consumer debtor. The author of the article argues that the new regulation is flawed, and that the concept of consumer protection has been used to achieve goals that are incompatible with the objectives of such protection. The role of the state is to assist the consumer in recognising and assessing his legal position, not to replace him in that role.

The contemporary challenges facing the public sector, both at national and EU level, cover several aspects. In the long term, these challenges relate primarily to issues of technological and environmental transformation. Both at the EU and national level, increased efforts are being made to develop strategies that will enable the development of the economy to adapt as fully as possible to the challenges of the present day. The new European Commission's strategy implies two pillars of the economic transformation: environmental and digital transformation. Digital transformation includes activities focused on the use of modern technologies based on the 4th Industrial Revolution, Internet of Things, 5G network, Blockchain and the concept of Smart City. Public procurement will play an important role in the implementation of modern solutions. They have the potential to implement digital transformation due to the number of entities obliged to apply adequate legal regulations and the amount of funds annually spent under public procurement procedures. The new Polish Public Procurement Law contains solutions that make it possible to meet current technological challenges. In order to achieve this goal, it is necessary to base the public procurement model on four pillars, i.e.: (1) basing the actions of public procurers on the principle of efficiency, (2) increasing communication between procurers and contractors, (3) increasing competition on the domestic public procurement market, and (4) increasing the use of technological solutions within the procedure of granting and implementing public procurement. The indicated solutions, if used comprehensively in practice, will enable the development of the public sector, both in terms of services provided and infrastructure.

The main aim of this article is an attempt to identify and organize the categories of technical devices subject to real estate tax. It is a complex and interdisciplinary subject. This is due to the fact that the provisions of the tax law refer to the regulations of the construction law when defining the term "building". As a result, many doubts arise with the classification of given things as potential objects of taxation. In order to solve numerous problems arising at the stage of applying the provisions of the Act on Local Taxes and Fees, it seems necessary to amend this part of the tax law.

The epidemic is a challenge to the justice. The court proceedings' conducting must take into account the principles of epidemiological safety. However, this must not lead to a violation of the rights of parties to court proceedings. Instruments enabling safe conduct of court cases are contained in the Code of Civil Procedure and in the Act of 2 March 2020. The aim of the article is to systematize and discuss the key regulations and institutions that allow for ensuring the proper administration of justice in the current difficult period with the use of the above-mentioned provisions. These solutions are not perfect, they need to be refined and adapted to the current needs and problems arising in the course of court proceedings. They require appropriate technical facilities both on the part of the courts and the parties, as well as skills and willingness to use them.

The railway transport in Poland can be carried out in two forms. Firstly as a public service, secondly commercially. The purpose of this article is to present the issue of open access, which gives the possibility of carrying out commercial rail transport on the basis of a decision issued by the President of the Office of Rail Transport. Currently, it can be a decision to grant open access and, more recently, a decision to grant limited open access. The article presents both constructions, with particular emphasis on new solutions introduced into the act on rail transport. These changes are the effect of adjusting Polish law to EU regulations. Their introduction can make it easier for carriers to start commercial operations. The article discusses the rules and the procedure for issuing decisions, as well as issues related to the appeal procedure, especially in the context of recent changes connected with the change of the civil procedure into administrative one. All solutions presented in the article have one goal. It is an improvement in the quality of services rendered in rail transport, also by increasing competitiveness in the rail transport segment.

The purpose of the article is to analyse the Act of 28 November 2020 amending the Personal Income Tax Act, the Corporate Income Tax Act, the Act on flatrate income tax on certain income received by natural persons and certain other acts, which results in limited partnerships obtaining the status of corporate income tax payer. The article describes in detail the rules of the taxation of limited partnerships with corporate tax and exceptions to this rule. Furthermore, since that law completely alters the tax situation of an enterprises operated in the form of limited partnerships, and in particular the so-called LLC LPs the merits of its adoption have been assessed and the effects of its entry into force have been determined from the perspective of the members of such companies. Moreover, the article argues that it is presently no longer possible to create a structure of an enterprises which combines the characteristics of an existing limited partnership of which a limited liability company was a general partner, forcing partners to consider changes in the structure of an enterprises previously operated in the form of limited partnerships, the general partners of which are limited liability companies. Accordingly, the article attempts to identify alternatives to the so-called LLC LPs, forms of establishment, together with a description of how they have been transformed.

The commentary concerns an interesting issue whether, based on the principle of freedom of contract (Article 3531 of the Civil Code), the provisions on „quasi-contractual penalties” consisting in the obligation to pay a specified amount to the creditor in the event of withdrawal from the contract due to the debtor's delay in performing of monetary obligation, should be considered valid. This is an important problem for practice, as this kind of „penalties” under various names are often used. The view of the Supreme Court that denies the admissibility (validity) of such provisions deserves approval and the commentary presents a number of further legal arguments strengthening this position.