Commission Report (2002): Poland

The judicial system

Implementation of the reforms begun in 2000 continued in the reporting period. In terms of legislative progress, an amendment to the Act on the National Court Register was adopted in December 2001. This has simplified the procedure for making entries in the register. It is hoped that the procedure will now be quicker and, by taking up less time, will be one further step towards reducing delays in court procedures.

As mentioned in the 2001 Regular Report, in October 2001 the Act on the Constitution of Common Courts entered into force, introducing inter alia a further reorganisation of the judiciary, establishing the position of judge's assistant, reorganising the inspection of the judicial services and facilitating the assignment of Polish judges to international organisations.

At administrative level further steps have been taken towards completing the reform of the judicial map. In addition secondary legislation implementing the Act on the Constitution of Common Courts has replaced the previous structure and functions of the various levels of court in Poland. Presently there are 296 district courts, 41 regional courts, 10 courts of appeal and the Supreme Court. Reforms were implemented within the structure of district courts, with the establishment of 40 labour and social security courts and the introduction of a new layer of courts ­ borough courts to deal with misdemeanour cases. By the end of 2001, the number of borough courts reached 314 compared to the target of 346.

The Public Prosecutor's Office has a similar organisational pattern to that of the court system: there are 323 public prosecutor's offices at district level and 41 at regional level. Ten public prosecutor's offices operate at appeal court level.

In April 2002, the position of ``court director'' was introduced. Court directors will assume the function of managing the court's financial matters and property in the courts of appeal and the regional courts. By September, ten directors had been appointed in the courts of appeal and thirty in regional courts.

At the end of 2001 the number of judges in common courts stood at 8 768, a significant further increase compared to 2000 (8 335), and the number of prosecutors at 5 293, representing a slight decrease compared to the previous year. The number of senior court clerks (Referendarz) remained more or less stable at around 600; they are mainly employed in court record offices. 585 clerks also currently work in record offices; an increase of 85 new posts is planned for 2002. The recruitment of more administrative staff to support judges has continued and the number now stands at 20 407. Measures are planned to further increase the numbers of both judges and the necessary administrative support staff.

The reorganisation of the judiciary and the acceleration of proceedings in criminal and civil courts has had an impact on the average duration of court proceedings which have seen some further reductions. According to figures provided by the Polish Ministry of Justice, in district courts the average length of proceedings for criminal cases has fallen from 5.8 in 2000 to 5.4 months in 2001 while the duration of criminal proceedings in regional courts was shortened from 6.5 months in 2000 to 6.1 months in 2001. There has not been a similar reduction in terms of civil cases: in district courts the average length of duration of civil cases has increased by one month to 5.3 months and in regional courts it remains unchanged. The average length of court proceedings in Warsaw has remained considerably longer than average for the rest of Poland. In Warsaw it stands at 40 months.

The system for executing court decisions has also been reformed with the change in the status of bailiffs and some procedural reforms. Currently around 583 bailiffs enforce between 1 and 1.2 million court decisions a year. The average time between the court decision and its execution in civil cases rose slightly in 2001 to 12.7 months at the end of the year compared to 12.3 months in 2000.

Implementation of the 1999 computerisation strategy has continued both in the courts, where in mid-2002 there were around 8 700 computers, and in the public prosecutors' offices, where there were around 2 100. Although the situation is better in the courts than in the prosecutors' offices, the needs of both remain considerable. Work is ongoing to further meet these needs by continuing and stepping up efforts to further computerise the judicial service.

Poland is improving procedures for recruiting, assessing and promoting judges, to make these more harmonised and transparent. However, work remains to be done, especially with regard to the procedures for admittance to apprenticeships. Moreover, procedures for assessing judges' professional performance remain unclear and inefficient.

With regard to training, initial and continuous training is planned at central and regional level but, due to budget constraints facing the Ministry and the courts, has mainly been supported by external donors. At present, 36 training centres continue to operate at regional level (23 for judges and 13 for prosecutors). In addition to the burden which 36 centres place on the budget, it is difficult to ensure uniform quality and content of the training which judges undergo. One of the elements which need to be urgently addressed is the establishment of a uniform national training curriculum for judges, another being the establishment of a national training centre. Training focused on EC law is provided, mainly financed by third countries in the context of assistance programmes. The same applies for the training of Ministry of Justice staff in the area of international legal assistance.

The 2001 Regular Report drew attention to the issue of judicial independence. The entry into force of the Act on Common Courts in Poland means that the courts of appeal, and not the disciplinary tribunals which exist within each judicial district, are now responsible for lifting the immunity of judges. There has been an increase in the transparency of judicial disciplinary processes. The act stipulates that proceedings before the disciplinary courts are now public although criminal proceedings are not made public and the deliberations in a court of appeal on lifting the immunity of a judge are held in closed session.

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