Enforcement of payment (monetary) claims

This time, NGL Legal’s Dispute Resolution Team outlines how to obtain the sought payment through the enforcement means available in the enforcement proceedings.

Enforcement order

The basis for enforcement proceedings is an enforcement order.

This is usually a court ruling to which the court has attached an enforcement clause. The most common scenario for the enforced recovery of debts is when the client’s claims are awarded in a court judgment rendered in the court proceedings previously conducted in Poland. In such cases – once the enforcement clause has been obtained – the judgment is subject to compulsory enforcement in enforcement proceedings.

A settlement agreement reached before a court in Poland is enforceable once it has been granted an enforcement order; a settlement agreement reached before a mediator is enforceable by way of enforcement proceedings once it has been approved by the court, which occurs upon the granting of an enforcement order.

In slightly more complex proceedings, a declaration of enforceability
is granted to arbitration awards and judgments of foreign courts rendered outside the European Union (similar rules apply to settlement agreements reached before such courts); once this has been done, such awards are subject to compulsory enforcement in enforcement proceedings. Judgments of courts from European Union countries other than Poland (and settlement agreements reached before such courts) are generally enforceable without the need for enforcement proceedings, provided they are enforceable in the country of origin.

Sometimes the client’s interests are secured by a declaration of voluntary submission to enforcement, which is drawn up in the form of a notarial deed. In such cases, this document – following the granting of an enforcement order – may be subject to compulsory enforcement in enforcement proceedings without prior court proceedings.

Sposoby egzekucji płatności (należności pieniężnych)

Application to initiate enforcement

Enforcement proceedings are predominantly conducted by a court enforcement officer (a debt collector who is a professional lawyer and an officer of the court), to whom an application to initiate enforcement is submitted. There is no fee for such an application. As a general rule, the creditor has the right to choose a debt collector within the jurisdiction of the debtor’s court of appeal. However, if the debt collector operates outside the jurisdiction of the debtor’s district court, the creditor must explicitly state in the application that they are making such a choice. In matters relating to immovable property, the debt collector operating at the district court in whose district the property is situated.

Methods of enforcing the payments (monetary claims)

In the course of enforcement proceedings, the debt may be recovered by compulsory means from the debtor’s assets, such as the debtor’s remuneration, their bank accounts, other claims due to them from their own debtors, as well as the debtor’s property, his movable property, as well as other property rights (e.g. shares in companies or industrial property rights). Unless the creditor specifies otherwise, the court debtor satisfies the debt from the debtor’s entire estate; however, enforcement actions against immovable property is permissible if the creditor expressly submits a request to initiate enforcement against such
an asset.

Below, we present the most important information on the ways in which payment (monetary) claims can be satisfied.