CHANGES IN THE MODEL OF PENAL LIABILITY OF COLLECTIVE ENTITIES IN THE POLISH LEGAL SYSTEM – A REAL BREAKTHROUGH OR A MANIFESTATION OF OPPORTUNISM?
CHANGES IN THE MODEL OF PENAL LIABILITY OF COLLECTIVE ENTITIES IN THE POLISH LEGAL SYSTEM – A REAL BREAKTHROUGH OR A MANIFESTATION OF OPPORTUNISM?

Summary/Abstract: The model of liability of collective entities for acts prohibited under penalty, introduced into the Polish legal system by the Act of 28 October 2002 (consolidated text, Journal of Laws of 2020, item 358, as amended), which entered into force on 28 November 2003, was criticized from the beginning. Time has shown that the scepticism of the representatives of the legal commentary regarding the solutions adopted at that time was fully justified. After nearly 20 years of this act being in force – systemically important yet playing a marginal role in practice – the time has come for radical changes in the model of penal liability of collective entities. The model of the so-called consequential liability of a collective entity, which depends on a preliminary ruling, i.e. on prior confirmation by a final judgment that an offense or a fiscal offense has been committed by a specific natural person, is replaced by direct liability. This was reflected in the changes introduced to the Act of 2002, which entered into force on 1 September 2022. An analysis of these changes will be used to assess the new model of criminal liability of collective entities for acts prohibited as offenses against the environment, in the normative and practical aspect.

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