Problematyka kolizyjnoprawna w praktyce urzędów stanu cywilnego oraz w ustawie — Prawo o aktach stanu cywilnego z 2014 roku
Conflict-of-laws issues in the practice of civil status offices and in the Law on Civil Status Acts of 2014

Summary/Abstract: Competence of a Civil Registrar, who deals with various civil matters concerning civil status of individuals, is not limited to purely internal cases. Nowadays, not infrequently, the presence of an international element makes it necessary to check what law is applicable to the case at hand. The Law on Civil Status Acts of 2014, which is a basic act regulating the activities of a Civil Registrar, does not contain any conflict rules and it makes only scarce references to the provisions of Private International Law of 2011. The authors argues, however, that in daily practice of civil status offices in Poland it is rather the bilateral conventions, concluded by Poland with numerous countries, that should determine choice of law rules to be used by a Civil Registrar. A substantial part of the article is devoted to the presentation of basic conflict‑of‑laws issues which emerge with regard to marriages with foreigners, acknowledgment of paternity and the problem of names and surnames when a Civil Registrar is encumbered with the task of recording them in the Polish system of civil status registration. Last but not least, the author highlights some problems concerning the ascertainment of foreign law by a Civil Registrar. After pointing out that the legislator has not offered any help in this respect, various existing methods of finding the text of applicable law are analyzed.

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