We kindly inform you that, as long as the subject affiliation of our 300.000+ articles is in progress, you might get unsufficient or no results on your third level or second level search. In this case, please broaden your search criteria.
This article discusses selected legal issues of the Act on the Capacity Market, which are of importance to the evaluation of their impact on the terms and conditions of financing provided to new power generation capacities. These issues are analyzed in light of the market practice to date in the area of financing of new power generation projects and in the area of mitigating legal risks associated with this type of investments by way of legal concepts used in the documentation of the financing of such projects. The value of the revenue achieved from the capacity market service earned by capacity providers and the stability of these revenues are identified by the author as key issues here. The Author analyzes also the legal character of capacity agreements, legal effects of the execution of a capacity agreement in an electronic form in the course of a capacity auction or within the secondary market. He also comments on the legal effects brought by statutory concepts applicable to capacity agreements as well as their form onto the possibility to use a capacity agreement to secure the repayment of debt incurred in order to build new capacity market units. The author speaks in favour of being able to assign capacity obligation payments as collateral to secure debt of newly constructed capacity market units
More...
The purpose of this article is to attempt to define limitations of the concept of a capacity mechanism, to present a classification of mechanisms existing in different EU Member States, and to consider the future of two-commodity market in the light of current legislative developments. Additionally, the paper aims to verify a thesis on the possibility of providing services involving the availability of disposable capacity on terms unrelated to the provision of state aid
More...
The capacity market is a system that supports the construction of new conventional power stations and reduces the negative impact of funding renewable energy sources in the energy sector. It constitutes an important element of the effective functioning of the capacity market mechanism, due to its compliance with the concept of safeguarding energy security by creating a support system for new investments in conventional energy, as adopted by the Polish legislator. The present paper is the first attempt to scientifically analyze the importance of the secondary market for the Polish capacity market. It discusses the causes for the introduction of the secondary market as well as for the determination of its essence for the capacity market. The paper covers the two most important principles of the functioning of the secondary market as well as the two types of transactions entered into on this market (secondary trading and reallocation of volume). Discussed subsequently is the effectiveness of a transaction on the secondary market. The analysis of the functioning of the secondary market for the capacity market in the UK constitutes an important section of this article. Such an approach towards this topic seems fully justified since the Polish Act on the Capacity Market is based on British regulations, while the British secondary market itself has been functioning for several years now. The whole paper ends with conclusions
More...
According to the intention of the legislator, a capacity obligation, as defined in the Act on the Capacity Market of 8 December 2017 (Art. 2 point 23 of the Act), should be the main instrument of the capacity market used to ensure long-term energy security in Poland. The article presents an analysis of the content of the capacity obligation imposed on providers, which, in essence, may be defined as the provider’s civil law obligation towards an operator comprising of two components: availability to provide capacity, which consists of maintaining physical units in satisfactory condition during the entire delivery period, and the provision of capacity to the system during a threat period
More...
The article provides an analysis of legal provisions relating to the participation of foreign electricity generators in the Polish capacity mechanism. The work discusses both the European context of the requirement to introduce cross-border participation and the legislative process of the Polish Act on the Capacity Market in this regard. The presentation of the regulation of the participation of foreign electricity generators is structurally divided into two parts. First, the paper analyzes the auction system with particular emphasis on preliminary auctions. Presented next is the issue of the specificity of a performance of a capacity obligation by a foreign electricity generator.
More...
In this case comment, the author, in the light of the Supreme Court judgement signature III SK 28/15, aims to present a license as an instrument for the accomplishment of State energy policy. Presented first is the answer to the following question – what impact does the state energy policy have on the President of ERO. Second, the author briefly reviews the most important conclusions of the judgment of the Supreme Court (III SK 28/15). This review is connected with the analysis of selected conditions of relevant gas market licenses, required by Polish energy law. Ultimately, the author attempts to assess the necessity of the existence of such conditions in practice
More...
This article deals with Polish legislative procedure from the perspective of financial market institutions, recently affected by frequent changes of the applicable legal framework, directly in fluencing the way in which they conduct their business activity and the relations between a client and a financial market entity. The analysis covers Polish legislative initiatives related to the financial market and, at the same time, impacting the situation of its clients over the years 2015–2017, since the day we have observed the so called ‘tsunami of legislation’ on the financial market. The assessment of the Polish legislative procedure within the financial market includes not only critical comments on the current legislative model, but also proposals de lege ferenda aimed at removing the identified weaknesses of this process.
More...
The purpose of this article is to discuss the provisions of the new Law on Mortgage Loans and on the Supervision of Mortgage Brokers and Agents, regulating the principles of debt restructuring. Under strictly defined circumstances, the creditor is obliged to inform a consumer about the possibility of submitting a request for the restructuring of his debt. If such a request is submitted, and if the financial situation of the given consumer justifies it, the parties should make efforts in order to restructure the debt of the consumer; otherwise, the creditor is obliged to explain in detail the reasons for rejecting such a request. However, should the restructuring prove to be pointless or ineffective, the creditor is obliged to allow the consumer to sell his property before taking further steps to recover the amount due. The aim of this article is to indicate possible disputable issues and provide proposals for their resolution.
More...
The problem of responsible lending by creditors and consumers is increasingly far-reaching in the post-crisis reality because of the large scale of the phenomenon of consumer overindebtedness and its negative effects both individually and globally, as it generates excessive credit and even systemic risk. Responsible lending stops, therefore, being a mere postulate, and becomes the subject of regulation, and broadly understood jurisprudence, as well as very important social problems. The idea of responsible lending is implemented by a proper examination of the creditworthiness of the consumer by the lenders, both before granting the loan and during the loan. Consumers must also be informed of the terms of the loan agreement, in particular about the costs borne by the consumer, as well as of the legal and economic consequences of not doing so. The aim of this study is to present the idea of responsible lending on the part of lenders, such as non-bank lending institutions, as well as ways of its implementation and enforcement. The paper covers also its practical application by both lenders as well as competent institutions, the goal of which is to protect consumers not only against excessive indebtedness, but also against the occurrence of individual and systemic risk and against miss-selling on the non-bank consumer credit market. All this ultimately leads to a significant deterioration of the financial situation not only of consumers but also of lenders and, as a result, negatively affects the proper and stable functioning of this part of the financial services market (non-consumer consumer credit market and thus consumer credit market in general).
More...
The Author drafts Polish and German regulations on personal bankruptcy, the issue of trans-boundary insolvency law in the European Union (including the definition of the Centre of Main Interests, that is COMI, and the elements of its definition in case of trans-boundary personal bankruptcy proceedings), having regard to Polish-German relations and the legislation of both jurisdictions. The paper presents also the practice of forum shopping and the methods, which were established in EU insolvency law, to counteract this phenomenon. The Author proposes the thesis that not only can certain institutions of Polish personal bankruptcy law be attractive to people with COMI in the territory of Germany, but also that some German regulations can attract people, which have established COMI in Poland. This leads to the conclusion that the practice of forum shopping may occur also in German-Polish economic relations, having regard, in particular, to the geographical proximity between both jurisdictions, current practices of German consumers, a lack of precise enough regulations on the harmonization of European trans-boundary insolvency proceedings, and the progressing liberalization of Polish personal bankruptcy law, announced by the Polish government.
More...
In an insurance contract on someone else’s behalf, along with the insurer and the policyholder, an insured appears who is not a party to the insurance contract, but it is his insurable interest that is subject to protection. At the same time, the insured (who is often a natural person) is a weaker subject of the insurance contract and should be protected in the same way as a consumer in a typical insurance contract. However, due to the fact that the insured is not a party to the insurance contract, there are doubts whether, in the light of the definition adopted in the Polish Civil Code, he has the status of a ‘consumer’. This article attempts to answer this question, mainly in the light of existing jurisprudence
More...
The analysis of decisions issued in cases of practices violating collective consumer interests makes it possible to conclude that the President of the Office of Competition and Consumer Protection (UOKIK) is increasingly ‘using’ means which are not typical repressive instruments within the meaning of public competition law. Public compensation allows the competition authority to order or oblige the offending entrepreneur to take specific (marked) actions towards consumers. These may take the form of a material or intangible benefit. Public compensation is intended to remove the continuing effects of an infringement of collective consumer interests. This measure must not only be necessary to remove the effects of the practice, but also proportionate to the gravity and type of the infringement.
More...
Although Directive 2005/29/EC does not provide tools for individual consumer protection, the Polish legislator decided to introduce some, as part of the implementation process, in Article 12 of the Act on Counteracting Unfair Market Practices. Currently, as part of the ‘New Deal for Consumers’ initiative, the EU legislator is also considering a revision of the Unfair Market Practices Directive by imposing on national legislators an obligation to provide consumers with instruments of individual civil law protection, including at least the right to unilaterally terminate the contract and the right to claim damages. The study focuses on the main doubts as to the construction of the current Polish regulation of individual protection mechanism and the EU proposal. The aim of the dogmatic analysis is to indicate a de lege ferenda solution that would enhance the achievement of the purpose of the directive
More...
The approaching 20th anniversary of the creation of a consumer ombudsman is an opportunity to summarize the legal bases and factual conditions for the functioning of ombudsmen in Poland and to ask about the future of this institution. Apart from a few cases, their competences are often unused in practice, primarily because of the lack of independence of the ombudsmen within the administrative structure of a district as well as inadequate funding of their activities. Individual elements of the consumer protection system, such as consumer ombudsmen, non-governmental organizations and ADR entities, do not cooperate with each other, do not exchange information or experiences. Moreover, they duplicate their tasks which leads to wasted potential and the generation of excessive costs. Meanwhile, the challenges of the modern economy and changes that have taken place in Poland over the last two decades require a reform of the system. There is need for new legislative solutions, which will guarantee the independence of consumer ombudsmen and strengthen their role in the local government, as well as organizational activities that will allow better separation of tasks to meet consumer needs and provide them with a high level of protection. The model of protection of individual consumers in Poland should be comprehensive (its elements should cooperate in an atmosphere of mutual trust), complementary (require the consumer to act, not replace it), flexible (adapted to the needs of different consumer groups), professional (ombudsmen should have legal education) and enable customer migration (to a more specialized institution if it is not possible to provide effective help at a given level). Creating a systematic vision and consistent implementation of detailed solutions in cooperation with all interested partners will make it possible to use the institution of consumer ombudsmen to its full potential
More...
The aim of this study is to analyse legislative amendments in the context of the Communication from the Commission to the European Parliament, the Council and the European Economic and Social Committee ‘New Deal for Consumers’ announced by the European Commission on 11 April 2018. The methodology of the revision corresponds to the legislative amendments proposed by the Commission in particular legal acts. Presented first are thus amendments to Directive 2005/29/EC on Unfair Commercial Practices, followed by Directive 2011/83/EU on consumer rights. A proposal of a directive on representative actions to protect the collective interests of consumers is discussed subsequently. The summary of the review assessed the most significant changes from the point of view of consumers and entrepreneurs in the context of the current practice of the functioning of the provisions of the amended legal acts.
More...