Changes in the Polish PNR Act (Aviation Law)
The Polish Ministry of Internal Affairs and Administration is currently working on a draft bill amending the PNR Act (Aviation Law). The project aims at helping the Chief Commandant of the Border Guard with the workflow of present administrative proceedings.
AMENDMENTS TO POLISH PNR ACT (AVIATION)
The current draft of the bill includes:
- granting commanders of border guard divisions the power to impose administrative fines – what will lead to the decentralization of entities with the ability to impose penalties, and as a result acceleration on issuing the decisions;
- introducing the rule of filing motions for reconsideration directly with the commanders of border guard divisions;
- the power for the authority to combine multiple cases within one proceeding and subsequently issue one decision concerning many infringements – although the provision is not precise, one can guess that it will apply to situations such as combining cases from each month or even several months together under one proceeding;
- implementing a 5-year statute of limitations – the draft bill proposes to remove the current
3-year statute of limitations. Under such provision, all infringements occurring after the effective date of the new act will be subject to a longer statute of limitations (5 years) – under the general provisions set forth in Art. 189g of the Administrative Procedure Code.
ADAPTATION PERIOD TO PNR BILL (AVIATION)
The draft provides that the changes will come into force 1 day after the promulgation of the Act leaving little to no time for the air carriers to reorganize the defensive strategy.
IMPACT OF THE PNR BILL (AVIATION)
The above-mentioned project if adopted in its current version will without a doubt have a negative effect on all the air carriers hoping to discontinue some of the proceedings due to the expiration of the statute of limitations.
Dudkowiak Kopeć Putyra sp. j. will submit its opinion on the draft to the legislator.
For more information, please contact our Aviation Attorneys (PNR team): Michał Dudkowiak, Anna Szymielewicz, Marta Oleśkowska, and Aleksandra Walas
DKP Legal
