New solutions to prevent “company thefts”

Why is protection against “company theft” needed?

In the current state of affairs, theft of Polish company is an easier way to enrich than classical theft of another person’s property. Companies are often the product of lifelong contribution, which means many years of dedicated, intense work.

Such acquisitions may be carried out by forging signatures on documents such as powers of attorney or resolutions of company bodies. Detecting fraud in the registration proceedings is extremely difficult, as court referendaries act in registration proceedings in an almost automatic manner, and the tools available to them to verify the documents that were submitted are very limited. Meanwhile, newly authorized representatives may do a lot of harm to the company, by taking advantage of the presumption of the truthfulness of entries in the Register.

Rules for protection against “company theft”

The aforementioned provisions are going to be introduced into Polish Corporate Law, i.e. the Act on the National Court Register by adding Article 10a point 1. The new anti-theft regulation creates a tool in the form of a NCR newsletter that is going to be sent via e-mail.

The newsletter will include information about:

• registration of a case in the NCR teleinformatic system, including its number in the Register, reference number and date of its registration in the system,
• entry of changes in the NCR Register of Entrepreneurs, including its number in the Register, case number, date and number of changes’ entry.

The above mentioned information should be sent to anyone who indicates the NCR number of the entity to which the information relates, via the new teleinformatic system. According to the new regulation, this information shall be sent automatically if a case which concerns a specific entity has been opened.

These information are being sent for a one year period, starting from the day of information request concerning a specific entity, or until submitting the declaration in order to cancel subscription of said newsletter. One year period of newsletter subscription may be extended several times, each time for a period no longer than another year. The number of entities that can be subscribed is also limited – one subscriber may receive information regarding at most 50 entities from the Register of Entrepreneurs of the National Court Register.

The presented regulation is going to be a positive change aimed at preventing the company theft problem by informing concerned individuals already at the initial stage of a registration case. This allows for a quick reaction and protection of the entity’s assets against unwanted actions.

What can I do if my company is “stolen”?

In the event that the discussed event occurred and control over your entity has been taken over by an unauthorized third party, contact our corporate attorneys in Poland and criminal defense professionals who will propose an optimal solution in this situation.