The person concerned may challenge that decision before an administrative court within seven days of service, lodging the challenge through the authority that declared the mandate expired (Article 493 § 1).
For Marek K., the judgment entails a fine of PLN 12,000, a payment of PLN 8,000 to the Fund, and a three-year ban on driving motor vehicles, excluding category T vehicles.
The residents of Niedźwiada are not merely electing a new mayor today: they are deciding who will assume office after the previous mayor lost his mandate as a result of a criminal judgment rather than a decision by the electorate. A final conviction for driving under the influence of alcohol triggered the mechanism for the expiry of the mayor’s mandate under the Electoral Code, necessitating an early election during the term of office. The matter concerns the consequences of the judgment of the Regional Court in Lublin—a fine of PLN 12,000, a payment of PLN 8,000 to the Victim Support and Post-Penitentiary Assistance Fund, and a three-year driving ban, excluding agricultural vehicles requiring a category T driving licence—and the rules governing an election to fill the vacant office of mayor under Part VIII of the Electoral Code (Articles 470–472 et seq.).
The expiry of a mayor’s mandate is formally declared by the electoral commissioner, whose decision is served on the person concerned and forwarded to the provincial governor and the chair of the municipal council, pursuant to Article 493 § 3a of the Electoral Code, as amended by the Act of 31 August 2011. If a municipal authority fails to adopt the required measures, the provincial governor must call upon it to do so within 30 days. This supervisory mechanism is established by Article 98a(1) of the Local Government Act, as amended by the Act of 31 August 2011. The election is held in accordance with Article 471 of the Electoral Code: suffrage is universal and equal, and voting is direct and by secret ballot. A candidate may not simultaneously stand for election in another municipality (Article 472 § 1). In an early election, an electoral committee must secure the support of a specified number of voters listed in the Central Register of Voters, with a minimum of 1,500 signatures in a municipality with up to 50,000 residents, according to the consolidated text published on 1 September 2026. Nominations must be submitted to the municipal electoral commission by 4 p.m. on the 24th day before polling day. Voting is overseen by precinct electoral commissions, whose rules of procedure are laid down in the National Electoral Commission’s resolution of 4 September 2006 (Monitor Polski, item 642): the commission must promptly examine every complaint concerning the activities of a precinct electoral commission, request that any irregularities be remedied, and notify the complainant and, where necessary, the electoral commissioner. Voters with a severe or moderate degree of disability may also vote by post in mayoral elections (Act of 11 July 2014, Article 3 § 3). They are entitled to receive information about their polling precinct, the polling date and the available voting methods from the mayor or an authorised employee of the municipal office (Act of 27 May 2011, Article 1 §§ 1–2).
If none of the four candidates receives more than half of the valid votes cast, a second round will take place on 22 November between the two candidates receiving the highest numbers of votes. The municipal electoral commission determines the results on the basis of the precinct returns. The commission’s resolutions and official records of the results bear its seal, and complaints concerning the activities of precinct electoral commissions are examined promptly. Article 191b § 1 of the Electoral Code, as worded in 2019, has practical significance for the elected mayor: a person employed by the municipal office may not serve as an electoral official. This provision has implications for the candidate serving as municipal secretary should she become involved in organising the election. The municipal electoral commission’s official return for the mayoral election is now awaited, with a second round to follow on 22 November if necessary.
Without this amendment, an operator calling the police to deal with unruly guests would itself contribute towards the threshold triggering removal of the premises from the register and the loss of the right to operate lawfully.
Individual tax ruling 0111-KDIB1-1.4010.9.2026.2.AND confirms that revenue from hotel services is not classified as rental income under Article 4a(35)(b) of the Corporate Income Tax Act.
Owners of apartments let to tourists will, for the time being, avoid two measures that could materially restrict their activities: a housing cooperative’s prohibition on such use subject to a 50 per cent voting threshold, and automatic removal from the register following three interventions by law enforcement authorities. On Thursday, senators adopted amendments to the bill amending the Act on Hotel Services and the Services of Tour Leaders and Tourist Guides, meaning that the bill will return to the Sejm rather than proceed to the President for signature. The dispute concerns the extent to which the legislature may interfere with the constitutionally guaranteed right to property where premises are used for short-term letting to the general public—that is, for hotel services within the meaning of Article 3(1)(8) of the Act on Hotel Services. That definition covers the short-term letting of houses, apartments, rooms and sleeping accommodation, together with the provision of related services on the premises, distinguishing it from a conventional lease under Article 659 § 1 of the Civil Code.
The senators considered that the threshold of at least 50 per cent of a housing cooperative’s members, required to prohibit the use of premises for letting to tourists, is practically unattainable: in large cooperatives with tens of thousands of members, that number of people would never assemble in one place at the same time, while remote voting is not permitted under the current legislation governing cooperatives. The opposing argument, which did not prevail in the vote, was that prohibiting the letting of an apartment constitutes interference with the right to property and should therefore be accompanied by a requirement to give reasons for the decision and a right of appeal—neither of which the legislature has provided. The second amendment excludes from the threshold of three reported disturbances within six months any infringements established following a report made by the owner of the premises or the business providing hotel services there. These decisions sit against the backdrop of an established line of case law. In its judgment of 4 July 2023, case no. II FSK 71/21, the Supreme Administrative Court held that contracts for hotel services and leases are neither identical nor similar, and that it is erroneous to infer similarity solely from the use of the word “letting”; the Court took a similar position in its judgment of 12 July 2023, case no. II FSK 372/23. The key consideration is whether the service constitutes a composite supply whose predominant element is making space available.
For apartment owners and short-term letting operators, the coming weeks will determine whether the Senate amendments favourable to them survive: the Sejm may adopt or reject them, thereby reinstating the original version. If the Sejm rejects the amendments, the risk of automatic removal of the premises from the register following three reports within six months will return, as will the possibility of a housing cooperative prohibiting such use subject to a threshold of 50 per cent of its members. If it adopts them, the bill will proceed to the President, and operators will have certainty that their own reports concerning guests disturbing the peace will not count towards the threshold of three interventions. For housing cooperatives and their members, this means that there will remain no effective mechanism for adopting resolutions prohibiting the use of premises for tourist accommodation until the rules governing voting in cooperatives are amended. The next development to monitor is the Sejm’s vote on the Senate amendments. The sources do not specify a date, so an announcement of the Sejm sitting at which deputies will determine the fate of these amendments is awaited.
Currently, Article 70c of the Road Traffic Act provides that compliance with vehicle technical requirements is evidenced by an EC type-approval certificate or a vehicle type-approval certificate, while Article 70s(1) requires manufacturers to issue an EC certificate of conformity or a certificate of conformity for each vehicle whose type has been approved.
Paper certificates are to be recognised only until the end of November 2026, after which electronic documents will become the standard throughout the European Union.
A person importing a brand-new vehicle from the European Union will be able to register it in Poland more quickly, as its technical data will be entered into the system without a paper certificate of conformity. However, purchasers of used vehicles will remain subject to the existing documentation requirements, including a physical registration certificate from the country of previous registration. The central purpose of the Ministry of Infrastructure’s proposal, listed in the legislative work programme, is to align Polish law with the EU system of electronic certificates of conformity (eCoCs), which will replace paper forms. The legal issue concerns the basis for authorising vehicles for road use and registering them. The proposal changes the format of these documents from paper to electronic records transmitted directly to the Central Vehicle Register (CEP).
Once the amendments enter into force, responsibilities will be allocated as follows:
For purchasers of new cars, the change is procedural: instead of submitting a document, they will rely on information recorded in the system. Nothing will change for importers of used cars: Article 2 of the consolidated text continues to require one of the specified documents, including an EC certificate of conformity, while the paper registration certificate issued in the country of previous registration remains the basis for registering second-hand vehicles. The new rules apply exclusively to brand-new vehicles.
The likely course of events is as follows. If the proposal is not enacted and brought into force promptly before the end of November 2026, importers and dealers of new vehicles may encounter registration difficulties, as EU certificates will already be electronic while the Polish system will not be ready to process them. For manufacturers, the change will simplify document handling: the statement of vehicle data referred to in Article 70s(1) will be transmitted automatically to CEP. Drivers importing used cars will see no easing of requirements and will still need to hold a physical registration certificate.
For the duration of mourning, the Prime Minister may order the suspension of the organisation of artistic and entertainment events pursuant to Article 37(1) of the Act on the Organisation and Conduct of Cultural Activities.
Upon its entry into force, § 2 of the model regulation applies: the national flag must be flown at half-mast on the official buildings of state authorities, state organisational units, local government authorities and municipal units.
National mourning following the Kraków attack is not a symbolic act whose content may be determined at will, but a legal instrument that the President of the Republic of Poland may invoke only by a regulation issued pursuant to Article 11(1) of the Act of 31 January 1980 on the Coat of Arms, Colours and Anthem of the Republic of Poland and on State Seals. The regulation must specify the reasons for declaring mourning and its duration—in this case, two days, 8 and 9 November 2026—taking into account cultural and historical circumstances and established customs (Article 11(1), as amended by the Act of 28 July 2005).
The procedure consists of two stages and requires cooperation between two authorities:
The Mayor of Kraków, by contrast, acts under separate local government powers: draping flags with black mourning ribbons at municipal buildings, organisational units and municipally owned companies, and on public transport vehicles, derives from the municipality’s own powers, rather than from the regulation issued by the President of the Republic of Poland. Organisers of entertainment events face a tangible regulatory risk: if the Prime Minister exercises the power under Article 37(1), the organisation of artistic and entertainment events will be suspended for the duration of mourning by an order issued by the Prime Minister.
The next procedural step is for the President to submit the draft regulation to Prime Minister Donald Tusk for countersignature, followed by its publication. Only then will the declaration of mourning for 8–9 November become legally binding and the regulation begin to have legal effects in relation to state and local government authorities. For organisers of concerts, festivals and entertainment events, the practical issue is whether the Prime Minister issues an order pursuant to Article 37(1) of the Act on the Organisation and Conduct of Cultural Activities. Its terms will determine whether events scheduled for 8 and 9 November must be suspended or whether any restrictions will remain voluntary, as urged by the Mayor of Kraków. If no such order is issued, only the flag-related mourning observances under Article 11(2) of the Act on the Coat of Arms, Colours and Anthem will be mandatory, while liability for cancelled events will remain a matter governed by civil-law contracts, outside the scope of the cited sources.
Correction. The article quotes a farmer as saying that “the Ministry of Infrastructure has relaxed the restrictions on working time for tanker drivers delivering propane to our dryers” and presents this as a measure addressing farmers’ difficulties. That claim is incomplete and misleading: the Notice of the Minister of Infrastructure of 22 April 2026 provides for derogations from driving time rules solely for domestic transport by tanker of fuels used to power motor vehicles, rather than transport of propane for industrial purposes, such as grain drying. A more accurate account would have stated that the derogation covers motor fuels transported by tanker and that its application to propane deliveries to dryers requires a separate legal basis or an interpretative extension of its scope for which there is no apparent support in the published instrument. Omitting this limitation on the goods covered leads readers to conclude incorrectly that LPG tanker drivers are exempt from driving time limits.
Carriage without the required ADR training certificate carries a penalty of PLN 2,000, while permitting a driver without that certificate to undertake carriage exposes the organiser to a penalty of PLN 2,000; failure to hold an ADR vehicle certificate of approval carries a penalty of PLN 6,000.
Farmers awaiting gas supplies for their grain dryers face a market in which the constraint is not tanker drivers’ working hours alone, but product availability and the rules governing the carriage of dangerous goods, which impose specific formal requirements on every journey carrying propane. The dispute over whether “relaxing working-time restrictions” would make a difference does not alter the fact that an LPG tanker driver must still comply with the Act of 19 August 2011 on the Carriage of Dangerous Goods and the ADR Agreement. The key legal issue is therefore who may drive such a vehicle, which documents they must carry, and what penalties apply if those documents are missing. The assessment is based on the Act on the Carriage of Dangerous Goods (Articles 19–20 and 60–61) and the schedule of penalties under the Road Transport Act (annexes setting out penalty points and fines). Gas is in short supply at terminals, but carriage requirements remain unchanged: they determine tankers’ actual transport capacity.
The driver of a vehicle carrying dangerous goods, including propane in a tanker, must hold a valid ADR training certificate. Under Article 20(1) of the Act on the Carriage of Dangerous Goods, only a person who is at least 21 years old, meets the requirements of road traffic and road transport legislation, and has completed an ADR training course, whether initial or refresher, is authorised to drive such a vehicle. Under Article 19(2), the driver must carry the required documents and produce them at the request of authorised inspection officers, including a transport document stating the goods’ full proper shipping name. The tanker vehicle must have an ADR certificate of approval. Article 60(1)–(2) requires a technical inspection at a district vehicle inspection station, while the Transport Technical Supervision authority verifies, under Article 60(3), whether the tank body complies with ADR requirements. The transport organiser also has specific obligations: failure to appoint a dangerous goods safety adviser carries a penalty of PLN 5,000, and consigning incorrectly classified goods carries a penalty of PLN 6,000. The absence of a transport document carries a penalty of PLN 2,000, while failure to carry it in the vehicle carries a penalty of PLN 200; the absence of written instructions for the driver carries a penalty of PLN 300, and each missing item of protective equipment carries a penalty of PLN 200. Terminal congestion does not exempt anyone from these obligations: queues for loading mean that an inspection may take place before departure, and penalty points (e.g. 9.11, 9.12 and 9.6) affect the carrier’s assessment under the good-repute system. The sources contain no case law, so no precedent can be identified; the assessment rests exclusively on the statutory provisions and schedules of fines.
If propane deliveries remain delayed, the realistic scenarios are as follows:
For farmers, the practical question is whether their grain-drying facility will resume operations before the season; for carriers, it concerns penalty points and fines arising from inspections; for ministries, it is whether further announcements will be backed by actual deliveries. Further developments should be monitored through legal instruments issued under the Road Transport Act concerning tanker drivers’ working hours. If the Ministry of Infrastructure publishes a regulation introducing a derogation, its entry-into-force date will provide the first concrete point of reference. No such instrument appears in the supplied sources, so its date cannot be predicted.