contract | In Principle

During the course of construction projects, issues often arise involving additional work or substitute work. Contractors perceive even minor departures from the original plans as additional work and demand an increased fee, while investors not only expect all their instructions to be followed within the agreed price, but treat any opposition by the contractor as a breach of contract. This dynamic works similarly between the general contractor and subcontractors. But the realities of the real estate development process often require work to be done even when the parties take different views of the work and do not sign a separate contract covering it. Is an additional fee nonetheless owed for performing such work?

A year has passed since introduction into the Polish civil law of revolutionary but not widely noticed changes in the form of legal transactions. A few examples will illustrate how important these changes are.

Long-awaited regulations limiting the scope of the duty to conclude written contracts for supply of agricultural products went into force on 22 August 2017. Under the new rules, the requirement for written contracts applies only to supplies of defined groups of agricultural products from farmers operating in Poland.

The Court of Justice of the European Union has ruled that a commercial agent may retain the right to a commission if the client intentionally refuses to perform the contract because the principal’s attitude has caused the client to lose confidence in the principal. The ruling also clarifies doubts surrounding the effect that partial non-performance of the contract has on the agent’s commission.

Traders offering goods and services online often provide in their general terms and conditions that contracts with consumers will be governed by the law of the country there the seller has its registered office. EU law basically allows such contracts, but the choice of law must not deprive the consumer of the protection afforded him by mandatory provisions of law which would have been applicable if the contract did not contain the choice of law clause.

This is the conclusion flowing from a non-final judgment issued by the Poznań Regional Court on 2 February 2017 in a case involving one of the largest infrastructure projects in Poland, completed in December 2016.

After the end of cooperation with the principal, a commercial agent is entitled to indemnity if the agent brought “new” customers to the principal or generated a significant increase in turnover with “old” customers. But what if the customer is “old,” and the turnover hasn’t increased greatly, but the agent encouraged the customer to order goods or services it hadn’t ordered before?

New rules for determining maximum interest rates and statutory interest rates for both interest on capital and interest on delay entered into force on 1 January 2016.

It is often said that the law cannot keep up with the pace of a changing reality, particularly technological progress. This is evident for example in the rules for representation of businesses, which are poorly adapted to online transactions. Fortunately the courts approach this problem with understanding.

Are proceedings before the Dispute Adjudication Board a necessary condition for seeking arbitration?

The FIDIC contract terms provide that disputes between the investor and the contractor are to be decided by a Dispute Adjudication Board. But in Poland the board’s rulings are often ignored by parties who disagree with them.

In recent years, EU law has been generally the route through which Western models and ideas have been introduced into Polish law. Europe has decidedly much more to offer us, but with regard to certain legal institutions, we have to reach out for them by ourselves. One of them, which is ever more boldly knocking on our door, is a concept of trust. Will it be greeted in Poland with joy?