| In Principle

The Court of Justice has issued a judgment invalidating the European Commission’s Safe Harbour decision. This means that participation in the Safe Harbour programme by US entities is no longer grounds for European companies to transfer personal data of EEA citizens to the United States.

Protection of possession of real estate against drones as a form of necessary defence is permissible only under exceptional circum­stances.

In August an arbitration award was issued in the case of the ship Arctic Sunrise, involving protests by ecologists on the Pechora Sea defending the Arctic environment. The ship was seized and 30 protesters were arrested by Russian authorities.

Financial services are not always performed as they should be, and procedures for considering customer complaints have not always been effective. Consequently, in May 2015 the Polish Financial Supervision Authority adopted a resolution on consideration of customer complaints, and in August the Sejm adopted the Act on Consideration of Complaints by Financial Market Entities and on the Financial Ombudsman. The act has just entered into force.

Controversies surrounding application of money-laundering regulations generate legal uncertainty for businesses operating in the field of digital currencies.

Change in use of a structure or part of a structure is an issue of great practical importance. The wording of Construction Law Art. 71(1)(2) can raise doubts, but rulings by the administrative courts help to understand it.

The increasing commercial use of drones raises legal aspects of the operation of unmanned aerial vehicles. In this article we focus on one of the most hotly debated legal issues related to drones: the use of drones in light of regulations on protection of personal data.

In evaluating the likelihood of confusion when conflicting names in a foreign language look similar, the meaning and pronunciation of the words in that language should be considered.

Several regulations setting maximum levels for interchange fees have entered the legal system recently. It is already clear that these regulations are having a major impact on the market, causing some enterprises to revise their business model. An interesting issue from the point of view of the law of new technologies is whether these regulations are technologically neutral, or apply only to a selected group of payment instruments.

The construction industry rightfully tries to limit modifications to the FIDIC general conditions to essential issues. One of them is the rules for the contractor’s liability for defects in the structure. Failure to address this in the particular conditions can lead to disputes.

In complicated construction projects, the amount the contracting authority must ultimately pay the contractor in the final settlement is often higher than the originally agreed fee. The final amount will largely depend on the allocation of risks between the parties to the contract.

When acquiring shares in a Polish company for a foreign buyer, it must always be examined whether a permit from the Minister of the Interior is required because real estate in Poland is involved. Sometimes a permit is required to acquire even a single share.