On the new approach to the principle of written form in general administrative proceedings (Article 14 CAP)

Abstract

One of the consequences of the introduction of the Act of 18 November 2020 on Electronic
Delivery of Documents into the Polish legal system was the amendment of the provisions of the
Code of Administrative Procedure. Even a cursory analysis of the new regulation indicates that the
amendment was not merely an adaptation of the existing wording of the Code to the new solutions.
It follows from the scope of the amendment that, as if “by the way”, the legislator made significant
changes in the scope of the permissible manner of conducting proceedings and handling individual
cases. The legislator abandoned the previous manners of handling a case (in writing or as an electronic
document) in favour of the “form” of recording the letter (paper or electronic), expanded the
catalogue of ways of handling a case in administrative proceedings, and introduced the possibility
of handling cases using automatically generated letters. The new way of handling cases is optional
(“cases may be handled”), but there are no criteria in the Code for qualifying a particular action (the
type of case being handled) for being handled in this manner. Moreover, the possibility of handling
cases with the use of automatically generated letters leads to the necessity of redefining the notion
of “public administration body” and considering how it may affect the scope of procedural guarantees
of a party to the proceedings.