At the beginning of February this year. Codification Commission of the Judiciary and Prosecutor's Office operating at the Ministry of Justice presented two draft laws to resolve the issue of judges nominated by Neoks. On Thursday evening, the ministry made its own project dated April 24, but based on commission projects.
The project was called Bodnar Act, but in fact it is composed by the judge and deputy minister of justice Dariusz Mazur. As he writes on the portal X, the project is precedent on an international scale and is to remove the effects of the devastation of systemic guarantees of the independence of the Polish judiciary since 2016. Its assumptions were also transferred to the Venice Commission, and opinions can be expected in June. If Rafał Trzaskowski He will become president, it is the act that will come into force on October 15, 2025.
It is worth noting here that This is not yet an official government project, it is not in the list of legislative and program works of the government, there is no printing number And it is not made public on the website of the Government Legislation Center. And on the occasion of the presentation of commission projects, Adam Bodnar, the Minister of Justice, said that they must be agreed with coalition partners. What does the long -awaited ministry project provide for?
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Resolutions of the National Court Register invalid by law
As a rule, according to the draft ministry, the resolution of the current National Court Register would be considered invalid by virtue of the Act, though not all. The judges were divided into three groups:
and) novice judges (so -called A green group, with about 1,000 people), i.e. above all former assessors, former assistants of judges and referendaries. They will not lose the statute, but he was healed by resolutions of the future, properly shaped KRS. The status of these judges is therefore to be healed by resolutions of the future KRS, and not by law, as proposed by the Codification Commission.
b) judges who were promoted after the unconstitutional KRS assessment (so -called Yellow group, with about 1,200 people). By virtue of the Act, they will be withdrawn to previous positions, while for two years they could perform their current positions so as not to paralyze the courts. During the two -year delegation, they are to receive a salary similar to the current one. Then, if they do not give up, they will participate in re -competitions, and from their result they will be able to appeal to the Supreme Court.
c) people who came to the judicial profession from other professions (so -called A red group with approx. 400 people). These judges will feel the reform most severely. They will be forced to return to their previous competitions, e.g. a lawyer, academic teacher, prosecutor, provided that professional corporations accept them. They will also be able to become referendaries, which, however, means degradation. Like others, however, they will be able to participate in repeated competitions, unless they give up this opportunity.
According to the project The Minister of Justice will announce in the Polish Monitor a list of people who will cover the Act with an indication of its effects.
Project unconstitutional and against citizens
The project has already met criticism and not only lawyers associated with PiS. Some lawyers on social media point out that the proposed regulations are inconsistent with the constitution. According to art. 179 of the Constitution, judges are appointed by the president, at the request of the National Council of the Judiciary, for an indefinite period, and art. 180 says they are indelible. This means that they cannot be deprived of the status of a judge by law, which is noted, among others Advocate Mikołaj Rusiński.
In turn, judge Aleksandra Siniecka-Kotula notes that the project provides, among others redemption. “This means that if this law enters into force, then until the new Act on the National Court Register will be adopted and the new council will not be elected, not only the influx of new hands to work in the courts, but even a large number of them will get, because the assessors will expire votum of jurisprudence” – writes the judge on portal X.
In turn, Bartosz Pilitowski, president of the Court Watch Foundation, asks rhetorically, whether the judges removed from adjudicating in penalty procedural matters, the minister also delegates and after degradation ex lege and delegation will be able to rule, or will there be exceptions to delegated delegations of degraded judges? For now, there are no such exceptions in the project. It is about the neo -szędzi, among others District Court in Warsaw removed from adjudicating in criminal matters recognized in the first instance by a decision approved by the Ministry of Justice.
What about rulings?
As a rule, the rulings issued with the participation of incorrectly appointed judges are to be upheld, but with some exceptions. If pages that during the proceedings, and then in an appeal against the judgment, consistently questioned the status of incorrectly appointed judges, they will be able to within one month from the entry into force of the Act submit an application for resumption of proceedings. With the fact that this possibility will not apply to rulings with irreversible effectsand also final judgments of voivodship administrative courts taking into account the complaint in full.
A special procedure will also include rulings regarding an extraordinary complaint. They will stay repealed at the request of a party or other participant in the proceedings submitted within one month from the date of entry into force of this Act. Simplifying: there will be an application, it will be repealed from the machine. This is because she recognized these matters Unrecognized Chamber of Extraordinary Control and Public Affairs of the Supreme Court. The SN considered nearly 1,500 such cases. Similar rules will relate to the judgments of the Chamber of Vocational Responsibility of the Supreme Court.
Moreover, the Supreme Court resolutions regarding the interpretation of important legal problems issued with the participation of Neo-Judges will lose the power of the legal principle. They will not apply to other SN compositions. This is also the case, among others with a long -awaited resolution in franc matters.
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What about the Supreme Court?
Above all the status of a judge, and therefore The function will be lost by the current president Małgorzata Manowska, who belongs to the so -called red judges. In 2018, the director of the National School of Judiciary and Prosecutor's Office came to the Supreme Court.
In addition, the project provides for shortening of the term, and on the day of entry into force of the provisions, presidents of the Chamber of Extraordinary and Public Affairs, the Chamber of Vocational Liability.
The project eliminates the chamber: professional responsibility, extraordinary control and public affairs. The number of judges in other chambers is to be not less than 100 and not more than 125. Cases in the field of election protests, appeals against the resolutions of the National Council of the Judiciary, the decision of the Chairman of the National Broadcasting Council will go to the jurisdiction of the Chamber of Labor, Social Insurance and Public Affairs. Judges disciplines will be taken over by the penalty room. It will also be more difficult to get to the Supreme Court from other legal professions, because the required internship will increase from 10 to 15 years.
