The reopening of civil proceedings as a result of the Constitutional Tribunal’s judgment declaring impugned provisions to be unconstitutional within a certain scope SK 17/18
Ref. No. SK 17/18
JUDGMENT
IN THE NAME OF THE REPUBLIC OF POLAND
Warsaw, 3 December 2025
The Constitutional Tribunal, composed of:
Bogdan Święczkowski – Presiding Judge
Krystyna Pawłowicz
Stanisław Piotrowicz
Justyn Piskorski
Bartłomiej Sochański
Jakub Stelina
Wojciech Sych
Michał Warciński – 1st Judge Rapporteur
Rafał Wojciechowski
Jarosław Wyrembak
Andrzej Zielonacki – 2nd Judge Rapporteur,
Recording Clerk – Grażyna Szałygo,
having considered, at the hearing on 3 December 2025 – in the presence of the complainant – Mr J.B.’s constitutional complaint lodged with the Constitutional Tribunal for it to consider the conformity of:
(1) Article 4011 of the Civil Procedure Code of 17 November 1964 (Journal of Laws – Dz. U. of 2018, item 155, as amended) – construed in the way that it rules out the possibility of reopening proceedings in the event of the Constitutional Tribunal’s issuance of an interpretative judgment, which in its operative part declares the non-conformity to the Constitution of a specified interpretation of a normative act – to Article 190(4) in conjunction with Article 32(1), Article 45(1) as well as Article 77(2) in conjunction with Article 31(3) of the Constitution of the Republic of Poland;
(2) Article 399(1) and (2) of the Civil Procedure Code – construed in the way that it rules out the possibility of reopening proceedings to issue an enforcement clause against a partner of a registered partnership operating under Polish company law – to Article 190(4) in conjunction with Article 32(1), Article 45(1) as well as Article 77(2) in conjunction with Article 31(3) of the Constitution,
adjudicates as follows:
1. Article 399(2) of the Civil Procedure Code of 17 November 1964 (Journal of Laws – Dz. U. of 2024, item 1568, as amended) – insofar as it rules out the possibility of filing a petition (on the basis of Art. 4011 of the said Code) to reopen proceedings with regard to a decision on the issuance of an enforcement clause for the relevant enforced collection order – is inconsistent with Article 45(1) in conjunction with Article 190(4) and Article 77(2) of the Constitution of the republic of Poland.
2. Article 4011 of the Civil Procedure Code – insofar as it does not constitute the basis for the reopening of proceedings in the event of the Constitutional Tribunal’s judgment on the non-conformity to the Constitution of a certain interpretation of a normative act – is inconsistent with Article 190(4) of the Constitution.
Moreover, the Tribunal decides:
to discontinue the proceedings as to the remainder
The ruling was adopted by a majority vote.
Bogdan Święczkowski
Krystyna Pawłowicz
Stanisław Piotrowicz
Justyn Piskorski
Bartłomiej Sochański
Jakub Stelina
Wojciech Sych
Michał Warciński (dissenting opinion)
Rafał Wojciechowski
Jarosław Wyrembak
Andrzej Zielonacki