Pursuant to the Polish Administrative Procedure Code, applications (understood as any kind of statements) i.a. motions may be filed with public administrative authorities not only in writing but also via e-mails. Applications filed in electronic form should bear a safe electronic signature verified with a valid qualified certificate.
In its recent judgment, the Voivodship Administrative Court in Warsaw (II SAB/Wa 57/09) obliged the General Inspector for Personal Data Protection to examine a motion filed via e-mail.
The judgment supports an earlier judgment issued in 2007 by the Voivodship Administrative Court in GdaÅ„sk  (II SAB/Gd 25/2007). In 2007 the Court decided that a motion for making public information available filed in the electronic form should institute the proceedings in the case even though it did not bear a safe electronic signature. The fact that a motion is not properly signed does not cause the motion to be ineffective but is only a formal defect which should be repaired at the authority’s request.

Contact: Mirosław Stefanik,

ms@pnplaw.pl