New legislation which is to change the Administrative Proceedings Code and which has been drafted by the “Friendly State” Commission proposes to abolish an obligation to provide administrative authorities with certificates. Nowadays, certificates confirm a given status quo and they are issued by a relevant public administrative body. It is civil servants who issue certificates but they do it at the request of the interested person. The proposed changes are to facilitate the process of collecting documents in different procedures.

Pursuant to the new legislation, citizens will be released from the obligation to procure certificates and they will be able to make statements where they will confirm e.g. the NIP and VAT numbers, or that they are not in arrears with tax payments, or their incomes. Statements are to be made in writing with a hand-written signature under the pain of penal liability for false statements. The changes are also to apply to documents relating to marital status, child birth and confirmation of no criminal records. The draft intends to preserve certificates in specific cases, i.a. those relating to healthcare or life protection.

Contact person: Małgorzata Lewandowska, mlw@pnplaw.pl