Personal action and power of attorney

Detailed explanation

In cases specified by law, a party is obliged to act on its own behalf without the possibility of being represented by a proxy. The obligation of a party to act in person may result from special regulations (e.g., the requirement for a foreigner to appear in person when submitting an application for a residence permit in Poland), or it may be imposed by the administrative body that conducts the proceedings and the circumstances of the case require it (e.g. the need to submit explanations to the minutes).

The obligation of personal action of the party should be clearly formulated in the law or in the notification of the administrative body addressed to the party. In other cases, a party has the right to act through a proxy.

A person with legal capacity may become a representative. This may be a person related to the site. A representative acting on behalf of a party may also be a professional representative, i.e., a legal adviser or an advocate. A patent attorney and a tax advisor may be a party's representative only in certain proceedings and before authorities indicated in special regulations.

The power of attorney granted must be in writing or in the form of an electronic document (or be submitted to the minutes). The case file should contain the original or an officially certified copy of the power of attorney.

A party also has the right to appoint several representatives. The power of attorney should be granted to a specific person in a way that does not raise doubts. It is also possible for the appointed representative of the party to grant a further power of attorney, but such a possibility should result from the content of the power of attorney that has been granted to him. At the same time, a representative who is a lawyer or legal adviser may appoint a substitute representative.

It should also be remembered that in connection with granting a power of attorney to a specific person, stamp duty should be paid for submitting a document confirming the granting of this power of attorney (PLN 17). Failure to pay this fee does not stop the proceedings of the case. However, the administrative authority reports the failure to pay stamp duty to the competent tax authority.

The content of the power of attorney also determines its scope (i.e., it may indicate the authorities before which the representative represents the party, as well as the scope of actions that they may undertake on behalf of the party).

Once a representative has been appointed, they should be notified of all actions taken in the course of the proceedings. Its omission is tantamount to omission from the proceedings of a party. If more than one representative is appointed, service of documents in the proceedings should take place on one of them. A party shall have the possibility to indicate the representative who will be competent for service.

At any stage of the proceedings, a party has the right to withdraw the power of attorney. The right to terminate the power of attorney also has the proxy themself. These actions are effective only when the information about them reaches the administrative body. Until then, the administrative body is obliged to assume that the party is represented by a specific representative.