Legal restrictions on the conduct of business activities, as well as the daily activities of citizens, continue. Violations of the restrictions in force, continue to imply a risk of severe immediately enforceable fines of up to PLN 30,000.

In our legal alert you can find practical guidelines for functioning of cooperatives, associations, foundations and other entities during COVID-19 pandemic.

Andrzej Wierciński, Anna Wojciechowska and Anna Wyrzykowska have co-authored the chapter on Polish regulations regarding corporate governance in ”The Corporate Governance Review 2020”, which features an overview of the rules in 26 selected jurisdictions worldwide.

In this legal alert we present the impact of the coronavirus pandemic on the energy sector and the regulations provided in the Anti-Crisis Shield.

Due to the spread of the SARS-CoV-2 virus, the functioning of companies’ bodies, including fulfilling their obligations related to implementation of the shareholders’ register, has been significantly impeded. In order to facilitate its implementation by entrepreneurs, pursuant to the Act of 14 May 2020 (Official Journal dated 15 May 2020 item 875) amending certain laws concerning protection measures in connection with the spread of SARS-CoV-2 virus (further, the "Shield 3.0"), which entered into force on 16 May 2020, the deadlines provided by law for the shareholders’ register have been postponed.

The Polish Financial Fund (PFR) offers the Financial Shield consisting of 3 main parts, which will each separately support micro-enterprises, small and medium-sized enterprises, and large enterprises.

In this unusual situation, it is necessary to remember that competition law applies in full. Both international and national antitrust authorities have pointed out that the COVID-19 pandemic does not justify infringements (crisis cartels will not be tolerated). At the same time, the new, broad powers granted to antitrust authorities allow them to interfere with the business activities of entrepreneurs to a large extent. The only positive news for entrepreneurs in the current situation is that they can benefit from numerous forms of state aid.