Poland embarked on the updating its secured transactions system by passing the Act on Registered Pledge and Register of Pledges in 1996. The drafters combined the experience of the pre-WW II separate acts allowing creation of non-possessory security in certain specific asset classes (such as timber) with the contemporary models (EBRD Model Law). A distinct register was set up for registration of security interests on movables, rights and claims; it now operates electronically. A version of a floating charge version also introduced as well (called security on economic units or organized parts thereof). Through a parallel changes to the Code of Civil Procedure, private enforcement of such enterprises became possible as well. Private (self-help) repossession of collateral, however, is prohibited.
Another interesting features of the Polish system is that the entries in the register of ‘registered pledges’ is synchronized with the registers of security interests on motor vehicles as well as of civilian aircraft and industrial property rights. Thus, for example, if a ‘registered pledge’ is established on a registered motor vehicle, that is reported to the body in charge and thus the information will be displayed in the certificate of title of that vehicle (Article 12 of the Act.) The registration system is a document-filing system. Yet it is being criticized primarily for the role courts play in the process of creation of security interests.
Register of Pledges (in Polish)
Literature:
John A. Spanogle, ‘Secured Transactions Law in Eastern Europe: the Polish Experiences as an Example’, 31 T. Jefferson L. Rev. 279 (March, 2009), at 288. Available at http://www.tjeffersonlrev.org/sites/tjeffersonlrev.org/files/31-02-02-Spanogle.pdf
Krzysztof Kazmierczyk & Filip Kijowski, ‘Enforcement of Contracts in Poland’, in: Stefan Messmann & Tibor Tajti (eds), The Case Law of Central and Eastern Europe – Enforcement of Contracts (European University Press, Bochum, 2009) 607-646.
Secured Transactions Law Reform Project 