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Service contracts are commonly concluded in everyday life. We may include in this type of contracts, contracts for the organization of sports, educational or childcare activities.

Such agreements are usually concluded for a specified period (for example, one year in the case of admission to sports or ‘term’ in relation to educational activities) and should generally not be terminated before the end of the period for which they were concluded.

However, the current situation is extraordinary, which is often the reason why service providers are unable to perform contracts (even for reasons articulated in the regulations limiting the effects of an epidemic).

In such a situation, the provisions on the consequential impossibility of performance may apply, i.e. article 475 of the Civil Code. According to it, “if a performance becomes impossible due to circumstances for which the debtor is not liable, the obligation expires.”.

What about the situation, when the payment was made in advance for the entire contract period?

In many cases it will be possible to apply article 495 § 1 of the Civil Code, according to which “the party which was to make the performance cannot demand the reciprocal performance, and, if it had already received it, it is obliged to return it according to the provisions on unjust enrichment.”.

To simplify a bit – in many cases, the provider not only cannot demand payment from the consumer, but is obliged to refund the sum, which was already paid in advance. However, it should be consulted that each case should be assessed individually.

The global pandemic of the COVID-19 virus announced last week by the WHO forced many employers to drastically reorganize the functioning of workplaces, and sowed uncertainty about the stability of employment and remuneration among employees.

In extreme cases, the functioning of enterprises was completely suspended.

This is particularly evident in the sports, entertainment, tourist and commercial industries.

Although the Polish Labor Code does not explicitly mention a global pandemic, it provides for situations of so-called “downtime”.

I am talking about the regulation contained in art. 81 § 1 of the Labor Code.

Pursuant to the aforementioned provision, an employee ready to perform work, who, however, suffered obstacles in this regard, is entitled to remuneration resulting from his personal grade, determined by hourly or monthly rate.

If the parties to the employment contract did not separate such components of remuneration, for example, the employee receives a commission remuneration, then the employee will receive 60% of the remuneration.

In each case, however, this remuneration may not be lower than the amount of the minimum remuneration for work (and therefore from PLN 2,600.00).

Although the provision mentions “experiencing obstacles for employer reasons,” the doctrine will classify the effects of a pandemic in this way. This may result from the general rule that the employee does not bear the risk associated with the employer’s activities.

It is also worth adding that during the period of quarantine, the remuneration is paid on the same terms as in the case of illness. The law firm’s team will follow legislative work and keep you informed of any significant changes on an ongoing basis.

On December 20^th, 2019, the compromise was reached as to the wording of the so-called “Mobility Package”.

Draft regulations were adopted in three areas:

1. Draft regulation relating to access to the profession and to the market;
2. Draft regulation relating to driving times and rest periods and tachographs;
3. Draft directive relating to enforcement and posting drivers in the road transport sector.

Below are examples of organizationally relevant requirements for transport companies.

It will be required to organize fleet traffic in such a way to ensure that vehicles at the disposal of the undertaking and used in international carriage return to one of the operational centres in that Member State at least within eight weeks after leaving it.

Meeting of the above requirement will probably be easy to verify based on modern tachographs equipped with a GPS module.

Furthermore, it is worth to note the restrictions on cabotage. Road transport undertakings are not allowed to carry out cabotage operations, with the same vehicle, or, in the case of a coupled combination, the motor vehicle of that same vehicle, in the same Member State within 4 days following the end of its cabotage operation in that Member State.

This may be a significant limitation for carriers from Latvia, Estonia, Lithuania, Romania and Bulgaria.

These revolutionary changes will most likely come into effect in the last quarter of 2021, so there is not much time left for legal and operational preparations. In the next entries we will introduce some details of the new regulations.