Published: 2024-09-25

Protection of company secrets under the Polish Code of Administrative Procedure: observations on existing law and suggestions for amendments

Jan Trzciński
Zeszyty Prawnicze
Section: Artykuły
https://doi.org/10.21697/zp.2024.24.3.10

Abstract

The aim of this paper is to examine the admissibility and method of protection of company secrets under the Polish Administrative Procedure Code (Kodeks Postępowania Administracyjnego). Despite the extensive regulation of company secrets both in the Polish and European legal systems, this issue has not been addressed by the Polish legislator with regard to general administrative proceedings. To determine the potential protection, we must look at the systemic and purposive interpretation of the provisions the Code offers. That is why I want to determine the object and scope of this protection, and consider whether it might be advisable to define the concept of the businessman’s or entrepreneur’s secrets, in addition to company secrets. I present the sources of the protection offered for company secrets by the Code of Administrative Procedure. In my opinion, corroborated by the jurisprudence and judgments handed down in Poland’s administrative courts, this protection arises primarily from the Code’s Article 74 (exclusion of access to records of a given case), applied in connection with the relevant provisions of the Constitution of the Republic of Poland. In addition, protection of company secrets may also be derived from the Code’s Articles 31 (NGO rights) and 83 (administrative hearings).

Keywords:

company secret, general administrative proceedings, data protection.

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Citation rules

Trzciński, J. (2024). Protection of company secrets under the Polish Code of Administrative Procedure: observations on existing law and suggestions for amendments. Zeszyty Prawnicze, 24(3), 189–212. https://doi.org/10.21697/zp.2024.24.3.10

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