Pecuniary performance in Polish law

Abstract

The article aims to describe the institution of pecuniary performance in the Polish civil law system, taking into account EU regulations and case law of the Polish Supreme Court. Due to its importance for civil law transactions, pecuniary performance is regulated separately both at the level of general and specific regulations. These regulations are contained in the Civil Code and special laws, including those relating to bank agreements. In particular, the Act recognizes nominalism as the basic principle for providing pecuniary performance in the strictest sense, introduces the possibility of judicial and contractual valorization of such performance and regulates the principles for providing pecuniary performances, including those expressed in foreign currency. The Act also regulates the institution of interest. This applies, in particular, to the title to collect interest, types of interest (ordinary interest; interest for default, including interest for delay in commercial transactions), the amount of interest (including interest specified by the Act if the amount of interest is not otherwise specified), together with the determination of a maximum amount (maximum interest, maximum interest for delay) and the prohibition of anatocism (compound interest), including exceptions to the prohibition. In some cases, however, the statutory regulation turns out to be incomplete, unclear or not in line with the current situation in civil law transactions. For these reasons, courts face the challenge of resolving a dispute on the basis of general regulations, including those concerning the rules of fulfilling the obligation. This applies, in particular, to the issue of the statute of limitations regarding claims for interest, changes in the amount of interest during the term of the obligation and the effectiveness or the rules of performance of loan agreements denominated or indexed to a currency other than the Polish currency, concluded before 21 July 2017.