COVID-19: Key changes in the operations of administrative courts
The current epidemic situation has led the Supreme Administrative Court (NSA) and voivodeship administrative courts to implement a number of major changes in their operations which may be of great importance to all taxpayers whose cases are to be settled by administrative courts.
- Referring all cases to be heard at in-camera sessions
Due to the announcement of the red zone throughout the country, the Supreme Administrative Court and voivodship administrative courts will not hold hearings (the previously scheduled hearings have been cancelled), and all cases will be heard at in-camera sessions.
Hearing a case at an in-camera session does not require prior consent of the parties to the proceedings. This means that the courts will refer all cases to in-camera sessions without the need to obtain an opinion in this regard of the taxpayer or tax authorities.
- No information to be provided on the date of in-camera sessions
According to the information obtained from the Supreme Administrative Court and some of the Voivodeship Administrative Courts, courts will not notify the parties to the proceedings of the date of the scheduled in-camera sessions (notices on the date of an in-camera session will not be served).
Therefore, it may turn out that a given case will be settled – without your knowledge – by the administrative court at an in-camera session, and you will find out about the ruling only after receiving a copy of the operative part or the substantiation of the judgment.
In matters of significant importance to you, we recommend that the case number be determined and the date of the in-camera session be checked on an ongoing basis on the e-wokanda website.
In cases where MDDP employees represent you before administrative courts, we will keep track of information about the appointment of the sessions and inform you about the status of the case. Please inform us if you would be interested in being provided with support in this regard as part of other cases brought before administrative courts.
- What should you do if you do not want the case to be heard at an in-camera session?
If hearing the case at a hearing is of significant importance to you (e.g. in complex cases, where the jurisprudence is inconsistent), it is possible to submit a request for the case to be heard at a hearing at a time when the epidemic situation allows it.
Such a request should be submitted to the administrative court in due time before the scheduled date of an in-camera session. The court is not bound by the application. Therefore, it is worthwhile to properly justify it to prove that the settlement of the case requires a hearing.
It should also be remembered that acceptance of such a request may significantly delay the date of hearing the case.