Amendments to judicial curators

The Act amends the Act of 27.7.2001 on Judicial Curators (Journal of Laws of 2020 item 167; hereinafter: KurSądU). According to the Regulatory Impact Assessment, during the application of the Act, curators pointed to many factors reducing the efficiency of their work. These include, among others, interpretational doubts regarding the applicable implementing rules, excessive workload, inaccuracies of supervision of the work of judicial curators. The amendment assumes a number of structural changes concerning the appropriate standardisation of the employment of curators, introduces changes in disciplinary proceedings, establishes uniform rules for recruitment to the curatorial service, ensures the rational usage of the curatorial staff. The National Board of Curators, on the 1 hand, stresses that the changes made meet the current needs of their profession, but on the another hand expresses concern that the provisions governing disciplinary proceedings infringe Article 45 of the Polish Constitution and Article 6 of the ECHR. She so asked the president of Poland to mention the act to the Constitutional Court.

Appointment of a curator

In accordance with the fresh wording of Article 5 of the Court of Justice a curator may be appointed who holds Polish citizenship and enjoys full civilian and civilian rights; he is an immaculate character; his wellness allows him to carry out his duties; has a master's degree in psychology or law, either a degree in education in these fields or in sociology and pedagogy, or a postgraduate degree in the above field; took the curatorial application and passed the curatorial examination.

fresh Privileges

The Act introduces a title certified probation officer. This honorary title will be obtained after working for at least 20 years as a probationary officer, including 5 years as a probationary specialist, and in connection with having a applicable professional acquis.

Curators will be granted additional lump sums for the usage of private vehicles for business purposes. The lump sum will besides be increased for conducting interviews in executive proceedings, as well as for overseeing and supervising.

If necessary, curators will receive psychological assistanceto be allocated with or upon their request.

As a consequence of the moving of the curatorial centre, a functional allowance in the form of a lump sum will be introduced.

Disciplinary proceedings

The procedure for disciplinary proceedings in the case of curators has been changed, which has aroused many emotions. The procedure is to be two-instance. In the first instance, a disciplinary court is to be held in a territory court in a 3-member composition, and in the second instance, a territory court in the composition of 3 judges. The disciplinary officer will be appointed from now on by the president of the territory Court from among the curators of the territory concerned, not from the territory gathering of curators. It will only elect members of the disciplinary court of the first instance.

The territory curator will be appointed by the Minister of Justice from among the curators of the district. 3 candidates will be submitted by the president of the territory Court and a territory curators' assembly. It will be possible to appoint a individual outside the territory to this office due to the welfare of the probationary judicial service. This change became the subject of allegations of unconstitutionality, as local governments lost their right to participate in the management process. The current legal state provided for the appointment of a territory curator by the president of the territory court among the candidates selected by the territory curators' assembly.