The Polish Civil Code states that the claims limitation period related to running a business is 3 years. This applies, for instance, to claims from insurance contracts, construction works contracts, and lease agreements. However, the rules provide for a number of exceptions.
A two-year deadline is stipulated for claims:
- from a sales agreement, craftsmen’s claims from this and claims from running a farm for the sale of agricultural produce;
- from supply agreements;
- from contracting agreements;
- from specific task contracts;
- from bank account agreements, with the exception of a claim for the refund of savings deposits (here, 3 years);
- from a personal service contract regarding claims for the fee for activities performed and for the reimbursement of expenses incurred, as well as for advances paid to the contractor;
- arising in the area of hotelier activities from receivables due on a flat that is supplied, maintenance and services provided, as well as expenses incurred with respect to people who use the services of such enterprises. This also applies to catering companies, respectively.
A one-year deadline is stipulated for claims:
- from agreements for the carriage of persons or goods;
- from a tenancy agreement with respect to a landlord’s claims on a tenant for compensation for damage to or deterioration of property, as well as the tenant’s claim on the landlord for the reimbursement of outlay on an item or for the reimbursement of overpaid rent;
- from a depot agreement;
- from a forwarding contract, whereby claims due to the forwarder on carriers and further forwarders, which the forwarder used when transporting consignments expire within 6 months of the date that the forwarder remedied the damage.
The parties to the agreement cannot agree that they will apply a different claims limitation period than specified in the regulations. Such a contractual provision is ineffective. What the parties can do is to arbitrarily determine the moment that the claim falls due, which will affect the start and end dates of the claim limitation period.
Similarly, in each case, the entrepreneur should make sure which claims limitation period applies to him. The limitation period can never be assumed in advance. The entrepreneur must also be aware of the passage of time when negotiating with the debtor the manner in which the debtor satisfies the obligation. Negotiations are often a very long process, during which it is easy to forget about short limitation periods and lose the chance to recover the amounts due.