Newsletter – changes in regulations and interesting decisions – January 2024.
1. The mandatory KSeF will not enter into force in 2024
On 19 January 2024, during a press conference, the Minister of Finance announced that the mandatory National e-Invoicing System (KSeF) will not be launched as planned, this is on 1 July 2024. According to the Ministry, the current state of technical arrangements prevents the safe implementation of this obligation in the coming months. The Ministry commissioned an IT audit of the system.
Although the Ministry ensures that it wants to launch the mandatory KSeF as soon as possible, the new date will be indicated once the audit has been concluded. The results of the audit may trigger the necessary changes to the system.
Postponing the launch of the mandatory KSeF may help companies better prepare for the e-invoicing obligation. According to a survey conducted by TGC Corporate Lawyers and Crowe Polska, only 3% of respondents declare their full readiness to use the e-invoicing system. You can read more about the results of our study here.
2. Protection of whistleblowers – resumption of work on the bill
At the beginning of January 2024, the Prime Minister’s Office announced that the draft law on the protection of whistleblowers, implementing Directive (EU) 2019/1937 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 23 October 2019, has been included in the list of legislative programme works. This directive lays down rules and procedures for the protection of whistleblowers in both the public and private sectors.
The draft of 8 January 2024, developed by the Ministry of Family, Labour and Social Policy, is the seventh draft of the Act on the Protection of Whistleblowers. Poland has not implemented the first tranche of EU whistleblower protection regulations for more than 2 years.
The Whistleblower Protection Act sets out the legal remedies and guarantees to be available to a whistleblower. It imposes an obligation to implement local procedures and confidential channels for reporting breaches of law on entities such as:
The draft law on whistleblowers is to be adopted by the Council of Ministers by the end of the first quarter of this year, or by 31 March. The deadline for entry into force of the new regulations has been shortened to 1 month.
3. 10 most important legal changes from 1 January 2024
TGC Corporate Lawyers and Crowe experts have prepared a summary of the most important regulations in force from 1 January 2024.
4. Insolvency III – free winding-up for insolvent microenterprises
The European Commission is working on the Insolvency-III-Directive introducing simplified winding-up proceedings for insolvent microenterprises, i.e. entities employing up to 10 employees whose turnover does not exceed EUR 2 million per year. According to the proposal, the authority examining a bankruptcy petition will not be able to dismiss the petition even if the debtor is unable to cover the costs of the bankruptcy proceedings.
The main purpose of the amendments is to harmonize the insolvency law in the EU. Member states will be able to decide whether the SME sector will also be covered by the new proceedings. Currently, insolvency laws vary widely from one EU country to another. This leads to large differences in the effectiveness of national insolvency proceedings, which render the cross-border investments less attractive.
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