Reservations

Articles: 8,23,33

Declarations:

13-02-1996
Article 8 - The Authority designated to issue a prior authorization shall be the Ministry of Justice.

Article 23 – the Republic of Poland declares that it will not execute Letters of Request issued for the purpose of obtaining "pre-trial discovery of documents" as known in common law countries.

Article 33 – the Republic of Poland excludes the application on its territory of:
a) the provisions of Article 4, paragraph 2,
b) the provisions of Chapter II, excluding the provisions of Article 15.

29-04-2021
The Republic of Poland takes note of the Declarations submitted by Ukraine on 16 October 2015 regarding the application of the Convention on civil procedure (1954), the Convention on the service abroad of judicial and extrajudicial documents in civil or commercial matters (1965), the Convention on the taking of evidence abroad in civil or commercial matters (1970), the Convention on the recognition and enforcement of decisions relating to maintenance obligations (1973), the Convention on the civil aspects of international child abduction (1980) and the Convention on jurisdiction, applicable law, recognition, enforcement and co-operation in respect of parental responsibility and measures for the protection of children (1996) and of the Declarations submitted by the Russian Federation on 19 July 2016 in relation to the Declarations made by Ukraine.

In relation to the Declarations made by the Russian Federation, the Republic of Poland declares, in accordance with the duty of non-recognition as lawful a situation created by a serious breach by State of an obligation arising under a peremptory norm of general international law and in line with the conclusions of the European Council of 20/21 March 2014, that it does not recognize the illegal referendum in Crimea and the illegal annexation of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea and the city of Sevastopol to the Russian Federation.

As regards the territorial scope of the above Conventions, the Republic of Poland therefore considers that the Conventions in principle continue to apply to the Autonomous Republic of Crimea and the city of Sevastopol as part of the territory of Ukraine.

The Republic of Poland further notes the Declarations by Ukraine that the Autonomous Republic of Crimea and the city of Sevastopol as well as certain districts of the Donetsk and Luhansk oblasts of Ukraine are temporarily not under the control of Ukraine and that the application and implementation by Ukraine of its obligations under the Conventions is limited and not guaranteed in relation to this part of Ukraine's territory, and that only the government of Ukraine will determine the procedure for relevant communication.

As a consequence of the above, the Republic of Poland declares that it will not engage in any direct communication or interaction with authorities in the Autonomous Republic of Crimea and the city of Sevastopol as well as in certain districts of the Donetsk and Luhansk oblasts of Ukraine and will not accept any documents or requests emanating from such authorities or through the authorities of the Russian Federation, but will only engage with the central authorities of Ukraine for the purposes of the application and implementation of the conventions.