Pursuant to Article 1251 of the Constitution of the Republic of Poland, a nationwide referendum may be held in respect of matters of particular importance to the State. The rules and procedure for the organisation of the nationwide referendum are provided for in the Act of 14 March 2003 on the Nationwide Referendum (consolidated text Journal of Laws of 2020, item 851, as amended).
The entities specified in the Act on the Nationwide Referendum shall, at the latest on the 40th day before the day of the referendum, notify the National Electoral Commission (PKW) of their intention to exercise the right to participate in the referendum campaign in programmes of public radio and television broadcasters. The PKW, on the basis of the documents attached to the notification and listed in detail in the Act on the Nationwide Referendum, issues a certificate of the entitlement to participate in the referendum campaign or refuses to issue such a certificate. The decision of the PKW is adopted in the form of a resolution, which may be appealed to the Supreme Court.
TIME LIMIT
The complaint shall be lodged within 3 days of the date of delivery of the decision on the refusal to issue a certificate.
WHO CAN LODGE A COMPLAINT
The right to lodge a complaint shall be vested in the entity to which the certificate has been refused (political party, MP club, senatorial club, parliamentary club, association, social organisation, foundation, representative of citizens submitting a referendum initiative). Such an entity, in accordance with the rules of representation, may appoint a professional representative (advocate, attorney-at-law).
HOW TO LODGE A COMPLAINT
The complaint should be lodged directly to the Supreme Court (at the Service Desk for the Public in the Supreme Court building in Warsaw at pl. Krasińskich 2/4/6, office 0N39, from Monday to Friday 8.30-15.30).
A complaint lodged with a postal operator, must be received by the Supreme Court before the time limit for lodging it, therefore sending the complaint by post does not guarantee that the time limit for lodging the complaint is met (Article 9(1) of the Electoral Code in conjunction with Article 92 (1) of the Act on the Nationwide Referendum).
The regulations do not provide for lodging a complaint in any other form than in writing. The complaint must also be signed in accordance with the rules of representation of the entity. Lodging a complaint via email or the ePUAP system, signing it by persons not authorised to represent the entity or contrary to the rules of representation, does not meet the requirement.
IMPORTANT
The complaint must meet the general conditions of a pleading as specified in Article 126 of the Code of Civil Procedure (CCP) and be free of formal deficiencies. Due to the short time limit for the examination of the complaint, it is not possible to summon the entity lodging it to supplement any deficiencies of the complaint.
DECISION
The Supreme Court shall examine the complaint in a 3-judge bench in non‑contentious proceedings within 5 days.
The Supreme Court may:
1. Declare the complaint to be well-founded, then the PKW shall immediately issue a certificate of the entitlement to participate in the referendum campaign in programmes of public radio and television broadcasters.
2. Dismiss the complaint if it finds it unfounded.
3. Reject the complaint if the complaint is lodged by an unauthorised person or after the time limit, or contains other formal deficiencies.
4. Discontinue the proceedings (e.g. if the complaint is withdrawn).
There is no legal remedy against a decision of the Supreme Court.