Our lawyers in media

Developed by The Law Firm Skarbiec „Law Encyclopaedia” is the largest such venture on the Polish market, and its content is available to portals such as:

• Skarbiec.biz
• Money.pl
• Przepis na Biznes
• E-prawnik

Mr Robert Nogacki, the founder of The Law Firm Skarbec.Biz, published among others in journals such as:

• „Banking Law” („Prawo Bankowe”)
• „Banking Information Technology” („Informatyka Bankowa”)
• „Banking Accounting” („Rachunkowość Bankowa”)
• „Banking Bulletin” („Biuletyn Bankowy”)
• „Financial Courier” („Kurier Finansowy”)

The articles of Mr Nogacki and other lawyers of The Law Firm were published by many Internet portals, among others the following:
Skarbiec, Wirtualna Polska, Bankier, Money, Inwestycje, Twoja Firma, NF, Biznes Polska, eGospodarka, TFI, Lokomotywa, Elfin, Forex Trade System, Finanse Osobiste, Blue Chip

Let’s start with a little quiz. Which one of these two presidents, Barack Obama or George W. Bush, has doubled the national debt of the United States? Right-wing voters would probably bet on Obama, while the Left-wing–voters – on Bush. The quiz developed by the American libertarians is a lot of fun, however, as there are no incorrect answers. Both Obama and Bush have doubled the national debt.

According to the plans of the OECD, by the end of September 2017 at least 66 countries, including Poland, will exchange information about bank accounts of individuals. This does not necessarily mean the end of banking secrecy in all the countries of the world. Jurisdictions, which strongly deny admission of standard, are the ones where the validity and ensuring a strict banking secrecy are an important factor in making banking transactions.

Debates about protection of intellectual property rights in the Internet have gone on for years, intensifying on occasions of spectacular events, such as the trials of P2P (peer to peer) network owners and owners of various websites including Napster, Grokster, KaZaA, The Pirate Bay or Rapidshare. But currently a new wave of attacks of large media corporations was directed at hosting service providers, which are as far controversial (the attacks, not the providers) as it is difficult to accuse these portals of dissemination of any specific files, contrary to the P2P formula. In Poland, closing down the popular Kinomaniak website constituted such spectacular event.

Creation of something out of nothing, based on nothing, guaranteed by no one, persuading people that this something is worth anything – we wonder how much longer it will last and how many people will be worse off because of it.

Under pressure from the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), states known for their investors-friendly tax systems (so called ‘tax havens’) for some years have been concluding tax information exchange agreements enabling, in some circumstances, access to information of substantial significance for tax basis, assessment and collection. Poland for instance concluded such agreements with Andorra, Belize, Bahamas, Bermuda, British Virgin Islands, Dominica, Gibraltar, Grenada, Guernsey, Cayman Islands, Liberia, San Marino and Isle of Man.

Since middle of May, a new act on LLP companies is in force in Guernsey, providing unique opportunities for tax planning. Precisely since May 13th, 2014, a limited liability partnership (LLP) can be incorporated in Guernsey, with separate legal personality and unlimited legal capacity. Such company is capable of owning assets and its great advantage lies in its flexibility.

[2014] Jurisprudence has provided two different decisions in identical case matter, namely the contracting authority’s right (or the lack thereof) to disclose information regarded as a trade secret by the economic operator. The regional court in Łódź decided in 2004 that the contracting authority is bound by the economic operator’s stipulation regarding confidentiality of some of the information contained in the offer. It may accept it or may reject the offer, but it has no right to disclose it. In 2005 the Supreme Court of the Republic of Poland declared something completely to the contrary in its resolution: the contracting authority has the right to disclose information which does not satisfy statutory conditions of a trade secret. Is the Supreme Court right and does its resolution constitute the final word in this matter? In my opinion, the resolution in fact only raises more doubts.

Industrial espionage in the form it is performed by the NSA or the CIA, directed against corporations with registered seats in America’s allied states is nothing new, the main newspapers wrote about this 20, 15 and 10 years ago. Clinton made economic spying the priority of its administration, especially when it comes to obtaining information protecting American competitiveness and market advantages, technology and financial security. Industrial espionage was almost equated with the term ‘business intelligence’. The report of the European Parliament published in February in 2000 demonstrated that due to the Echelon programme, American enterprises took advantage and won lucrative, billions-worth contracts over European companies at least twice.

In the middle of May 2012 the High Court in London, marking the end of a 4,5 year legal battle, issued a decision dismissing in its entirety a claim of the Shah family (Jayesh Shah, Shaleetha Mahabeer) – conducting business w Zimbabwe – for damages against HSBC Private Bank (UK) Limited for failing to effect four of Shah’s financial transactions. The reason for failure to execute the client’s instructions was a suspicion – invalid, as it later turned out, – that the transactions constituted money laundering procedures. According to the Shah family, as a result it had suffered losses amounting to over £300 million. The case caused quite a reaction, yet only within the banking and financial circles. It did not echo widely among the public. And that is a shame, because consequences of the dispute and decision are far reaching and long lasting and they by far outreach the Zimbabwean millionaire’s subjective resentment.

Every few weeks the press mentions statistics and reports indicating that as a result of tax havens’ existence cows cease producing milk, children are food deprived and widows mourn their husbands, all because trillions of dollars are sent there. Dollars, whose owners – in view of the reports’ authors, should for some reason be forced to keep their money elsewhere. Preferably in countries with high taxes and developed welfare systems, which would enable that money to be taken away from them and transferred to ‘the poor’, in other words to state administration which is supposed to have the income redistributed.

FATCA provokes common concerns and even fear of an imposed control of capital, prospective investigations, infringement of privacy of dual citizens. Many express doubts with regard to the reality and legitimacy of implementation of its provisions.

A few days ago the American Inland Revenue office paid out 104 million dollars reward to Bradley Birkenfeld – a Swiss banker, who provided the office with data of thousands of American citizens hiding their money in the Swiss UBS bank. This incident may be regarded as a symbolic end of the Swiss banking. No reasonable person can expect that the bankers will be loyal to their clients when facing the choice between prison and a hundred million dollars reward.

For centuries, the freedom to move capital and locate funds abroad has enabled honest, hard-working individuals the opportunity for stable accumulation of savings away from the local political context, arbitrary acts of state authorities and economic crises present in their domestic countries.

On 21 April the Court declared that a German company Schwartz Pharma AG is entitled to receive compensation for late VAT reimbursement. Until the judgment the foreign entrepreneurs had no real legal remedy to claim their rights. On one hand Tax Authorities refused to compensate due to lack of law transparency within that scope and the courts couldn’t find proper legal grounds for such claim on the other.