Independence of prosecutors and the Public Prosecutor’s Office – new solutions against the background of the current controversies (some remarks on the Act of 28 January 2016 – Law on the Public Prosecutor’s Office)

Abstract

The functioning in practice of the independence of the public prosecutor’s office and individual prosecutors in Poland has been examined. First, the solutions adopted upon completion of the Round Table discussion are presented, taking into consideration the constitutional provisions then adopted. Next the European standards approved by European organisations and in particular the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe and the Venice Commission regarding assurance of the independence of the judiciary are discussed and confronted with the statutory solutions that have till date applied in Poland.

A fair assessment of the functioning and the regime of the public prosecutor’s office has been made in the context of the implementation of the amendments of 2009 to the law on the public prosecutor’s office, showing that no further amendments to, or changes in the existing status quo are necessary. In the third part of the paper, the recent provisions adopted directly with regards to the independence of prosecutors and the public prosecutor’s office are presented, although their actual assessment will only be possible once the new law has come into force.