Regulatory commission of government and churches
Z Encyklopedia Administracji Publicznej
REGULATORY COMMISSION OF GOVERNMENT AND CHURCHES – special bodies, bringing together representatives of governmental administration and certain churches and religious associations, established in order to return to religious entities immovable property illegally acquired by the state during the existence of the People’s Republic of Poland. These include the Property Commission for the Catholic Church (active in 1990-2011), the Regulatory Commission for the Polish Autocephalous Orthodox Church, the Regulatory Commission for the Evangelical-Augsburg Church in the Republic of Poland, the Regulatory Commission for Jewish Religious Communities, the Inter-Church Regulatory Commission. The legal basis for operation of these four r.c. are the acts that individually determine the relationship of the state to a particular church or religious association, enacted in years 1989-1997. The Inter-Church Regulatory Commission (established in 1998, for six churches) operates on the basis of the Act of 1989 on the guarantees of freedom of conscience and religion. R.c. are parity bodies. The minister competent for internal affairs, in consultation with the ecclesiastical authorities, determines their structure, mode of operation and the amount of remuneration for their members and auxiliary staff. The office service to r.c. is provided by the Service Team in the Department of Religious Denominations and National and Ethnic Minorities in the structures of the ministry subordinate to the minister competent for internal affairs. R.c. are bodies performing sui generis administration of justice in civil matters. The proceedings before them are of a mediation-arbitration nature, their judgments are not subject to an appeal. As a result of the regulatory proceeding it may be possible to restore property rights to church legal persons, to grant replacement property, to grant compensation. It is also possible to enter into a settlement before the panel of judges of the commission. In practice, stakeholders were eager to use this solution [ B. Górowska ].
Literature: D. Walencik, Regulacja spraw majątkowych związków wyznaniowych, [w:] Bilateralizm w stosunkach państwowo-kościelnych, red. M. Bielecki, Lublin 2011.