Encyklopedia Administracji Publicznej MW Pivot Skin

SUPREME ADMINISTRATIVE COURT (SAC, Polish NSA) – the constitutional body of the judiciary, the court of second instance in the administrative court system recognizing the cassation appeals against the judgments or decisions finalising the proceedings before the administrative court of first instance (voivodship administrative court – vac). The SAC, additionally, adopts resolutions aimed at clarifying the legal provisions whose application caused discrepancies in the jurisprudence of the vac and resolutions resolving legal issues that raise serious doubts in a particular court-administrative case. The SAC is also responsible for settling disputes over jurisdiction among local-government bodies and among local-government boards of appeals and jurisdiction disputes among the bodies of these units and government administration bodies. The means to initiate a proceeding is a cassation appeal which is bound by a mandatory representation by a lawyer (the appeal must be prepared by an attorney or a legal counsel, in tax matters also by a tax advisor, in the case of industrial property by a patent attorney). The SAC was introduced into the judicial system in 1980 as a one-instance court with remote centres, subjected to judicial oversight by the Supreme Court. As of 1st January 2004, as a result of the introduction of two-instance administrative judiciary, the SAC functions as a court of second instance, supervising the activities of administrative courts of the first instance (vac). The SAC consists of the President of the SAC (appointed by the President of the Republic of Poland for a six-year term from among two candidates submitted by the General Assembly of the SAC judges), the SAC vice-presidents and judges. The SAC’s bodies are: the president of the SAC, the general assembly of the judges of SAC and the college of the SAC. The SAC is based in Warsaw (→ administrative judiciary) [ A. Mirska ].

Literature: Polskie sądownictwo administracyjne – zarys systemu [Polish administrative judiciary – an outline of the system], ed. Z. Kmieciak, Warszawa 2017.