A documentary letter of credit (L/C) is a form of non-cash monetary settlement made through a bank. It serves to protect the interests of the parties in commercial transactions, particularly in sales contracts. Its essence is the bank’s commitment to pay an appropriate amount of money upon receipt of specific documents, which are assumed to constitute confirmation of the obligation’s fulfillment. The use of letters of credit is now standard in international trade.
General information
From a legal perspective, a documentary letter of credit is a legal relationship between the parties (in the example of a sales contract) the importer (buyer), the exporter (seller), and the bank issuing the letter of credit (buyer’s bank). In some cases, the exporter may wish to utilize the services of its own bank, which can collect the letter of credit documents from the exporter or confirm the letter of credit (intermediary bank). In the sales contract (underlying agreement), the buyer and seller specify that payment for the goods will be made via letter of credit and specify which documents the seller will need to submit to the bank to receive the funds. The agreement commits one party (usually the buyer) to conclude a letter of credit agreement with a specific bank under specific terms. After issuing the letter of credit, the buyer deposits funds. After the seller obtains the documents specified in the sales contract, they submit them to the bank (directly or through an intermediary bank). After the bank examines the documents, the importer receives the funds immediately or after a period specified in the letter of credit agreement. The bank’s obligation to pay the funds is abstract in nature, which means that their payment is not dependent in any way on the underlying agreement, but only on the presentation of the relevant documents.
One of the characteristics of diseases and conditions is that different illnesses often affect people to completely different degrees and with completely different frequencies. With the advancement of modern medicine, organizations have begun to take a more serious look at the problem of rare diseases. However, the diagnosis and treatment of such diseases are still highly problematic. One of the problems associated with this is the low revenue from such drugs. Due to the fact that some diseases are very rare, the cost of the process of developing and introducing them to the market is disproportionate to the expected sales of such drugs. This happens because of a very narrow group of people affected by such diseases. Drugs for these rare diseases are called orphan drugs or orphan medicinal products (Orphan medicinal products).
The Polish Act on the Protection of Health against the Consequences of Using Tobacco and Tobacco Products (Journal of Laws 1996, No. 10, item 55, as amended) has undergone several significant changes in recent years.
On March 31, 2025, a law introducing a ban on the sale of heated tobacco products with a characteristic aroma was signed. It is worth mentioning that Commission Delegated Directive (EU) 2022/2100 of 29 June 2022 amending Directive 2014/40/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council as regards the abolition of certain exemptions for heated tobacco products (OJ L 283, 2022, p. 4), which required EU Member States to introduce such a ban, waited almost 3 years for implementation.
At the time of the act’s signing, work was underway on two further draft bills. The first of these had already been submitted and adopted as the Act of 21 May 2025 amending the Act on the Protection of Health against the Effects of Using Tobacco and Tobacco Products (Journal of Laws of 2025, item 799).
An employment contract and a contract of mandate have their origins in two different regulations. An employment contract is regulated in the Labor Code (Chapter 2, Section 1), while a contract of mandate has its essential negotiating power in Title XXI of the Civil Code. However, an employment contract requires the application of the provisions of the Civil Code regarding, for example, defects in a declaration of intent (Articles 82-88), negotiations, or offers (Articles 66-72). As the Supreme Court noted in its judgment of November 29, 2017, I PK 358/16, LEX No. 2433081, in addition to personal subordination between employer and employee, legal issues are also important due to the various legal consequences these contracts have. A contract of mandate does not obligate the principal and the contractor to conclude an agreement, although regardless of the name of the contract, if it contains the requirements of Article 22 § 1 of the Labor Code, it becomes an employment contract.
The right to withdraw from a contract, which may result from a statute or other generally applicable act or from a contractual provision between the parties, also requires analysis in terms of the type of relationship (B2B, B2C). When it comes to relationships between businesses and consumers, the most important legal acts regulating such relationships in a cross-border context are European regulations, in particular Directive 2011/83/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council of 25 October 2011 on consumer rights, amending Council Directive 93/13/EEC and Directive 1999/44/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council and repealing Council Directive 85/577/EEC and Directive 97/7/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council (hereinafter: Directive 2011/83/EU).
