Contracts in business transactions according to Polish law

Abstract

The article aims to familiarize the Russian reader with the issue of contracts concluded by professional entities (entrepreneurs) under the Polish legal system. Undoubtedly, the majority of all contracts concluded by private law bodies are trade contracts. It should be noted that the concept of trade contracts covers contracts in which both parties are professionals as well as those in which only one of the parties acts as an entrepreneur conducting their business. The article discusses 8 contracts as follows: contract of agency, contract of consignment, contract of carriage, contract of forwarding, bailment, contract of storage, delivery contract and leasing contract. They are a compilation of typical contracts traditionally concluded in business transactions. Their choice was determined both by the scale of their use in practice and their importance for commercial activity. At the same time, as highlighted in the paper, due to the freedom of contract principle under the Polish law of obligations, these contracts may be (and often are) used as model solutions that entrepreneurs will rely on when entering into legal relations that are not explicitly indicated in the Polish legal system (so-called unnominated contracts). In conclusion, attention is drawn to the challenges the Polish legislator faces today in the field of contract law due to contemporary economic changes. Furthermore, the threats posed by both excessively strict legislation and a lack of proper regulation are identified along with a recommended solution aimed at reconciling these diverging positions. According to this suggestion, in order to grant a normative form to unnominated contracts, commonly concluded in business transactions, concrete measures should be taken only in the form of guidelines, non-binding proposals that can be used by entrepreneurs to guarantee a minimum level of protection for parties to such contracts.