Interlocutory appeal and appeal in a Polish fiscal criminal case — the deadlines with no way back

Fiscal criminal cases are most often lost not in the courtroom but in the calendar. The deadlines for challenging a ruling here are short and final, and they run from events that are easy to miss — from the delivery of the judgment in open court rather than its service, or from a notice left at an address you moved out of long ago. See how we run criminal and fiscal criminal cases.

Appeal or interlocutory appeal — what is challenged by what

Cases concerning fiscal offences and fiscal petty offences are governed, as appropriate, by the Code of Criminal Procedure (Article 113(1) of the Fiscal Penal Code), so the remedies are the same as in an ordinary criminal case. A judgment is challenged by an appeal. Orders and directions are challenged by an interlocutory appeal: an order securing claims against the company’s accounts, a refusal of an evidentiary motion, an order on costs.

The distinction matters in practice, because two different clocks can run in one case, counted from two different events. The one that usually expires is the shorter one nobody thought about — and it decides whether the case ever reaches the appellate court at all.

The deadlines after which there is nothing left to save

Four numbers that in practice decide everything:

• 7 days from the judgment being delivered in open court — to request written reasons (Article 422(1) of the Code of Criminal Procedure). Without that request an appeal simply cannot be filed.
• 14 days from service of the judgment with its written reasons — to file the appeal (Article 445(1)).
• 7 days from the delivery or service of an order — to file an interlocutory appeal (Article 460).
• 7 days from service of a penal order — to file an objection (Article 506(1)); after that the penal order becomes final.

The penal order — the most common trap in fiscal cases

A large share of fiscal criminal cases ends with a penal order issued in chambers, without a hearing and without the accused taking part. People learn about the conviction from correspondence, and sometimes only from the bailiff — because the letter was left for collection at an old address while the seven-day clock ran anyway.

An objection is the simplest and most effective tool here: it needs no reasons, and filing it deprives the penal order of effect so the case goes to a normal hearing. Once that deadline has passed, what remains is a far harder route, which we describe in our text on reopening a fiscal criminal case.

The steps that decide the case earlier than any appeal

Challenging the judgment is the last stage. What decides the outcome earlier are the steps nobody takes on your behalf: reading the case file, evidentiary motions filed before the court closes the hearing, an interlocutory appeal against security that freezes the company accounts, and — in fiscal cases — an application for voluntary submission to liability (Article 17 of the Fiscal Penal Code), which must be filed before the indictment reaches the court.

A separate matter is the requirement of professional representation. A party cannot draft an appeal against a regional court judgment themselves: the document must be drawn up and signed by an advocate or a legal counsel (Article 446(1) of the Code of Criminal Procedure). The same requirement applies to an application to reopen proceedings (Article 545(2)). This is not a formality to work around: a document filed without that signature produces no effect, and the clock keeps running.

How we work and what it costs

We begin by reading the file — only the file shows whether there is still something to challenge or whether a deadline needs rescuing. We quote after that review, for a specific stage rather than by the hour, so you know upfront what an appeal or an objection costs. What to look at when choosing a lawyer for a case like this is covered in our text on how to choose a law firm.

When the deadline has already passed

A final deadline is not lost forever. If it was missed for reasons beyond the party’s control, within 7 days of the obstacle ceasing you may apply to have it restored, filing at the same time the document the deadline concerned (Article 126 of the Code of Criminal Procedure). The reason has to be substantiated, though — "I did not collect the letter" is not one in itself; what counts is why you could not collect it.

How we start

Send us the judgment or the order together with the envelope it arrived in. The postmark and the collection notice are often the only evidence of when the deadline really started running — and sometimes they are what saves the case.

In a fiscal criminal case the first seven days are worth more than the whole six months that follow. See how we run criminal and fiscal criminal cases. We normally read a case file within one working day.