About the need to restore the honorary court and introduce the parliamentary and senatorial apology to the Polish parliamentary law

There is no universal regulatory model of parliamentary ethics. The issues of parliamentary ethics are regulated in various countries by acts of varying degrees, usually statutes and parliamentary standing orders. There are countries where redress for abusive conduct of MPs is subject to general rules such as civil liability. Law in other states provides specific sanctions and means of redress for breach of ethics. Traditional forms of redress, referring to the rules of honor procedure of knighthood and nobility, include various forms of apology: personal, written, in mass media, and a particularly interesting type of apologies – to the whole parliament (chambers) as an offended “person”. The inter-war history of the Polish parliament provides an interesting example of an honorary court institution that dealt with cases of offence of one member by the other and the marshal’s court – gathering in case of the violation of the honor of a member by a non-parliamentarian. The honorary court survived until the first years of the communist period. Since 1997, there has been a parliamentary commission in the Polish Parliament, whose mode of operation and system of sanctions’ apply – does not meet its task. The aim of this article is to propose innovative and restorative changes in the area of the subject matter in Poland -- first of all – the restoration of court of Honour and the introduction of an apology from MPs and Senators for breach of ethics.

Parliamentary inviolability and COVID-19

The article is devoted to the relationship between the institution of parliamentary inviolability and certain measures used to prevent or combat infectious diseases, including COVID- 19. Article 105 sec. 5 of the Constitution of the Republic of Poland prohibits deprivation or restriction of freedom of a member of parliament without the consent of the competent chamber, except his apprehension in the act of committing a crime and if a detention is necessary to ensure the proper course of the proceedings. At the same time, anti-epidemic regulations relating, inter alia, to COVID-19, provides for the possibility to apply measures such as quarantine, home isolation or forced hospitalization that appear to conflict with constitutional regulation of parliamentary inviolability. Furthermore, the law foresees a possibility to apply direct coercion to people resisting the application of such measures. The authors, relying on the concept of assessing the value of legally protected goods, developed by Constitutional Tribunal, conclude that, despite the lack of an explicit constitutional regulation in this regard, it is possible to apply anti-epidemic regulations to members of the Polish parliament. In this case, values such as human life and health prevail over the legal good protected by the institution of parliamentary inviolability.

Protection of personal data based on the example of the Senator’s office

The concept of personal data protection is currently a very important topic. This is the result of the entry into force of the Regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council on the protection of individuals with regard to the processing of personal data and on the free flow of such data, which came into force on May 25 this year. Personal data and their protection is an area that applies to every citizen. It should be stated that there are more and more ways of collecting data. It also involves a special need to protect them. There are many reasons that imply the need for a broad regulation of personal data protection rules. A senational office is one of the places where personal data is constantly collected and which, during its functioning, is obliged to ensure data security. The processing of personal data by the Senator’s office is related to the tasks performed by them, including the basic duty which is to provide services for the senator. For the proper processing of data, there are many different documents, including a privacy policy that comprehensively defi nes the protection of personal data in the senator’s office. This article analyzes the law on the performance of a deputy and senator’s mandate, which is the basis for the Senator’s duties. The legal acts have been juxtaposed with several items in the literature presenting the position of the representatives of the doctrine. Undoubtedly, this article is based on the legal-dogmatic method.

Constitutional Status of the Speaker of the Senate

This article aims to highlight the issue of the constitutional status of the Speaker of the Senate by analyzing the constitutional position, powers as well as the election and removal procedure of the Speaker of the Senate. In addition, this paper includes a consideration of the Speaker of the Senate as a State organ, his powers related to the President of the Republic of Poland, as well as the Speaker of the Senate presiding over the proceedings of the chamber and guarding its rights and responsibility for taken actions.