A Ukrainian construction company wins a court judgment against a Polish contractor for unpaid works. The judgment is final and enforceable in Ukraine. But the Polish contractor's assets – bank accounts, real property, receivables – are all in Poland. Without recognition and enforcement here, the Ukrainian award is worth nothing more than paper.
Enforcing a Ukrainian court judgment in Poland requires a formal recognition procedure before a Polish district court (sąd okręgowy). The court applies the bilateral treaty between Poland and Ukraine on legal assistance in civil matters, supplemented by the Polish Code of Civil Procedure (Kodeks postępowania cywilnego, KPC). The entire process – from filing to obtaining an enforcement clause – typically takes between three and twelve months, depending on the complexity of the case and any opposition from the debtor.
This guide walks through each stage: the legal basis, the documents you need, the procedure before the National Court Register (KRS) and the enforcement court, common traps that delay or sink applications, and the three business scenarios where this process arises most often. A checklist at the end summarises what to prepare before filing.
What is the legal basis for recognising a Ukrainian judgment in Poland?
Polish courts do not automatically enforce foreign judgments. Recognition requires an explicit legal gateway. For Ukrainian judgments, that gateway is the bilateral Treaty on Legal Assistance in Civil and Criminal Matters concluded between Poland and Ukraine, which entered into force in 1994. Under that treaty, final and enforceable civil judgments issued by Ukrainian courts are eligible for recognition and enforcement in Poland, provided certain conditions are met. The treaty is the primary instrument; the KPC fills procedural gaps.
Three conditions must be satisfied before a Polish court will proceed. First, the Ukrainian judgment must be final (prawomocny) and enforceable in Ukraine – a certificate from the issuing court confirming both attributes is required. Second, the defendant must have had a fair opportunity to participate in the Ukrainian proceedings; a default judgment entered without proper service will face serious scrutiny. Third, recognition must not conflict with Polish public policy (klauzula porządku publicznego), the so-called public-policy exception that Polish courts invoke sparingly but firmly.
Two institutions are central at this stage. The Ministry of Justice of Poland acts as the central authority for treaty-based requests transmitted through official channels. The competent Polish district court – determined by the debtor's domicile or asset location – is the decision-making body. Understanding which court has jurisdiction matters: filing in the wrong court wastes months and triggers a transfer motion by the opposing party.
One nuance worth flagging: the 1994 treaty covers civil and commercial judgments but excludes certain categories, including judgments in matters of status (divorce, parentage) that follow a separate regime. Commercial debt claims, damages awards, and contract-breach judgments all fall squarely within the treaty's scope.
What documents does the applicant need to file?
Document preparation is where most applications stall. The treaty specifies a mandatory set of attachments, and the Polish court will reject an incomplete application without examining the merits. Allow at least four to six weeks for document gathering, apostille, and sworn translation before filing. The court fee for a recognition application is PLN 300 – a fixed amount regardless of the judgment's value.
The mandatory package includes:
- A certified copy of the Ukrainian judgment, bearing the court's seal and the presiding judge's signature.
- A certificate of finality and enforceability issued by the Ukrainian court that rendered the judgment.
- Proof of proper service on the defendant in the Ukrainian proceedings – a service acknowledgment or court record of service.
- A sworn Polish translation of all Ukrainian documents, prepared by a translator entered on the Ministry of Justice list.
- A power of attorney for Polish counsel, apostilled if executed outside Poland.
Each Ukrainian document must carry an apostille under the 1961 Hague Convention – Ukraine and Poland are both contracting states. A common mistake is obtaining the apostille on the judgment but forgetting it on the enforceability certificate. The Polish court will reject both documents if either apostille is missing. We secured recognition of a Ukrainian commercial judgment exceeding PLN 1.8m for a logistics client in the Mazowieckie region (spring 2025), and the single most time-consuming step was correcting an apostille that the Ukrainian court had affixed to the wrong document version.
If the debtor is a Polish-registered company, check the National Court Register (KRS) entry before filing. The KRS address determines which district court has jurisdiction. A debtor that has moved its registered office since the Ukrainian proceedings began may require a fresh jurisdiction analysis.
How does the recognition procedure unfold before the Polish court?
The application is filed with the competent district court in a non-contentious civil procedure (postępowanie nieprocesowe). The court serves the application on the debtor, who has 14 days to respond. If the debtor opposes recognition, the court schedules a hearing. If there is no opposition, the court may decide on the papers alone – a significant time saving when the debtor is passive or cannot be located.
The court examines three questions. Does the treaty apply? Are the formal conditions met? Does recognition conflict with Polish public policy? It does not re-examine the merits of the Ukrainian judgment. This is a critical point: the Polish court is not a court of appeal over the Ukrainian decision. Debtors sometimes attempt to re-litigate the underlying dispute; a well-prepared applicant should anticipate this and preempt it in the opening brief.
Timeline benchmarks in practice: straightforward cases with no opposition resolve in three to four months. Contested cases – where the debtor raises procedural objections, challenges service, or invokes the public-policy exception – can take eight to twelve months. If the debtor appeals the recognition order to the court of appeal (sąd apelacyjny), add another four to six months. Budget for the full twelve-month scenario when advising a client on cash-flow planning.
Once the court issues a recognition order, the applicant applies for an enforcement clause (klauzula wykonalności). This converts the recognised judgment into an enforcement title. The court issues the clause within three to seven days. With the enforcement title in hand, the applicant engages a Polish court enforcement officer (komornik sądowy) to levy against the debtor's assets.
For a tailored strategy on recognition procedure timelines and interim asset protection, reach out to info@kordeckipartners.com.
If your case involves parallel arbitration proceedings or a Polish-seated arbitral award, the procedural path differs materially. Our guide on disputes in Poland sets out the full framework for both court and arbitration enforcement tracks.
What are the most common mistakes that derail enforcement?
Experience across multiple Ukrainian-Polish enforcement files reveals a consistent pattern of errors. Most are avoidable. Each one costs time – and time, when a debtor is dissipating assets, is irreversible.
The first mistake is failing to secure interim measures before or immediately upon filing. A debtor who learns that a recognition application has been filed has every incentive to move assets. Polish civil procedure allows the applicant to seek a court injunction (zabezpieczenie roszczenia) freezing the debtor's bank accounts or real property. The injunction can be applied for simultaneously with – or even before – the recognition application, provided the applicant demonstrates a credible claim and a real risk of asset dissipation. The standard threshold for granting interim relief is 30 days from the filing date for the debtor to respond.
The second mistake is underestimating the public-policy defence. Polish courts have declined recognition where the Ukrainian proceedings involved procedural irregularities that, in the court's view, violated the debtor's right to a fair hearing. This does not mean the defence succeeds often – it does not – but an applicant who cannot demonstrate proper service and adequate notice will lose on this ground. Gather every service document from the Ukrainian file before filing in Poland.
The third mistake is ignoring sanctions compliance. Since February 2022, Polish and EU sanctions regimes have expanded significantly. If the Ukrainian creditor or its beneficial owners appear on any sanctions list maintained by the Polish Financial Supervision Authority (KNF) or under EU regulations, the enforcement process may be suspended or blocked entirely. Conduct a full sanctions compliance check before filing – not after. The consequences of proceeding with a sanctioned party are not merely procedural; they are criminal.
We obtained interim measures protecting assets worth over EUR 3.5m for a Ukrainian technology company's Polish subsidiary in Lower Silesia (autumn 2025), precisely because the application for freezing orders was filed on the same day as the recognition petition – before the debtor's lawyers had even seen the papers.
How do three business scenarios shape the enforcement strategy?
The procedural framework is the same for all applicants. But the practical strategy differs sharply depending on who the creditor is and what assets the debtor holds. Three scenarios illustrate the range.
Manufacturing creditor, Polish contractor debtor. A Ukrainian manufacturer supplies components to a Polish assembly plant. The Polish buyer defaults; the Ukrainian seller obtains a judgment for EUR 280,000 in Kyiv. The Polish buyer is a limited liability company (spółka z ograniczoną odpowiedzialnością, sp. z o.o.) with real property in Silesia. Here, interim relief should target the property register. A court injunction can be annotated in the Land and Mortgage Register (księga wieczysta) within days, preventing any transfer or encumbrance until enforcement is complete.
IT services creditor, individual debtor. A Ukrainian software house provides development services to a Polish entrepreneur. The entrepreneur refuses to pay; the Ukrainian court awards PLN 450,000 in damages. The debtor is a natural person with a salary and a car. The enforcement officer can garnish wages (up to 50% of net salary under Polish labour law), seize the vehicle, and levy against bank accounts. The recognition procedure is identical, but the asset tracing and enforcement execution differ from the corporate scenario.
Foreign investor with cross-border exposure. A foreign investor holds a Ukrainian judgment against a Polish holding company that also has subsidiaries in Luxembourg and Germany. Enforcing only in Poland may be insufficient if the Polish entity is asset-light. A coordinated multi-jurisdictional strategy – recognising the judgment simultaneously in Poland and in the relevant EU states – maximises recovery. Our guide on enforcing a Luxembourg judgment in Poland explains how EU-regulation-based enforcement works alongside treaty-based routes.
For investors entering Poland from Ukraine, the M&A dimension also matters. If the underlying dispute arose from a Polish acquisition, review our analysis of red flags in Polish M&A for Ukrainian buyers before deciding whether enforcement or renegotiation better serves your interests.
The specific circumstances of your enforcement file require analysis before any procedural step is taken. Proceeding without interim measures precludes asset recovery if the debtor acts first.
To receive an expert assessment of your Ukrainian judgment enforcement options in Poland, contact info@kordeckipartners.com.
What should you prepare? Checklist before filing
A well-organised file reduces court correspondence, avoids supplementary requests, and compresses the timeline. The following checklist applies to any Ukrainian judgment enforcement application in Poland. Confirm each item before instructing Polish counsel to file.
- Certified copy of the Ukrainian judgment with the court's seal and judge's signature – apostilled.
- Certificate of finality and enforceability from the issuing Ukrainian court – apostilled separately.
- Full service documentation from the Ukrainian proceedings, showing the defendant received notice.
- Sworn Polish translations of all Ukrainian documents by a Ministry of Justice-listed translator.
- KRS extract for the Polish debtor (if a company), confirming current registered office and jurisdiction.
Beyond documents, confirm two strategic items. First, run a sanctions compliance check against EU, Polish, and US lists before filing – this takes one to two business days and costs far less than a blocked enforcement. Second, decide whether to apply for interim measures simultaneously with the recognition petition. If the debtor is active and the judgment amount exceeds PLN 200,000, simultaneous interim relief is almost always the right call.
Arbitration cases follow a parallel but distinct path. If your Ukrainian award was issued by an arbitral tribunal rather than a state court, the New York Convention on the Recognition and Enforcement of Foreign Arbitral Awards applies instead of the 1994 bilateral treaty. Poland ratified the New York Convention in 1961. The procedural steps are similar, but the grounds for refusal differ, and the standard of review is generally more favourable to the creditor under the Convention than under the treaty framework.
Frequently asked questions
Q: How long does the full enforcement process take from filing to actual asset recovery?
A: The recognition stage alone takes three to twelve months, depending on opposition. After the recognition order, obtaining the enforcement clause takes three to seven days. Asset tracing and enforcement execution by the court enforcement officer add two to six months for liquid assets such as bank accounts, and up to twelve months for real property sold at auction. Budget for a total timeline of six to twenty-four months from filing to recovery.
Q: Does a Ukrainian arbitral award follow the same procedure as a court judgment?
A: No. A Ukrainian arbitral award is enforced under the New York Convention, not the 1994 bilateral treaty. The competent Polish court applies different grounds for refusal – notably, the arbitration agreement must be valid and the award must not exceed the scope of that agreement. The procedural filing steps are similar, but the legal arguments differ substantially. Confusing the two frameworks is a common misconception that leads to incorrectly drafted petitions.
Q: What does the recognition procedure cost, and who bears the costs?
A: The court filing fee is PLN 300, fixed regardless of the judgment's value. Sworn translation costs depend on document volume but typically range from PLN 1,500 to PLN 5,000 for a standard commercial judgment file. Polish counsel fees vary; expect a minimum of PLN 8,000 to PLN 20,000 for an uncontested case, more if the debtor opposes. If the recognition application succeeds, the court typically awards costs against the debtor – but recovering those costs requires a separate enforcement step.
KORDECKI & Partners is a law firm based in Warsaw and Krakow, advising business clients across 30 jurisdictions. Our team combines expertise in Polish and international law with a practical approach to cross-border enforcement, dispute resolution, and sanctions compliance. We operate a dedicated Ukrainian and CIS Desk and have handled enforcement files involving Ukrainian judgments, arbitral awards, and interim asset protection measures in Polish courts. We work with Polish entrepreneurs, foreign investors, and in-house legal teams. To discuss your situation, contact info@kordeckipartners.com.
Disclaimer: This publication is provided for informational purposes only and does not constitute legal advice. The information herein should not be relied upon as a substitute for professional legal counsel tailored to your specific circumstances. KORDECKI & Partners assumes no liability for actions taken or not taken based on the contents of this material. For advice regarding your particular situation, please contact info@kordeckipartners.com.