PART XII
Procedure in criminal cases in international relations
Chapter 62
Judicial assistance and service of documents in criminal cases
Article 585. The actions necessary in criminal proceedings may be conducted by way of judicial assistance, particularly the following :
(1) service of documents on persons staying abroad or on agencies having their principal offices abroad,
(2) taking depositions of persons in their capacities as accused persons, witnesses, or experts,
(3) inspection and searches of dwellings and other places and persons, confiscation of material objects and their delivery abroad,
(4) summoning of persons staying abroad to make a personal voluntary appearance before the court or state prosecutor, in order to be examined as a witness or to be submitted to confrontation, and the bringing of persons under detention, for the same purposes, and
(5) giving access to records and documents, and information on the record of convictions of the accused.
(6) advising on the law.
Article 586. § 1. The request to have a document served upon a person who is a Polish national and is staying abroad, or to have such a person examined as an accused, witness or expert, shall be addressed by the court or state prosecutor to a Polish diplomatic mission or consular office.
§ 2. If this action cannot be performed as provided for in § 1, such a request may be addressed to a court, prosecutors' office or other appropriate agency of the foreign state. If this request is for a search, for confiscation and delivery of a material object, the request should contain a duplicate copy of the order issued by the court or state prosecutor concerning the performance of this action in the given case.
Article 587. The official records of inspections, examinations of persons as accused persons, witnesses or experts, or records of other evidentiary actions prepared upon a request from a Polish court or state prosecutor, by the courts or state prosecutors of foreign states or by agencies performing under their supervision, may be read aloud at the hearing according to the principles prescribed in Articles 389, 391 and 393. This may be done provided that the manner of performing these actions, does not conflict with the principles of the legal order in the Republic of Poland.
Article 588. § 1. Courts and state prosecutors' offices shall give judicial assistance when requested by letters rogatory, issued by the courts and the state prosecutors' offices of foreign states.
§ 2. The court and the state prosecutors' office shall refuse to give judicial assistance and convey their refusal to the appropriate agencies of the foreign state in question, if the requested action is in conflict with the legal order of the Republic of Poland or constitutes an infringement of its sovereignty.
§ 3. The court and the state prosecutor may refuse to give judicial assistance if :
(1) the performance of the requested action lies beyond the scope of activity of the court or state prosecutor under Polish law,
(2) the foreign state in which the letters rogatory have originated, does not guarantee reciprocity in such matters, or
(3) the request is concerned with an act which is not an offence under Polish law.
§ 4. Polish law shall be applied to the procedural actions performed pursuant to a request from a foreign court or state prosecutor. However, if these agencies require special proceedings or some special form of assistance, their wishes should be honoured, unless this is in conflict with the principles of the legal order of the Republic of Poland.
§ 5. The fees for the judicial assistance shall be established pursuant to Articles 616 through 619.
Article 589. § 1. A witness or expert who is not a Polish national and who, when summoned from abroad, appears voluntarily before the court, cannot be prosecuted or arrested, or put under preventive detention either by reason of an offence relevant to the criminal proceedings, or of any other offence committed before he crossed the Polish border. The penalty imposed for such offence may not be executed with respect to him.
§ 2. Such a witness or expert shall forfeit the protection provided by § 1, if he fails to leave the territory of the Republic of Poland, although being able to do so within seven days from the day on which the court announces to him that his presence is no longer necessary.
§ 3. Witnesses or experts summoned from abroad shall be entitled to have the costs of their fare and stay reimbursed to them, and shall be compensated for lost wages; in addition, an expert shall be entitled to a fee for the opinion he has issued.
§ 4. The summons served on a witness or expert permanently residing abroad shall include a notice of the contents of § 1 through 3, and it shall not contain a warning on measures of coercion in the event of a failure to appear
Article 589a. § 1. With respect to a person deprived of liberty within the territory of a foreign state, extradited temporarily in order to testify as witness or to conduct other procedural action with his participation before a Polish court or state prosecutor, the circuit court for the place of the performance of the action shall order placing the extradited person in a Polish penal establishment or detention facility for the period of his stay within the territory of the Republic of Poland, but not exceeding the term of deprivation of liberty specified in the state which extradited the person.
§ 2. The order of the court shall not be subject to interlocutory appeal.
EDIT.