Below we present a letter from Zofia Barczyk, Chair of the Zgorzelec City Council:

Candidates for lay judges at the District Court in Zgorzelec and the Regional Court in Jelenia Góra may be nominated to the City Council by: the presidents of the competent courts, associations, other social and professional organizations registered under the law, excluding political parties, and at least 50 citizens with active voting rights who permanently reside in the city of Zgorzelec.

Candidates for lay judges must be nominated by the non-extendable deadline of June 30, 2015.

A lay judge may be elected if they:

  1. are a Polish citizen and enjoy full civil and civic rights
  2. have an impeccable character
  3. are at least 30 years old
  4. are employed, conduct business activity, or have lived in the place where they are standing as a candidate for at least one year
  5. are no older than 70
  6. are, due to their state of health, capable of performing the duties of a lay judge
  7. have at least secondary education.

For adjudicating labor-law cases, a person with particular knowledge of employment matters should be elected as a lay judge.

The following may not serve as lay judges:

  1. persons employed in ordinary courts and other courts, or in the public prosecutor's office
  2. persons who are members of bodies whose decisions may be appealed against by requesting that a case be referred for court proceedings
  3. Police officers and other persons holding positions related to the prosecution of crimes and offenses
  4. advocates and advocate trainees
  5. legal advisers and legal-adviser trainees
  6. clergy
  7. soldiers on active military service
  8. officers of the Prison Service
  9. commune, county, and voivodeship councillors.

A lay judge candidate must be nominated using an application form, the template of which is available:

at the Zgorzelec City Office, 6 Domańskiego Street (ground floor), Organizational and Legal Department (the Zgorzelec City Council offices), or at the Customer Service Point of the Zgorzelec City Office

online, on the pages marked www.ms.gov.pl

on the website of the Public Information Bulletin of the Zgorzelec City Office

The following documents must be attached to the lay judge candidate's application form:

  1. information from the National Criminal Register concerning the nominated person
  2. the candidate's statement that no proceedings are pending against them for a publicly prosecuted crime or a fiscal offense
  3. the candidate's statement that they have not been deprived of parental authority and are not currently subject to any limitation or suspension of parental authority
  4. a medical certificate concerning the state of health, issued by a primary-care physician within the meaning of the provisions on health-care services financed from public funds, confirming the absence of contraindications to performing the duties of a lay judge
  5. two photographs meeting the requirements applicable to an application for an identity card.

The documents listed in points 1–4 must bear a date no earlier than thirty days before the date of nomination. The candidate for lay judge bears the cost of the fee for issuing information from the National Criminal Register, as well as the fee for the medical examination and issuance of the medical certificate.

A lay judge candidate nominated on an application form by an association or another social or professional organization registered under the law must also provide a current extract from the National Court Register, or an extract or certificate confirming entry in another relevant register or record concerning that organization. The documents must bear a date no earlier than three months before the date of nomination. The fee for issuing a current extract from the National Court Register, or an extract or certificate from another relevant register or record, is borne by the entity to which the extract or certificate relates.

A lay judge candidate nominated on an application form by citizens must also provide a list containing the first name(s), surname, PESEL identification number, permanent address, and handwritten signature of each of the fifty citizens nominating the candidate.

The person authorized to provide explanations concerning a lay judge candidate nominated by citizens is the person whose surname appears first on the list.

Nominations received by the council after the deadline referred to in Article 162 §1 of the Act of July 27, 2001, Law on the Organization of Ordinary Courts (Journal of Laws of 2001, No. 98, item 1070, as subsequently amended), i.e. June 30, 2015, as well as nominations that do not meet the formal requirements referred to in Article 162 §2–5 of the cited Act, will not be processed further. Reinstatement of the deadline for nominating candidates is inadmissible.

Applications may be submitted in person—on working days of the Zgorzelec City Office, from 7:30 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. at the Customer Service Point—or by mail to: Zgorzelec City Council, 6 Domańskiego Street, 59-900 Zgorzelec, marked “lay judge candidate nomination.”

Chair of the Council
Zofia Barczyk

Zgorzelec City Office