There is no single legal statute comprehensively regulating the issue of domestic violence in Poland. The most significant law is the Act on Counteracting Domestic Violence of 29 July 2005 ("DV Act"). However, legal provisions pertaining to various aspects of domestic violence can be found in numerous other statutes, including the following:

• Constitution of the Republic of Poland of 2 April 1997 ("Constitution")
• Statutes comprising the criminal law of Poland:
  • The Code of Criminal Procedure of 6 June 1997 ("Code of Criminal Procedure")
  • The Criminal Code of 6 June 1997 ("Criminal Code")
  • Regulation of the Council of Ministers of 13 September 2011 on the "Blue Card" procedure
• Statutes comprising the civil law of Poland:
  • Code of Civil Procedure of 17 November 1964 ("Code of Civil Procedure")
  • The Civil Code of 23 April 1964 ("Civil Code")
  • Family and Guardianship Code of 25 February 1964 ("Family and Guardianship Code")
  • Act on Tenants' Rights of 21 June 2001 ("Act on Tenants' Rights")
• Statutes comprising the administrative law of Poland:
  • The Act on Foreigners of 12 December 2013 ("Act on Foreigners")
  • The Act on Granting Protection to Aliens within the Territory of the Republic of Poland of 13 June 2003 ("Act on Granting Protection to Aliens")
  • Act on Firearms and Ammunition of 21 May 1999 ("Act on Firearms and Ammunition")
  • Act on the Money Benefits from Social Insurance in case of Illness and Maternity of 25 June 1999 ("Act on the Money Benefits from Social Insurance in case of Illness and Maternity")
• Statutes comprising the international law of Poland:
  • EU Directive 2012/29/EU of the European Parliament and the Council of 25 October 2012 establishing minimum standards on the rights, support and protection of the victims of crime, and replacing the Council Framework Decision 2001/220/JHA ("EU Directive 2012/29/EU")
  • The Council of Europe Convention on preventing and combating violence against women and domestic violence of 12 April 2011 opened for signature on 11 May 2011 in Istanbul and ratified by Poland on 27 April 2015 ("Istanbul Convention")
  • UN General Assembly resolution 40/34 of 29 November 1985 — Declaration of Basic Principles of Justice for Victims of Crime and Abuse of Power (UN A/RES/40/34) ("UN Declaration")
• Other miscellaneous statutes, including:
• Polish Charter on the Rights of Victims issued by the Polish Ministry of Justice, announced in October 1999 ("Polish Charter on the Rights of Victims").

On 29 May 2020, the president of the Republic of Poland signed the Act of 30 April 2020 amending the act, the Code of Civil Procedure and certain other acts (Journal of Laws of 29 May 2020, item 956), and as of 30 November 2020, regulations governing a new type of non-trial proceedings concerning cases for obliging a person committing domestic violence to leave a jointly occupied apartment and its immediate surroundings or prohibiting the person from approaching the apartment and its immediate surroundings entered into force.

These provisions have been regulated in such a way that the proceedings guarantee victims of domestic violence a quick and desirable eviction order.

The introduced changes concern the powers given to the police and military police (in relation to a soldier on active military service) to issue an order for the perpetrator to immediately leave the apartment and its immediate surroundings or a prohibition on approaching the apartment and its immediate surroundings. The order or prohibition may be issued during an intervention undertaken by officers or soldiers or in connection with obtaining information about domestic violence. The law also specifies the criteria to be taken into account by police officers (or soldiers) when assessing the existence of grounds for the order or prohibition.

The order or prohibition may be issued jointly, even in the absence of the person committing domestic violence in the jointly occupied apartment. They are immediately enforceable and will, among other things, indicate the area or distance from the jointly occupied apartment that the violent person will be obliged to maintain.

The person obliged to comply with the order or prohibition will have to leave the jointly occupied apartment and its immediate surroundings, leaving the keys in the apartment. They will be allowed to take personal belongings. The person against whom the order or prohibition is issued will be able to appeal against the decision of the police or military gendarmerie to the court (three-day time limit).

Since the injunction or prohibition expires 14 days after its issuance, the amendment to the Code of Civil Procedure introduces regulations on granting security by the court in a case of obliging a person committing domestic violence to leave a jointly occupied apartment and its immediate vicinity or prohibiting the person from approaching the apartment and its immediate vicinity.

The right to apply for a decision in the described proceedings has its basis in the provision of Article 11a paragraph 1 of the Act on Counteracting Family Violence of 29 July 2005, according to which (in the wording of 30 November 2020) every person subjected to family violence may apply to the court for the perpetrator of violence to be ordered to leave the jointly occupied apartment.

The court may also order the offender to leave the jointly occupied apartment if the offender's behavior makes the joint residence particularly onerous.

In order to successfully file a motion for eviction of a perpetrator of family violence, the following prerequisites should be met:

• The perpetrator of the violence is a person cohabiting with the victim (applicant) and is a close person within the meaning of Article 115 § 11 of the Penal Code, i.e., a spouse, ascendant, descendant, sibling, relative in the same line or degree, a person in an adoption relationship or his/her spouse, or a person in cohabitation. The application may therefore concern both a close family member (child, grandchild or parent, as well as son-in-law or father-in-law) and a person in an informal relationship with the applicant (a concubine or cohabiting partner).
• The perpetrator is a person committing domestic violence, understood as a single or repeated intentional act or omission violating the rights or personal goods of a person close to the family — in particular exposing such persons to the danger of loss of life or health, violating their dignity, bodily inviolability, freedom, including sexual freedom, causing damage to their physical or mental health, as well as causing suffering and moral harm to the persons affected by the violence — and the violence is both physical and psychological.
• The behavior of the perpetrator of domestic violence makes cohabitation particularly burdensome.

The Polish system of courts encompasses the following: the Supreme Court, common courts, administrative courts (including the Supreme Administrative Court) and military courts. Common courts are divided into the following: regional courts (courts of first instance, which handle most cases), district courts (they function as both first and second instance court) and appeal courts (second instance courts).

The common courts are divided into divisions depending on the type of cases they handle (e.g., civil division, commercial division, commercial division of the National Court Register, land and mortgage register division, employment division, family division and bankruptcy division).

In particular:

• Criminal divisions of courts are competent for cases concerning criminal aspects of domestic violence, such as the offense of mistreatment ("criminal courts").
• Civil divisions of courts are competent to resolve civil matters, such as ordering the abuser to move out of the shared accommodation and the protection of personal interests ("civil courts").
• Family divisions of courts are competent to hear family cases and guardianship cases, such as child custody ("family courts").

Potential civil causes of action include:

• infringement of personal interests, such as health or dignity
• torts, such as inflicting bodily harm
• reprehensible conduct of the abuser that makes sharing accommodation with the abuser excessively burdensome

A criminal action may be based, in particular, on mistreatment, rape, breach of personal inviolability, grievous or other bodily harm, punishable threat and many others.