Podstawy prawne reprezentowania Generalnego Dyrektora Dróg Krajowych i Autostrad w sferze stosunków cywilnoprawnych
Legal grounds for representing the General Director for National Roads and Motorways
The practice according to which the General Director for National Roads and Motorways (General Director) grants general powers of attorney, i.e. powers of attorney to perform all types of acts on his behalf, to directors or deputy directors of branch offices of the General Directorate for National Roads and Motorways (GDDKiA) under Article 18a(5) of the Act on Public Roads and Article 96 and 98 of the Civil Code is inconsistent with the current regulations. The power of attorney based on Article 18a(5) of the Act on Public Roads is an authorization to settle administrative law issues lying within the competence of the General Director, thus falling within the ‘imperium sphere’ (administrative power) of his actions, and not in the ‘dominium sphere’ (civil law relations). Therefore, this provision may not be the basis for granting a general civil law power of attorney. Acting in the ‘dominium sphere’, the General Director exercises the property rights and obligations of the State Treasury. In doing so, he is not only subject to the general private law rules laid down in the Civil Code, but above all to the specific provisions of the Act on State Property Management. The Act on Public Roads contains no separate provisions in this respect.
According to the current wording of Article 6(3) of the Act on State Property Management, powers of attorney granted by the General Director shall specify the types of acts or be granted for a particular act. According to the statute of GDDKiA, such powers of attorney shall be granted for a particular act. The director of a branch office of GDDKiA (or any other person) who has been granted only a general power of attorney (not for a particular act or a specified type of acts) is not authorized to perform any acts related to the property of the State Treasury, in particular is not authorized to conclude construction contracts or demand payment under guarantee performance bond.
Key words: GDDKiA (General Directorate for National Roads and Motorways), power of attorney, authorization, State Treasury
* Autor jest Doktorem nauk prawnych, adwokatem, Associate Partnerem w Kancelarii Prof. Marek Wierzbowski i Partnerzy – Adwokaci i Radcowie Prawni.
** Autor jest Profesorem zwyczajnym doktorem habilitowanym Uniwersytetu Warszawskiego, radcą prawnym, Partnerem w Kancelarii Prof. Marek Wierzbowski i Partnerzy – Adwokaci i Radcowie Prawni.
1 Dalej jako: GDDKiA.
2 Dalej jako: Generalny Dyrektor.
3 T. jedn.: Dz.U. z 2020 r. poz. 470; dalej jako: DrPublU.
4 Por. B. Adamiak, J. Borkowski, Kodeks postępowania administracyjnego, komentarz do art. 268a, Legalis.
5 Tak NSA w wyroku z 4.4.2007 r., I OSK 42/07, Legalis.
6 Ibidem.
7 Tak WSA w Warszawie w wyroku z 22.9.2006 r., VI SA/Wa 1221/06, Legalis.
8 Tak WSA w Poznaniu w wyroku z 3.3.2009 r., II SA/Po 596/08, Legalis.
9 Zob. np. wyrok NSA z 27.4.2017 r., I OSK 3369/15, Legalis, czy też R. Hauser, M. Wierzbowski (red.), Kodeks postępowania administracyjnego, komentarz do art. 268a, Legalis.
10 T. jedn.: Dz.U. z 2020 r. poz. 1668; dalej jako: SamWojU.