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Issue 16 (4)/ 2019

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Publication date: 30.10.2019

Licence: CC BY-NC-ND  licence icon

Editorial team

Editor-in-Chief Jolanta Gliniecka

Issue content

Jolanta Gliniecka

Financial Law Review, Issue 16 (4)/ 2019, 2019, pp. 1-16

https://doi.org/10.4467/22996834FLR.19.019.11275

The rule of rational management of public funds means managing the funds in a transparent and open manner, and – in particular as far as public spending is concerned – in a purposeful and economical way, timely and efficiently. The principle of transparency in managing public funds is a value, which – backed up by the rule of openness – determines the degree of reliability and predictability of actions taken within the financial management in question. And the purposefulness in public spending provides that the expenditures should be made properly in terms of their reasonability (regularity) and (cost) efficiency. The examination of efficiency is aimed at determining the result of the activities by comparing the effects achieved with the outlays made. Two situations can be distinguished here: that of the entity being guided by the intention to achieve maximum effect at given expenditures or that of minimising outlays to arrive at a specified effect. Examining the efficiency of public expenditures is a demanding task, considering the way in which public funds are accumulated, and the administrative procedure of their allocation. The difficulties also arise from the fact that the areas on which public outlays are made do not lend themselves to measurement. Determining the cost-efficiency relation is not possible, for instance, as far as expenditures on national defence (in short-term perspective, in particular) are made, and is also hard to do in the case of healthcare and education, where measurement of the efficiency of the public funding, consisting in establishment of the relation between the level and structure of the spending and the actual advantages gained by the society, meets with an obstacle being the quality of the results achieved.
The rule of reasonable spending of public funds is definitely an uncontested principle and the legal steps taken in Poland’s legal system to consolidate it certainly go in the right direction. It must not be lost of sight, though, that the measures are not able to provide adequate assurances of implementation of the rule. There is still a risk that the list of the solutions is not complete and perhaps other tools whereby rationalisation of public spending could be achieved should be sought.

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Wael Saghir

Financial Law Review, Issue 16 (4)/ 2019, 2019, pp. 17-28

https://doi.org/10.4467/22996834FLR.19.020.11276

Currency exchange risk is one of the major risks foreign investors may be exposed to while investing overseas. Such risk takes place when the host state’s currency appreciates or depreciates in value affecting negatively the investor’s investment. Since investors are concerned with losing the value of the host state’s currency once an investment is made using that currency, it might be helpful for them to clearly understand when such risk occurs due to demand on the currency or due to manipulation of the host state in the exchange rates. For that, the paper clearly defines the nature of currency exchange risk in foreign direct investment where such financial risk may easily be regarded as a political one. The paper aims to add value through introducing a new approach in understanding the components that makes currency exchange risk considered as purely political risk or as purely financial. It aims to introduce the cases where such threat may be regarded as a political financial risk in order to assist investors in understanding what kind of a risk they could experience. The paper proves that currency exchange threat may take one of three forms through examining nature of financial regulations in host states and through probing recent cases settled by ICSID.

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Jadwiga Glumińska-Pawlic

Financial Law Review, Issue 16 (4)/ 2019, 2019, pp. 29-41

https://doi.org/10.4467/22996834FLR.19.021.11277

The article discusses new regulations implemented in Poland with a view to increasing budgetary VAT revenues through sealing the system, and in particular through reducing tax fraud. The Author's main objective is an analysis of the various available instruments and their evaluation from the perspective of improvement of the effectiveness of tax collection, but also from the perspective of protection of taxpayers' rights, for the actions of the fiscal apparatus cannot be overly burdensome on entrepreneurs as they hinder their development. The article, which utilises the comparative and statistical method, features an analysis of legislation.

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Szymon Moś

Financial Law Review, Issue 16 (4)/ 2019, 2019, pp. 42-55

https://doi.org/10.4467/22996834FLR.19.022.11278

This contribution deals with the issue of the principle of efficient public spending, as pervading the Polish legal system. The aim of the paper is to decode and clarify the meaning of the notion of efficiency as part of the principle proclaimed by the Public Finance Act of 27 August, 2009. There exists no legal definition of the term and since the notion is not an independent one, a tendency towards intuitive understanding of the rule may arise. However, by applying a proper legal interpretation and referring to what other academic disciplines say, this article proves that the principle of efficient public spending has a specified, concrete and clear meaning, which should be taken into account in each and every case of public expenditure being borne under the Public Finance Act.

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Wojciech Bożek

Financial Law Review, Issue 16 (4)/ 2019, 2019, pp. 56-67

https://doi.org/10.4467/22996834FLR.19.023.11723

The author's goal is to identify the importance of the activity of adjudication commissions in cases related to violation of public finance discipline in polish legal system and to show the problems of non-effectiveness legal solutions in the system of liability for violating public finance discipline. In the author's opinion, this article belongs the stream of researches on the essence and range of liability for the violation of public finance discipline and it may be useful in the practice of financial law implementation. Several research methods are used in the study, including dogmatical, analytical, legal comparative and empirical method. The author comes to the conclusion that analysis of regulations included in the Act of 17 December 2004 indicates that subjective range of liability for the violation of public finance discipline is extensive and casuistic. Despite of recent changes, there is still an effect of incomplete regulation for all processes relating to public means collecting and disposing. The activity of the adjudicating commissions indicates that violations of the public finance discipline occur most often in the local government sector.
A small number of decisions are appealed to the MAC. It is required to consequently and effectiveness extend liability for violation of public finance discipline over all entities who use public funds. Analysis of legal solutions of countries of the Europe: United Kingdom, France and Germany permitted to show complexity of problems accompanying to maintenance of financial discipline in these countries, and at the same time it is a starting point to indicate alternative solutions aimed to ensure order in public finances of these states.

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Wojciech Prus

Financial Law Review, Issue 16 (4)/ 2019, 2019, pp. 68-82

https://doi.org/10.4467/22996834FLR.19.024.11724

This article presents an outline of the genesis of the introduction to the Polish legal system of the principle of the presumption of integrity of the entrepreneur. The article proposes several practical guidelines for the application of the principle of the presumption of integrity of the entrepreneur. Certain examples of specific provisions which exclude or question the above principle are also indicated. What is more, the article discusses the subjective scope, as well as several de lege ferenda applications related to the aforementioned principle.

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