FOREWORD

This book is a result of cooperation between The Beijing Foreign Studies University (BFSU) in Beijing and the Law and Administration Faculty at the University of Silesia ( Wydział Prawa i Administracji Uniwersytetu Śląskiego-WPiA UŚ ) in Katowice, Poland. Cooperation with the Chinese partner was initiated by Professor Ewa Rott-Pietrzyk and Professor Rafał Blicharz in 2015. The idea was well received by both the Dean of the School of Law – Professor Meng Wan-and representatives of the School of European Languages and Cultures at the BFSU, namely by Professor Zhao Gang the Dean of this Faculty and Li Yinan, PhD – the Head of the Polish Language Department and the Polish Research Centre.

While cooperating with BFSU, WPiA UŚ will also start projects with the School of Humanities and Law at Northeastern University(NEU). This very effective cooperation with NEU is possible thanks to the kindness of Professor Sun Ping, the Dean of this Faculty, and of Professor June Sui, who has visited WPiA UŚ many times.

Entering into cooperation with these Chinese universities resulted primarily in opening the first School of Chinese Law and Culture in Poland. It has also led to a partnership between the universities based on the mutual exchange of academics and students between the Beijing Foreign Studies University and Northeastern University in Shenyang on one hand, and the University of Silesia on the other, as well as on mentoring doctoral candidates under cotutelle agreements and acedemic activities (particularly in the form of publications and conferences), as well as on business activities (including assistance for companies from both countries, for instance in the form of expert activities ordered both by private and public law entities).

Our publishing cooperation takes place as part of a project to prepare a range of tri-lingual papers (in Polish, Chinese and English) on how companies from one country do business in the other country. In other words, these publications will serve as sources of basic information for Chinese companies trying to operate in Poland, and for Polish ones in China. Doing Business in Poland is the first title starting this series. This first book presents the issues characteristic for Polish law, and is dedicated to Chinese businessmen in order to make them familiar with the existing basic legal requirements regarding contract law, conducting business and commercial companies law. Other institutions that may be of importance for Chinese businesses in Poland will be presented in subsequent editions in this series.

The authors welcome any suggestions from anyone interested in this series of papers that may facilitate presenting the knowledge about the Polish legal system in China. We intend to present a sketch of Polish law in certain areas. At this stage, we are not interested in a detail analysis of Polish law with regard to contract law, conducting business and commercial companies law in Poland. We assume that a detailed analysis of certain legal institutions will be considered in our publications at a later stage, should the readers be interested. We look forward to any initiative from our readers in this regard. In other words, we are ready to extend the scope and present more detailed studies on the institutions of Polish law, further to the feedback received from readers, who will share with us information on their particular interests.

We are happy to also announce that a similar book on Chinese law, under the same title, with the same purposes regarding its contents, has been prepared by a team of experts from the BFSU. It will also be published in Poland in three languages. Thanks to publishing books that mirror each other in terms of the discussed subject and purposes, readers from both countries will have a chance to become familiar with Chinese and Polish legal culture, legal regulations and customs, as well as with the contents of selected legal acts.

This book therefore constitutes another step towards developing multidisciplinary contacts as part of Sino-Polish cooperation. The authors very much hope that it will be well received, and we welcome any comments. Thanks to your feedback, we can make further editions more useful and effective, and concentrate exactly on the issues you are most interested in with regard to the legal system (both private and public law) based on which businesses operate in Poland and in China.

We would like to acknowledge here all the people who enabled Polish-Chinese academic cooperation to start and to continue between Beijing Foreign Studies University, Northeastern University and the University of Silesia, which has led to this book. We appreciate the positive encouragement from the governing bodies of these universities, in particular Professor Peng Long, Professor dr hab. Wiesław Banyś, and Professor dr hab. Mirosław Nakonieczny. We are also grateful to the Deans of the cooperating faculties (schools) of law, namely to Professor Wan Meng, Professor Sun Ping, and Professor dr hab. Czesław Martysz. The Polish – Chinese cooperation with the participation of the University of Silesia, including our faculty, would not be possible without the support, friendship and precious guidance received from Professor dr hab. Jolanta Tambor – Director of the School of Polish Language and Culture, and Professor Romuald Cudak, Head of the International Polish Studies Department at UŚ, who have wide and friendly contacts with Chinese partners. It is worth adding that in relationships with Chinese partners, friendship and good relations guarantee effective and positive cooperation, and are at least as important as well-drafted contractual provisions in European legal culture. We greatly appreciate our friendly relations with our kind Chinese partners. Academic cooperation without these close, friendly bonds developing between the parties would not be so complete and satisfying. We are extremely happy that we can enjoy these particular values in our relations with the Chinese parties.

We would also like to thank all the members of the UŚ administration who provide valuable assistance to us in various ways, always effectively, in particular: Ms Agata Wójcik and Ms Małgorzata Buchacz, for their much appreciated kindness. We also thank Ms Aneta Pająk-Kozub, who is the best Administrative Director of the School of Chinese Law and Culture, creating a positive image of our Faculty and the University for our Chinese partners. This is very valuable.

We also thank our translators, who made this publication possible, namely: Nick Faulkner, who we can always count on (not only with regard to this publication) with English translations and proofreading, and Mi Zhang (who studies Polish law and language at BFSU), who is invaluable in their ability to translate from Polish to Chinese.

Rafał Blicharz
Piotr Pinior
Ewa Rott-Pietrzyk
Maciej Zachariasiewicz