Abstract

As a result of the amendment of the Penal Code of 2015, the legislator has abolished the exclusion of the possibility to apply the provisions of civil law regulating the issue of the statute of limitations for claims when adjudicating on the obligation to redress the damage or to compensate for the harm suffered in criminal proceedings. Introducing a penal measure in the form of an obligation to redress the damage, until the time of the aforementioned amendment, in Art. 46 § 1 of the Penal Code it had been expressly stressed that in adjudication „...the provisions of civil law on the limitation of claims and the possibility of awarding an annuaity shall not apply.” On the basis of the current legal status, the time limits for prescription of pecuniary claims under criminal law are now regulated by civil law. This issue is of particular importance because the proper understanding of the subject allows the injured party to avoid a situation whereby the perpetrator may refrian from satisfying their claims. In addition, on 9 July 2018, new provisions of the Civil Code governing the issue of prescription entered into force, which had an impact on adjudicating the obligation to redress the damage under criminal law. Therefore, the question should be answered as to how all these changes have affected the institution of the obligation to redress the damage or the harm suffered? Therefore, it is necessary to refer here to some of the most important issues related to the issue of prescription of claims and try to assess whether these solutions are beneficial for the injured party, and on the other hand how they have changed the legal situation of the offender. These issues analysed in-depth in this publication.