Abstract

In its judgment of 26 May 2020, V Ga 21/20, the Appeal Court in Gdańsk ruled that the correct linguistic and functional interpretation of Art. 760 of the Civil Code creates a norm prohibiting an agent to engage in the activities competitive to those of the principal as this clearly leads to a violation of the duty of loyalty.The linguistic and structural interpretation of this provision does not allow such a far-reaching simplification, while the practice of certain EU countries, under Council Directive 86/653/EEC of 18 December 1986 on the coordination of the laws of the Member States relating to self-employed commercial agents, which is the basis of the Polish legislation, indicates that the prohibition of competitive activity by an agent should be examined case by case.