It is understandable that the power of an arbitral tribunal to resolve disputes must result from the intention of the parties. In this respect Polish Code of Civil Procedure follows general global rules. For an arbitral tribunal to be able to examine disputes, an arrangement has to be made between the parties to a future dispute. This translates into an arbitration clause (or an arbitration agreement).
Under Polish law, two types of an arbitration agreement can be distinguished, i.e. compromise and arbitration clause. A compromise is an agreement under which the parties submit a specific existing dispute to arbitration. Meanwhile, an arbitration clause is an agreement to submit to arbitration disputes that may arise in the future out of a specific legal relationship.
In practice, we usually deal with an arbitration clause included in a specific principal agreement. Arbitration agreements are rarely made if a legal dispute has already arisen. Under Polish law, there is basically no distinction between a compromise and an arbitration clause. However, it is worth noting that pursuant to Article 1164 CCP, in the case of disputes covered by labour law, an arbitration agreement may only be made after the dispute has arisen (therefore it must be a compromise).
Source: Arbitration in Poland, SA KIG, 2011
