Maintenance obligations with a cross-border element necessitate the determination of the applicable law. Among the key legal acts in the field of law applicable to maintenance, the following should be mentioned:
- the Act of 4 February 2011 – Private International Law (i.e. Journal of Laws of 2015, item 1792);
- Council Regulation (EC) No. 4/2009 of 18 December 2008 on jurisdiction, applicable law, recognition and enforcement of decisions and cooperation in matters relating to maintenance obligations (Journal of Laws EU. L. of 2009 No. 7 , p. 1 as amended);
- Convention on the law applicable to maintenance obligations, drawn up in The Hague on 2 October 1973 (Journal of Laws of 2000, No. 39, item 444);
- Protocol on the law applicable to maintenance obligations (Journal of Laws EU. L. of 2009, No. 331, p. 19), subject to Art. 19, which states that the Protocol does not affect other international instruments to which Contracting States are or will become parties and which contain provisions on matters governed by this Protocol, unless States Parties make a declaration to the contrary to such instrument.
In connection with the above, it should be noted that Poland is a party to bilateral agreements which, apart from other substantive and procedural issues, regulate the law applicable to maintenance obligations. The scope of the agreements is limited. However, if a bilateral agreement takes precedence over the Hague Protocol, and the law applicable to maintenance is regulated therein – even indirectly – the norms contained in the agreement must be applied, and not in the protocol (N. Rycko [in:] International Private Law. Commentary, ed. J. Poczobut, Warsaw 2017, article 63).