Special requirements:
Participation of agents of the issuing/requesting State in the execution of the measure is possible and permissible. It requires prior approval by the competent executing/requested authority.
The EIO/MLA shall contain a summary of the main facts of the case. Furthermore, it is required to set out the relevant questions which shall be asked during the hearing.
Important:
According to the Article 178 of the CPC, the following persons may not be questioned in the capacity of witnesses:
1. defence counsel or solicitor, or legal counsel with regard to the facts communicated to them while giving legal advice or conducting a case,
2. priest on facts communicated to him in confession.
With some exceptions, according to the Article 178a of the CPC, a mediator may not be questioned in the capacity of a witness with regard to the facts communicated to them by the suspect/accused or the injured when conducting mediation proceedings.
According to the Article 179 of the CPC, persons obliged to keep in secrecy classified information with the clause "secret" or "top secret" may be questioned as to the circumstances to which this obligation extends only if released from the obligation to preserve such a secret by an authorised superior body. Such a release may be refused only if giving testimony might result in serious damage to the interests of the State.
According to the Article 180 of the CPC, persons obliged to keep in secrecy classified information with the clause "restricted" or "confidential" or secrets connected with their profession or office may refuse to testify as to the circumstances to which this obligation extends, unless they have been released by the court or the public prosecutor, in the interest of the judiciary, from the obligation to preserve such a secret, unless specific Acts provide otherwise. A decision in this scope may be contested.
Persons bound by the obligation of professional secrecy: notaries, solicitors, legal counsels, tax advisers, physicians, journalists, or statisticians, and persons obliged to protect the secrets of Prokuratoria Generalna Rzeczypospolitej Polskiej [the Solicitors’ Office of the Republic of Poland] may be questioned about facts covered by such secrecy only where this is necessary for the sake of justice and the circumstances cannot be determined on the basis of other evidence. In an investigation, the decision as to questioning or permitting questioning shall be taken by the court, at a session without the participation of the parties, within a period not longer than 7 days as of the date of service of the motion of the public prosecutor. The court’s decision may be contested.
With some exceptions, releasing a journalist from the obligation to keep a secret may not relate to data enabling the identification of the author of a press material, letter to the editor or another material of the same nature, as well as identification of persons providing information published or passed to be published, if these persons reserved the right to keep the data in secrecy.
According to Article 182 of the CPC, the closest relatives, by blood or affinity, of the suspect/accused may refuse to testify. The right to refuse to testify shall not expire even if the marital or adoptive relationship is dissolved. The right to refuse to testify shall be vested also in a witness who is accused of complicity in another pending case with regard to the criminal offence covered with the proceedings.
Additionally, according to the Article 183 of the CPC, a witness may decline to answer a question if such an answer might expose the witness themselves or their closest relatives by blood or affinity to liability for a criminal or fiscal offence.
A witness may also demand to be questioned at a trial in camera if the contents of their testimony may expose them or their closest relatives by blood or affinity to disgrace.
Under the Article 185 of the CPC, a person having a particularly close relationship with the suspect/accused may be exempted from the obligation to give testimony or provide answers to questions, if such a person applies for such an exemption.
Additionally, in the Polish criminal procedure, there are specific requirements regarding the hearing of a person under 15 years of age as a victim (Article 185a) or witness (Article 185b).
According to the Article 185a § 1 of the CPC in cases related to criminal offences committed with the use of violence or unlawful threat, or crimes against sexual freedom and decency, or against family and guardianship, the victim who as at the moment of questioning is under 15 years of age shall be questioned in the capacity of a witness only when their testimony could be of particular importance for the resolution of the case, and only once, unless significant circumstances are disclosed and there is a need of a repeated questioning to clarify them, or the motion of the suspect/accused who remained without a defence counsel during the first questioning of the injured is accepted. The questioning shall be carried out by the court in a session, with the participation of an expert psychologist, immediately, not later than within 14 days from the date of the receipt of the request of a prosecutor. If the suspect/accused notified of the procedural action in consideration remains without a defence counsel of their choice, the court shall appoint an ex officio defence counsel for them.
According to the Article 185b § 1 of the CPC, in cases related to criminal offences committed with the use of violence or unlawful threat, or crimes against sexual freedom and decency, or against family and guardianship, a witness who as at the moment of questioning is under 15 years of age shall be questioned in line with the conditions defined in regard to the victim who as at the moment of questioning is under 15 years of age, if their testimony could be of particular importance for the resolution of the case.