The Polish Sejm (lower house) passed legislation on Friday introducing disciplinary actions against judges, following a stormy all-night debate in the house's Justice Committee.

Authored by Poland's governing party, Law and Justice (PiS), the legislation aims to discipline judges who exceeded their powers by obstructing the functioning of the judiciary, questioning judicial appointments, and political involvement. The law also obliges judges and prosecutors to disclose their party affiliations prior to being nominated to their posts.

Opponents of the bill warn that the proposed legislation violates judicial independence.

In an official opinion on the matter on Tuesday, the Supreme Court criticised the new regulations and warned that they were incompatible with EU law. Supreme Court First President Malgorzata Gersdorf said the new regulations restricted judges in their right to freedom of speech and broadened surveillance over their movements.

The dispute which led to the bill's passage was sparked off by Poland's Supreme Court's queries to the EU Court of Justice (CJEU) regarding the legality of judicial appointments by Poland's National Council of the Judiciary (KRS), which, as a result of earlier reforms of the justice system, is now appointed by the Sejm and not, as earlier, by judges.

In a recent ruling in the matter, the CJEU said the Supreme Court had to decide the matter itself, in effect of which the Polish court ruled that the KRS was not impartial and independent.

The immediate reason for the bill's passage was recent queries by a number of judges concerning the legality of judicial appointments by the reformed KRS, forwarded in concurrence with the Supreme Court ruling. This caused outrage in PiS, which said judges could not question the status of their peers and had to be reined in to prevent chaos in the justice system.

Senate (upper house) Speaker Tomasz Grodzki said on Friday that the Senate will take utmost care when dealing with the bill, adding that it could seek advice from the Venice Commission and foreign experts. The Senate has 30 days to process the bill. Even if rejected by the Senate, legislation can be passed by a second vote in the Sejm.

European Commission spokesman Christian Wigand told a Friday press conference that the Commission had turned to the Polish president, prime minister and parliament to suspend work on the bill until further consultations. Also on Friday, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights expressed concern over the legislation, which according to the commissioner "risks further jeopardising the independence of the judiciary in Poland."

On Friday afternoon, on Twitter, Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights Dunja Mijatovic appealed for the Polish Sejm to cease processing the legislation.

"I urge Poland's Sejm @KancelariaSejmu to discontinue work on bill currently being rushed through, which further curtails judges' & prosecutors' independence & freedom of expression on pain of penalties or dismissal, and changes law on the Supreme Court for the 9th time," Mijatovic tweeted. (PAP)

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