Problematyka odpowiedzialności przedsiębiorstwa wodociągowo-kanalizacyjnego na podstawie art. 417 kc

Abstract

The objective of the paper is to find out of whether a water-supply and sewerage enterprise can bear the civil-law liability pursuant to Article 417 of the Polish Civil Code as “another legal person that exercises public power by virtue of the law”. Having analyzed the concept of exercising of the public power, the author proves that the principal activities of water-supply and sewerage enterprises lie beyond its scope. Contracts on water supply and discharge of sewage are of the civil law nature and therefore their performance is governed by the provisions of the Civil Code. It is not, however, the case of the issues related to the connection to water and to sanitary sewerage system. This activities constitute a way of the exercise of public power, since conditions for this connection are one-sidedly stipulated by the enterprise concerned through the authoritative imposition of specific duties upon the other party. Furthermore, when an enterprise in question is a communal organizational entity, not endowed with legal personality, the liability for damage related to the connection to water and sewerage network rests on the respective commune.