Immunitet posłów i senatorów w radach pozaparlamentarnych

The article deals with immunity of Members of Parliament in collegial extra-parliamentary bodies in which their participation is required by the provisions of the Constitution or statutes. The author poses the question of whether such activities may be considered as “parliamentary activities” i.e. those falling within the scope of the exercise of their mandate (and therefore subject, in particular, to protection by parliamentary non-liability or material immunity) or rather the performance “other public function” (which results only in their protection by inviolability or formal immunity)? The Act on the Exercise of the Mandate of a Deputy or Senator does not give a defi nitive answer to this question. The author points to the relevant jurisprudence of the Supreme Court and the Constitutional Tribunal. The main criterion for distinguishing between “acting as Member of Parliament” and performance of “other public function” is the existence of a connection between the functions of a given body and the functions of parliament. In the author’s opinion, there are four of such bodies in Poland, of which only participation in the Council of Labour Protection is considered as parliamentary activity, whereas participation in the National Council of the Judiciary, the National Prosecution Council and Civil Service Council is considered as performance of “other public function”