When can an authority not revoke a licence? Success of the Administrative Law Department

On 16 April 2026, the Supreme Administrative Court of Poland issued a ruling in a dispute lasting over ten years (the original decision dates back to 2014) concerning the revocation of the Client’s licence to conduct business activity in the field of trade in weapons and ammunition. The case returned for a second time to the Supreme Administrative Court, which upheld the cassation complaint filed, overturned the contested judgment as well as the first- and second-instance administrative decisions that were unfavourable to our Client, and simultaneously discontinued the administrative proceedings in which the licence had originally been revoked.

Case details

The licence was revoked due to an alleged failure to remedy identified irregularities within the required timeframe, as well as an accusation of a serious breach of the licence conditions involving sales to individuals who did not hold the required firearms permit.

However, the Supreme Administrative Court agreed with the Law Firm’s position that the party had not been properly served with a request to remedy any alleged irregularities, and in this respect such a fact cannot be presumed. The Court also emphasized that significant doubts regarding the nature of the disputed items, as in the present case, meant that the authority had no basis to find a serious breach of the conditions of the business activity. Consequently, the prerequisites for revoking the licence were not met.

This judgment confirms that:

• administrative authorities are obliged to strictly comply with procedural requirements, including the proper service of requests to parties,
• as a rule, it is impermissible to base decisions on presumptions regarding key factual circumstances,
• doubts as to the factual state of affairs preclude the possibility of attributing a serious breach of business conditions to an entrepreneur,
• revocation of a licence, as a measure with particularly severe consequences, must have clear and properly established grounds.

The case was handled by:

Mariusz Kowolik
Jacek Ziembiński
Dominika Kaczmarek