The regulation at the centre of the case, issued by the digital affairs ministry and published on 22 May, had been due to take effect on 23 August.
It replaced the previous form fields "woman's details" and "man's details" with an optional "man/woman's details," enabling local registry offices to record same-sex marriages contracted abroad.
The challenge was brought by lawmakers from the opposition PiS party, represented by MP Marcin Warchoł.
He argued the digital affairs minister had overstepped by regulating a matter that should be governed by statute – namely, the legal definition of spouses' sex – and that recognising such unions would effectively amount to amending the constitution itself.
Piotrowicz said any change of this magnitude to the institution of marriage would require amending Poland's supreme law, as well as a systemic overhaul of existing legislation, including the family code and the law on civil status records.
He added that the ruling does not strike down the regulation entirely, but renders it void within the specified scope.
'The transcription will remain legal'
When the measure was announced in May, Digital Affairs Minister Minister Krzysztof Gawkowski said any same-sex couple married abroad would be able to have their marriage registered at a Polish civil registry office, without needing to wait for court rulings.
His ministry said the change was based on recent decisions by administrative courts – including a Supreme Administrative Court ruling in March ordering a Warsaw registry office to record a same-sex marriage contracted abroad, after finding that the constitution does not categorically bar recognition of such unions from other EU states.
Gawkowski rejected Tuesday's decision outright.
"An illegitimate Constitutional Tribunal is once again trying to stop the state from enforcing the law and the rulings of European courts," he wrote on X.
"The transcription of foreign same-sex marriage certificates is, and will remain, legal," he added, noting that Poland has already registered 184 such documents and confirming the regulation would still take effect on 23 August.
The latest decision by the Tribunal adds to an ongoing dispute over its legitimacy.
Since a March 2024 resolution, the Polish parliament has refused to publish the top court's verdicts in the Journal of Laws, arguing some were issued unlawfully
Justice Minister Waldemar Żurek has even said he avoids calling the Tribunal's judgments "rulings" at all.
(ał)
Source: PAP