Nowe występki lichwy (art. 304 § 2 i 3 k.k.) w perspektywie funkcji gwarancyjnej prawa karnego

The paper offers an analysis of new provisions of Article 304 § 2 and 3 of the Polish Penal Code, which define two specific types of the offence of usury. These provisions are intended to protect consumers against excessive financial burden – the interest (§ 3) and non-interest costs (§ 2) – included in the loan they incur. The author examines them critically, taking as a point of reference the guarantee standards of criminal liability resulting from the Constitution. The author performs a “quality control”, which amounts to a dogmatic analysis of the statutory features of new usury offences, which means a kind of quality control of their definitions and verification of the necessity to cover the described behaviours by the sanctioning norms.