Fatema Allawi, a citizen of Iraq, and a Polish man, Tomasz S., fell in love and decided to get married.

Fatema Allawi was Muslim and Iraqi law prohibits marriages between Muslim woman and non-Muslim
man, also foreigner. Pursuant to Article 79 sec. 1 of the Polish Registry Office Records Act, a foreigner
intending to get married is obliged to submit to the registrar a document confirming the foreigner’s
capacity to get married under the law of the foreigner’s state of origin. Pursuant to Article 79 sec. 2 if it is
burdensome to obtain the document, the court may, in non-litigious proceedings, exempt the foreigner
from this obligation. Relying on the argument that the incompliance of the law of Fatema state of origin
with the fundamental rules of the Polish system of law is an irremediable obstacle to her getting married
to a Polish man in Poland, the District Court rejected the application to exempt the Iraqi citizen from the
obligation to submit to the registrar a document confirming the foreigner’s capacity to get married under
the law of the foreigner's state of origin. The Regional Court examining the case as a result of an appeal
against this negative decision submitted the following question of law to the Supreme Court: “Is a ban on
interfaith marriage existing in the law of the applicant's state of origin a reason to refuse an exemption
from submitting the evidence referred to Article 79 sec. 2 of the Polish Registry Office Records Act in
every single case?”