This question was answered by the Provincial Administrative Court in Gliwice in a judgment of November 28, 2019 (III SA / Gl 886/19).
Mayor C. granted entrepreneur R. G., who is a sole proprietorship, permission to sell and serve alcoholic beverages. R. G paid to the commune’s account the fee due for the whole year of using permits.
Subsequently, R. G. submitted a declaration of resignation from the permission to sell alcoholic beverages and at the same time waived her right to appeal against the organ’s decision. The mayor therefore decided to terminate these permits.
R. G. died and her heir claimed a refund of overpaid fees because R.G. paid the fee for the whole year and waived the permit before its expiry.
The court in Gliwice emphasized that there is no doubt that the permission to sell alcoholic beverages is closely related to the entity that received the authorization. Due to this, it is also not subject to inheritance. By the decision issued by the mayor, the granted to R.G. expired. permits cannot be inherited because of this.
In accordance with art. 922 § 2 of the Civil Code, the inheritance does not include the rights and obligations of the deceased closely related to his person, as well as the rights that upon his death pass to designated persons regardless of whether they are heirs. It was undoubtedly for the court that the rights and obligations arising from administrative decisions issued to R. G. authorizing the sale of alcohol were closely related to her person.
The inheritance is the total of the property rights and obligations of the deceased. As a rule, it does not include property rights and obligations of a public law nature, governed by the provisions of legal departments other than civil law, in particular administrative or tax law. The exception confirming the rule is the taxpayer’s right to a refund of excess tax. The fees paid by R.G were undoubtedly public-law in nature.
It follows from this judgment that it is not possible to inherit the license to sell alcoholic beverages.