Repo transactions are financial operations known, among others, as open market operations of central banks - in Poland present for five years. Such operations are usually made in Treasury bills, although similar transactions may be made in movables - in which case, however, such transactions would not be subject to open market auctions. The authors of the article deal exclusively with the latter type of transactions. Their considerations refer to two aspects: legal nature of operations themselves, and their administrative and organizational structure. Legal problems focus on the use of legal provisions to repo transactions.

Legal definition is relatively simple: repo transaction is deemed concluded when an offerer offers to sale a security issued by other party and which security remains economically valid after the operation. At the same time, the offerer makes an irrevocable obligation to repurchase the securities at a specified date and price, while the purchaser accepts these terms and conditions as irrevocably binding, and he may only propose the price.

The Civil Code, binding in Poland, recognizes such a form of transactions, defining it as a sale subject to repurchase - Art. 593 and subsequent articles of the Civil Code.

Opinions on this legal aspect are consistent with the presented above. There is, however, belief that this form of transactions can be deemed lending of securities. It cannot be accepted under the Polish law where lending of securities (Art. 720 of the Civil Code) and lending pledged by securities are unknown. The latter concept is related to the approach of EU bodies, although it is not accepted by the majority of the member states.

Equally important are, however, problems of an organizational and procedural nature. These transactions represent a form of non-mandatory activity performed by a public body, i.e. a central bank, in relation to its mandatory objectives within a basic constitutional function: monetary policy.

Characteristics of repo and reverse repo options as well as "non-genuine" repo should enrich a theoretic base of repo transactions, being an important financial instrument despite poor literature devoted to this subject.