Poland

## The Basic Law and the implementation of the EU legislative acts

Basic principle ruling the implementation of EU law into Polish legislative order originate from The Constitution of Republic of Poland, which obliges to obey to the international law. Even though it has been written in 1997, the creators of the Basic Law were fully aware of possible accession on the EU or other international organizations. The provision states, that one of the sources of the law are ratified international laws. European Treaties are exactly such a kind of laws - multilateral international laws. It is worth noting that in a case of conflict between national law and a state law, law which originates in international law is treated as dominant and directly applied.

## "Cooperation Act"

A more specific law which guides the rules about EU law implementation is the so called *Cooperation Act* ("On the cooperation of the Council of Ministers with the Sejm and the Senate in matters relating to the republic of Poland's membership of the European Union"). Under this Act, the Council of Ministers must inform the upper house (the Senate) and a lower house (the Sejm) about the issues of the Polish membership to the European Union. This concerns particularly the obligation of Council of Ministers to submit to both chambers of parliament the documents of the European Union, which are subject to consultation in the Member States, as well as the Council's (European Council) work plans and the assessment of the European Commission's annual legislative plans drawn up by the European Parliament and the Council.

Moreover, the Council of Ministers must submit on the regular basics projects of the EU acts, including the assessment of the impact of the law on the Polish law system, and its social, economic and financial repercussions. An information of compatibility with subsidiarity rule should also be included.

## A bill implementing European Union law

Polish constitution does not encompass a special type of acts for EU acts. European Union law is mainly implemented into the Polish legislative system by regular *acts* (ustawy), less frequently by *regulations* (rozporządzenia). Bills that are aimed at implementing EU law are gathered in the base, which includes two types of acts: original European act and its Polish counterpart.

## Three steps of implementation

1. Preparing project of the act by the Council of Ministers and submitting it to the lower house of Parliament
2. Promulgation of a legal act implementing EU law into the legal system of Poland (transposition)
3. Notification to the European Commission and application of the law

## Institutions responsible for implementing EU law

### Council of Ministers (with its Committees)

The process of every bill (including those implementing EU law) encompasses consideration of the draft by a specific sectoral committee or committees of the Council of Ministers, consideration of the draft by the Standing Committee of the Council of Ministers, consideration of the draft by the Legal Affairs Committee, and consideration of the draft by the Council of Ministers eventually.

### The Government Legislation Centre

Before submitting the bill (and sometimes regulation) to consideration to the Council of Ministers, the applicant body sends it to the Government Legislation Center with a request for consideration by the Legal Committee.

### Chancellery of the Prime Minister of Poland

Formerly competence of coordinating a process of EU law implementation was within the Department of the Committee for European Affairs in the Ministry of European Affairs. Currently, it is in the authority of the Chancellery of the Prime Minister of Poland. The Committee has formerly been one of departments in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

### [obsolete] Ministry of Foreign Affairs (Committee of European Affairs)

The minister responsible for European Union affairs is the Minister of Foreign Affairs. Within this ministry a Department of the Committee for European Affairs exists headed by the Secretary of State for European Affairs. The task of the committee is to coordinate the internal policy of the Council of Ministers in matters related to the membership of Poland in the EU.

*Implementing EU law* (no date) *European Commission*. Available at: https://commission.europa.eu/law/application-eu-law/implementing-eu-law\_en (Accessed: 03 December 2023).

"Prawnoustrojowa koncepcja i mechanizmy prawne implementacji prawa Unii Europejskiej do krajowego systemu prawnego Rzeczypospolitej Polskiej", Artur Trubalski, 2015, https://repozytorium.uwb.edu.pl/jspui/bitstream/11320/4094/1/Prawnoustrojowa%20koncepcja%20i%20mechanizmy%20prawne%20implementacji%20prawa%20Unii%20Europejskiej%20do%20krajowego%20systemu%20prawnego%20Rzeczyp~1.pdf [access 26.02.2021]