"Krzysztof Kwiatkowski asked Małgorzata Kidawa-Błońska for the possibility to defend himself against the General Prosecutor's accusations," writes Andrzej Stankiewicz in Rzeczpospolita. The General Prosecutor's Office filed a motion to the Sejm to waive the NIK chairman's immunity, accusing him of influencing the result of tenders. Kwiatkowski does not have the right to comment on the information in in the motion, but wants to defend himself in the Sejm. The Sejm speaker has not made a decision yet; it is not even known which Sejm's committee will issue an opinion on the motion. (page A7)

"Dark clouds are hanging over the government's draft law on economic activity, called the business constitution," writes Jarosław Królak in Puls Biznesu. PiS MPs do not like the law announced by Ewa Kopacz in her exposé, which means that it may not be passed by the current parliament. "There are only two Sejm sessions left this term. I'm afraid that there is not enough time to work on this proposal," said PiS's Wojciech Jasiński, head of the Sejm's economic committee. (page 7)

PM Ewa Kopacz requested that Sejm Speaker Małgorzata Kidawa-Błońska call it. The PM pointed out that EU MinFors and MinInts discussed the issue of refugees recently and that the European Council meeting where decisions are to be made is planned for the second half of September. In the Sejm, the PM will present information on the migration crisis in Europe and its consequences for Poland.

Ministers will meet at 11.00 for their meeting in Białystok. They will deal with resolutions on adopting a report on threats to national security and setting up a National Railway Programme for the years up to 2023. The report aims to identify key threats to the state's security and to assess their risk. The National Railway Programme sets out investment tasks covering railway infrastructure managed by PKP Polskie Linie Kolejowe. For more, see our preview.

Event: During the PO programme convention Ewa Kopacz presented the party’s election programme. Its most important elements are:
• elimination of the duty to pay separate contributions for ZUS and NFZ,
• introduction of a uniform 10 per cent rate income tax,
• establishment of a uniform employment contract instead of civil law contracts,
• introduction of a 12 PLN minimal hourly rate,
• elimination of the duty for employers to finance trade union tenures,
• introduction of a refund bonus as part of healthcare system,
• maintaining the separation and friendly relations between the Church and the state.

He was chosen by the Sejm on July 24 and approved by the Senate on August 7. Bodnar was previously vice-president of the Helsinki Foundation for Human Rights and an assistant professor at the University of Warsaw's law faculty. As Ombudsman, he wants to focus on the effectiveness of Poland's judiciary, influence legislation more often and fight for the rights of all minorities. For more on his planned changes, see today's analysis.

"During the first eight months of 2015, courts announced the insolvency of 1,024 Poles, 40 times more than over the past four years," writes Jarosław Królak in Puls Biznesu. The oldest person was 86 and the youngest 21. The 40-49 age group has the most bankruptcies (25.5 per cent), followed by people aged 30-39 (24 per cent). Women go bankrupt more often than men, accounting for 57 per cent of cases. Consumer bankruptcies became more frequent after January 1, 2015, when more liberal regulations entered force. (page 10)

The National Electoral Commission has announced that the turnout in Sunday's referendum was just 7.8 per cent, the lowest ever for a Polish referendum. For the vote to be binding, the turnout would have had to be 50 per cent. Among those who voted, 79 per cent supported the move to single-member districts, 83 were wanted to end the financing of political parties from the budget, and 95 per cent backed legal ambiguities being settled in the taxpayer's favour. On the implications of the referendum, see our analysis.

The prosecutor's office in Katowice wants to charge NIK chairman Krzysztof Kwiatkowski and PSL MP Jan Bury with overstepping their powers. Bury allegedly influenced the selection of certain candidates at NIK's branches. The charges against Kwiatkowski concern his influence on competitions. A request to lift their immunities has been sent to the Sejm. Wiretapped conversations are being used as evidence. The charges against Kwiatkowski and Bury will be a problem for PO and PSL in the election campaign.

The requests to lift Krzysztof Kwiatkowski and Jan Bury's immunity were formulated by the Appellate Prosecutor's office in Katowice, based on material collected by the Central Anti-Corruption Bureau, tvn24.pl reported. The General Prosecutor's Office will deal with the requests. Kwiatkowski (a former PO politician and MinJust) and Bury are suspected of fixing competitions at the Supreme Audit Office's (NIK) headquarters and branches. This is a serious problem for the PO-PSL coalition on the final campaign stretch.

Speaker Bogdan Borusewicz announced that the Senate would consider the president's referendum request at its next session on September 2, with a vote two days later. The president wants the referendum, which includes a question on the retirement age, to take place on October 25. Borusewicz will also ask the Central Electoral Commission how it would organise a referendum on the same day as the Sejm elections and ask Andrzej Duda to complete a form on financial and legal consequences. The Senate, in which PO has a majority, is unlikely to agree to the referendum.

An EU regulation on inheritance law enters force today, as does the amendment to the civil proceedings code that implements it in Poland. Courts in different EU countries will no longer issue rulings on the same inheritance, just a court in the last country where the deceased lived, which courts in other countries will have to respect. The new regulations will also change the law applied to assessing inheritance cases: it will now be the law of the country of habitual residence of the deceased, rather than of their country of origin, as it was until now.

"Raising the tax-free amount to PLN 8,000 a year, as President Andrzej Duda is to announce, means that as many as 4 million Poles may not have to pay personal income tax. It is currently paid by almost 20 million, at either 18 or 32 per cent," writes Anna Cieślak-Wróblewska in Rzeczpospolita. According to MinFin, the reform would cost PLN 20 billion. For comparison, PLN 30 billion from the budget will go towards the army this year. PiS says the funds will be collected through new taxes: the banking and supermarket tax. (page A1)

By a margin of two votes, the Senate confirmed that Sejm's decision choosing Adam Bodnar as Ombudsman. Bodnar served as vice-president of the Helsinki Foundation for Human Rights and is known for his left-wing views. Bodnar's candidacy was uncertain until the final hours, as voting in the Senate is secret and some of PO's conservative senators opposed his appointment.

EVENT: The Senate approved by a margin of two votes the Sejm’s decision of electing Adam Bodnar as new Ombudsman two weeks ago. Bodnar was deputy president of the Helsinki Foundation for Human Rights and he is known for left-wing views. His appointment was insecure until today, since senators vote anonymously and some of PO conservatives were sceptical about Bodnar's candidacy.

"We can discuss modifications, consider incentives to look for copper. But the idea of a tax itself is appropriate and necessary," said MinFin Mateusz Szczurek on Friday. The only payer of the tax is state-owned KGHM, which has paid around PLN 5 billion in it over the past three years. Copper is getting cheaper, so the firm is struggling against financial difficulties. Last week PiS said that it would be submitting a draft law abolishing the tax on copper to the Sejm.

"I wouldn't like to see a return to the times when MinJust supervised the Prosecutor's Office, as that is very dangerous. The MinJust's office cannot be an archive of prosecution and court cases, as it once was," MinJust Borys Budka told Jacek Nizinkiewicz of Rzeczpospolita. "I believe that judicial supervision over the Prosecutor's Office should be increased. An independent court should react more quickly when procedures are violated. Prosecutors also need to be sure of their freedom from political pressure." (page A6)

PM Ewa Kopacz said in Głogów that the government would be analysing the tax on extracting copper and silver ores, which is a burden on the Lubin-based company. The priority is to introduce a tax break for new mining projects, but not to abolish the tax completely. PiS has proposed that the tax be fulled waived for KGHM and intends to submit a draft law on the matter. This made the company's shares gain sharply; at the end of Monday's session they cost PLN 98, 8.05 per cent more than on Friday.

Ministers will meet at 14.00 for their session in Wrocław. They will work on the draft law on economic activity, which extends the time that enterpreneurs can suspend their activity for from 24 to 36 months. The Cabinet will also consider the amendment to the law on healthcare benefits financed from public funds and examine information on implementing anti-flooding investments in Dolny Śląsk. For more on the session, see our preview.

Adam Bodnar's candidacy was put forward a few weeks ago by PO's parliamentary caucus, despite earlier speculation that the party could back outgoing ombudsman Irena Lipowicz or Sławomir Piechota, an MP. Bodnar is a well-known human rights activist, deputy head of the Helsinki Foundation for Human Rights and a lecturer at Warsaw University. He has also worked at Weil, a law firm. His appointment still needs to be confirmed by the Senate in two weeks' time. For a profile of Bodnar, see our analysis.

The Cabinet will meet at 11.00, ministers will work on amending the law on income tax for legal persons and the draft law on medical products. For more, see our preview of the Cabinet session. The Sejm assembled at 9.00. MPs are working on an amendment to the energy law and a law on certain forms of support for housing construction. For more, see our preview of the Sejm session.

"Just a few candidates have applied for the job of ProsGen," write Mariusz Jałoszewski and Ewa Siedlecka in Gazeta Wyborcza. Krzysztof Karsznicki from ProsGen has confirmed his candidacy with the National Council of the Judiciary, there is also speculation that Andrzej Seremet's deputy Robert Hernand will run. The council will nominate one candidate and another will be selected by the National Council of the Prosecution; the president will then choose the ProsGen from among the two. The small number of applicants could result from PiS's plans to subordinate the Prosecutor's Office to MinJus and from the PO-PSL government's treatment of ProsGen. (page 5)

"There are 1.8 million Poles whose income is too low to be taxed. After the tax-free amount is raised to PLN 8,000, there will be over 2 million," write Marek Chądzyński and Grzegorz Osiecki in Dziennik Gazeta Prawna, citing MinFin data. Experts emphasise that as a result of the change some taxpayers will cease to bear the costs of health contributions. The tax-free amount is a priority for Andrzej Duda, the president-elect, who is to submit a draft on the matter to the Sejm after he is sworn in. (page A1)

Ministers will meet at 13.00 in Łódź. They will consider MinInfra's report on efforts to help local government revitalise urban spaces and proposals to make it easier to meet housing needs. The cabinet will also look at corrections to the amendment to the law on excise tax. The cabinet is in Łódź voivodeship since yesterday; Ewa Kopacz visited Wojskowe Zakłady Lotnicze and met local inhabitants; ministers attended sector-related meetings. For more, see our preview.

"If all types of financial institutions are taxed, some will be severely hit," writes Łukasz Wilkowicz in Dziennik Gazeta Prawna. Above all, the tax proposed by PiS would weaken investment funds and brokerages. TFIs would have to pay over PLN 1.1 billion in tax per year; in 2014, their net profit amounted to PLN 477 million. In turn, brokerages, which recorded a profit of PLN 396 million, would have to pay a tax exceeding PLN 400 million. (pages A2-A3)

"On average, criminal proceedings last two months longer. This is partly caused by repeated political turmoil," writes Agata Łukaszewicz in Rzeczpospolita. Donald Tusk announced that proceedings would be a third shorter. Yet according to MinJus statistics, the average time of proceeding is 7.8 months, compared to 7.2 in 2014. Criminal cases last 10.4 months, rather than 8.7, as in 2014. Judges say the lack of changes that would speed up their work is caused by the frequent change of ministers, as effective reform requires three years of work. (page A1)

"The ombudsman's mission is to increase the effectiveness of instruments to appeal, for instance, against the excessive length of court proceedings. We have a law on class action, but it is very difficult to end any case effectively. We lack a procedure on liability for impunity accusations," candidate for ombudsman Adam Bodnar told Anita Czupryn at Polska The Times. "We also have a problem carrying out legislation on healthcare and social security." (pages 20-21)

The reform introduces a so-called adversarial model of criminal proceedings. This means that the judge is supposed to be an impartial arbitrator, with most of the initiative going to the prosecutor and the defendant. Criminal courts could face chaos in July, just after the reform enters force. In the longer term, it will increase the role of defendants in proceedings, enabling law firms to expand their crime departments. For more on the consequences of the reform, see our analysis.

"From today the model for penal proceedings will change in Poland, and the trade union of prosecutors says the country is not ready for it," writes Ewa Ivanova in Dziennik Gazeta Prawna. The amendment to penal proceedings assumes that the judge is a neutral arbitrator of a "duel" between the defence and prosecution. The reform has been criticised by ProGen Andrzej Seremet and the National Council of Prosecutors; according to the trade union, the prosecutors did not have enough time to prepare. They believe that the new government should repeal the reform. This seems likely, as Andrzej Duda criticised it as early as December 2012. (page A1)

The Tribunal overturned the regulation requiring that three times the appropriate remuneration be paid if copyright is breached. It deemed that this penalty is too high. A complaint had been filed by the company UPC, which a court had required to pay an organisation dealing with the collective management of copyright PLN 47 million for screening films shown on public television. Following the Tribunal's ruling, the penalty will decrease to just once the "appropriate remuneration".

In 2014 there were 58 per cent fewer tax checks than in 2005, deputy MinFin Jacek Kapica told senators. The number has fallen from over 190,000 to just below 80,000 a year. Slightly less than 1.5 per cent concern corporate tax, though according to an IMF report, Poland struggles most with collecting that tax. In 2005-2014 the percentage of checks that revealed irregularities rose from 24.9 to 36.4 per cent.

In his statement to the Sejm the ProsGen said that the prosecutor's office granted access to files from the wiretapping scandal in accordance with the law, so it is not responsible for the leak. 15 people accessed them and Zbigniew Stonoga published photocopies than were probably made by clerks of Marek Falenta's defender. The inquiry was extended to September; today MPs will vote on a parliamentary inquiry committee that PiS and SLD want to set up. PM Ewa Kopacz criticised the prosecutor’s general actions regarding the scandal. She said that she will not accept Seremet's 2014 report and will submit a request on his dismissal to the Sejm.

The law was prepared by Tribunal judges and sent to the Sejm by Bronisław Komorowski. It regulates the process of choosing judges, increases the power of the Tribunal's head and enables ConTrib to rule without a trial in simple cases. The key change passed at the Sejm session is requiring the ProsGen to take part in cases at the Tribunal again. The adoption of the law increases the probability that the current Sejm will choose five new judges. More on the law in our analysis.

The total value of operators' offers for the 800 and 2600 MHz frequencies exceeds PLN 3.6 billion. This means that the auction will be suspended and operators will need to increase their deposits with the Office of Electronic Communications to 25 per cent of the total value of their current offers. After the bidding was suspended last time, it was re-opened 12 days later. The auction began on February 10 and will continue as long as operators continue raising their bids.

The highest growth was recorded by the Sołtysiński Kawecki & Szlęzak law firm, where year-on-year income has grown by PLN 16.8 million. Dentons had the biggest turnover, writes Katarzyna Borowska, quoting Rzeczpospolita's 13th Ranking of Law Firms. Increased revenues were recorded by 46 out of 64 firms. Employment has also increased, partly as a result of the new law on RES. The Domański Zakrzewski Palinka firm employs 20 more staff than last year, with a total of 146. (page A1)

The number of personal income tax declarations submitted electronically was 1.7 million high than last year and almost twice the 2013 level. For the first time officials filled out declarations for taxpayers who do not conduct economic activity. Despite the growing popularity of e-PIT declarations, the 7 million submitted this way still account for just below 30 per cent of the total.

In the draft amendment to the act on competition and consumer protection, the government proposes to give the Office of Competition and Consumer Protection (UOKiK) head new powers against enterprises trying to use illegal clauses in agreements with consumers, writes Dziennik Gazeta Prawna. The head of UOKiK would be able to order companies to admit in the media that they cheated and force them to return all profits generated by illegal practices. As it stands, UOKiK's can only fine companies 10 per cent of their annual revenue. (page B4)

Although MinFin's forecasts for the Polish economy are optimistic, it is not planning to lower taxes, writes Puls Biznesu. According to the ministry's assumptions, Poland's GDP will grow by 4 per cent in 2018, public debt will drop to 49.1 per cent and the general government deficit to 1.2 per cent. The deficit is to fall to 2.7 per cent this year, so there is a chance that Poland will leave the excessive deficit procedure. The government will not have any formal obstacles to lowering taxes, but MinFin does not plan to lower VAT before 2017. (pages 2-3)

MinCou's Standing Committee backed MinFin's position on the president's draft changes to the tax code, and recommended blocking works on it in the Sejm, writes Puls Biznesu. According to the committee Bronisław Komorowski's proposals, which are backed by entrepreneurs, are imprecise, could hit the state budget and endanger the stability of public finances. The government's position depends on Ewa Kopacz: rejecting one of the president's key proposals could cause a conflict before the election. (page 6)

The statement of objections is the first formal stage of the anti-trust proceedings. EurCom has been monitoring the US company's business practices for several years and accuses Google of discriminating against rival shopping services in its search results. The heaviest penalty the Commission could impose would be splitting the Google's search engine business from its other services; for more see our analysis.

ConTrib has ruled that the bank enforcement orders required when incurring liabilities breach the constitutional principle of equality, as they place banks in a privileged position. Tribunal head Andrzej Rzepliński expressed a divergent opinion: a customer who does not pay off his liabilities violates the principle of equality himself. ConTrib has given banks time to adapt to the new law; bank enforcement orders will cease to be valid on August 1, 2016. On the consequences of the verdict, see our analysis.

Poland's Ombudsman for Citizen Rights complained to the Tribunal about the law on public finances, which states that documents created by auditors of state institutions are not considered public information. Yesterday ConTrib ruled that the Ombudsman is right. Public institutions need to conduct an annual audit to check whether money is being managed effectively. Following yesterday's ruling, citizens who suspect Poland's public institutions of wasteful management will be able to request access to audits.

236 MPs backed the candidacy of Dr. Edyta Bielak-Jomaa, a specialist on labour law, for Inspector General for Personal Data Protection. The choice was recommended by the PO caucus. The post had been empty since December 2014, when Wojciech Wiewiórowski became deputy European Data Protection Supervisor. Bielak-Jomaa still needs to be backed by the Polish Senate, which will make a decision on April 15-16.

The Office of Competition and Consumer Protection would like parliament to pass changes to the law on competition and consumer protection this term. This would give it extensive powers that it could use to "pacify" companies, especially ones on the financial market, writes Puls Biznesu. UOKiK wants its head to have the right to issue so-called provisional decisions, which are immediately enforceable, the right to search companies (following court approval) and the expiration period for breaches of consumer interest to be extended from one to three years. (page 4)

The ministry has announced a tender to create a database of Polish companies' financial reports across the 27 EU countries, at least. MinFin will pay up to PLN 2.2 million for access to the reports of at least 6 million companies, writes Puls Biznesu. MinFin wants to look for connections between Polish and foreign entities and monitor the financial flows between them. The aim is to check whether businesses are not showing excessive costs in Poland to reduce the amount of tax they have to pay or avoid paying it altogether. (page 4)

ConTrib has ruled that the rules opening the city planner profession to a broader range of people and scrapping their professional self-governing body are constitutional. A group of PiS MPs complained about part of the second tranche of professional deregulation, saying that city planners, as representatives of a profession involving public trust, have a right to their own self-governing body. Despite earlier concerns, the Tribunal has not given other professions a basis to question the rules on deregulation.

In May 2014, as part of the so-called second tranche of deregulation, the Sejm passed a law lifting the need for urbanists to join a professional association. To become a city planner, it is no longer necessary to pass a professional exam; proper experience is enough. If the Tribunal deems the law unconstitutional today, this could prompt other professions to question the remaining rules on deregulation.

Rzeczpospolita has obtained a draft of a new act that is to regulate public procurement. In three years, all public procurement will be done by electronic form, which will be the only contact between civil servants and contractors. The draft law is to be sent off for interministerial discussions by the end of April and initial consultations on the draft version of the act are taking place. Rz emphasises that some of the new regulations will be implemented in one year. (page C1)

The Commission presented a package of measures for increasing tax transparency in the EU yesterday. It includes information exchange between countries concerning their interpretation of tax law and repealing the directive on the taxation of revenue from savings. This is a response to the tax evasion problems revealed during the LuxLeaks scandal. EurCom expects that the package's final shape will be agreed on before the end of the year, so that the regulations can enter force in 2016.

In 2014, fiscal inspectors found a record 207,000 blank invoices worth a total PLN 34 billion. A year earlier, this stood at 155,000 documents worth PLN 20 billion, writes Rzeczpospolita. The fraud mechanism is simple: a company deducts VAT from fictitious purchases and makes a false claim at the tax office. It also means that businesses can pay lower personal or corporate tax, since the value of such purchases is deductible. "This is a widespread phenomenon, present in all industries," admitted a MinFin employee. (page A1)

"Amending the law on the Office of Competition and Consumer Protection (UOKiK) is to enable it to suspend the sale of financial products whose real cost exceeds the customer's financial abilities for as much as 12 months," announced the Office's head Adam Jasser. At the moment, proceedings into violating consumers' collective interests allow UOKiK to impose a fine of up to 10 per cent of revenue. MinFin, which is supervising the draft law, wants the amendment to be adopted before the end of the current Sejm term.

Several dozen people simultaneously sued fund managing societies, ZUS and the State Treasury for expropriation during the recent overhaul of OFEs. The court decided that the claims can be considered together as collective proceedings, but did not comment on their legitimacy. For this decision, the ConTrib ruling that is to be announced this year will be key. The State Treasury's Attorney General is likely to take yesterday's decision to the court of appeals.

The European Court of Human Rights rejected the government's appeal against the ruling that Poland violated the European Convention on Human Rights with the CIA prisons. The decision is final and MinFor has announced that the judgement will be complied with. The former prisoners' lawyers are counting on the Polish investigation gaining pace. In July 2014 the Court upheld the complaints against Poland submitted by Abu Zubaydah and Abd al Rahim al Nashiri. They claim that in 2002-2003 the CIA, with the Polish authorities' permission, held them in a prison in Poland where they were tortured by the CIA.

The regulations will cease to apply to foreign transport firms until EurCom finishes its investigation. Drivers of lorries that are loaded and unloaded in Germany will still have to be paid at least EUR 8.50 an hour. Berlin made the decision under pressure from the government in Warsaw, which has spoken out in Polish carriers' defence. Brussels will probably finish checking whether the German rules are compatible with EU law during the first half of this year.

ConTrib has decided that the Supreme Audit Office's inspectors cannot process data on the genetic code, addictions, sexual life or political views of people being checked. Meanwhile, it announced that the constitution allows NIK to access court decisions, fines, health records, information on party or trade union membership and religion and ethnic background. ConTrib says that without this data it would be impossible to check whether the state is protecting ethnic minorities or patients' rights and making healthcare more effective.

The amended law on protecting competition, which considerably changes the procedure for declaring mergers and acquisitions, entered force on January 18. The Office of Competition and Consumer Protection needs to be informed about fewer types of transactions; it will have a month to assess simple cases and four months for more complex ones. The UOKiK chariman will also be able to fine managers up to PLN 2 million. The new procedure could require changes in the Office's organisational structure.

They were prepared by MinJust in September 2014, together with prosecutors' organisations. Once they are introduced, more cases will be sent to appellate and district prosecutors' offices, rather than to local ones. The same prosecutors who prepared the indictment will now have to participate in the trial. The rules aim to streamline the work of prosecutors' offices before changes in the criminal procedure enter force in June 2015.

Marek Wójcik MP has announced that PO's candidate for the Inspector General for Personal Data Protection will be Mirosław Wróblewski. The previous GIODO, Wojciech Wiewiórowski, became the Deputy European Inspector for Personal Data Protection in December 2014. Wróblewski is a director in the Human Rights Defender's office. If he is chosen, GIODO could devote more time to checking how state institutions process personal data.

The heads of the Supreme Court, Chief Administrative Court and ConTrib objected to the words of Jarosław Kaczyński, who accused them of being involved in electoral fraud. During the march on Saturday the chairman of PiS suggested that the president, together with the judges, is terrorising the courts, so they do not rule to repeat the elections. If the courts will not be declaring electoral irregularities, Kaczyński will be explaining that the judiciary is forced to issue such rulings.

Tameh Holding is a joint venture company established by the energy company Tauron and steel producer ArcelorMittal with the participation of two law offices, Norton Rose Fulbright and Wardyński i Wspólnicy. Both companies have a 50 per cent stake in the joint venture. The main goal of Tameh is long-lasting cooperation between the companies; the firm is to start its activity this year and carry out operations for at least 15 years. Tauron wants to use Tameh to extend the operations of the Blachownia energy plant, which is to provide ArcelorMittal's plants with electricity.

The head of the Office of Competition and Consumer Protection (UOKiK) will check whether PGNiG is respecting its decision from December, prohibiting the use of unfavourable clauses in agreements with wholesale and retail consumers. According to some of the clauses, consumers cannot lower the quantity of gas they order without PGNiG's consent. For every day the implementation of UOKiK decision's is delayed, PGNiG has to pay a EUR 10,000 fine.

Yesterday PO MPs proposed draft changes to vacatio legis of the act on taxation of Polish firms in tax havens. The changes are necessary for the new law to enter force in January 2015; otherwise the law would not start applying until 2016 because it was published late by the Government Centre for Legislation (RCL). If the vacatio legis is not shortened, the state budget could lose several hundred million złoty. PO will hold a conference today on the schedule of work on the proposed changes.

The amendment to the public tender bill (paper No 1653) has been submitted to the Senate. The changes are to reduce the number of decisions based only on the lowest price criterion. It will also be harder for bidders to undercut their price offers. However, it will be difficult to eliminate the existing practices as they stem not only from the law, but a contractor's fear of being accused of bias and drafting the terms of the tender to fit a specific company. 

On 30 July, ConTrib judges will once again examine the regulations on the services' powers of surveillance. The case was initiated by the Ombudsman and joined by the Prosecutor General, who challenges the legality of wiretapping to circumvent lawyers' or journalists' rights to secrecy. The Tribunal's last session took place on 2 April. There are indications that this time the judges will issue a verdict and, as we have predicted, consider some of the provisions unconstitutional.

PM Donald Tusk appointed Maciej Bando as the head of the Energy Regulatory Office (URE) - the office said. Bando defeated the favourite Tomasz Dąbrowski, energy department director at MinEco. Bando graduated from the Electric Department of Warsaw University of Technology. After Marek Woszczyk left URE, Bando was its acting head. His term will last five years.

When it comes to financial transactions, consumer rights are not protected effectively enough - a Supreme Auditing Chamber (NIK) report shows. According to NIK, almost 60 per cent of model contracts concluded between financial institutions and customers in 2012-2013 included provisions that did not comply with the law. This has led NIK to declare the activity of both KNF and the Office of Competition and Consumer Protection insufficient and recommend setting up a new institution to protect consumer rights on the financial market. 

Ten eurozone MinFins announced that the financial transaction tax (FTT) would be launched in 2016. At first, the tax will only be imposed on transactions in shares and derivatives, at a rate of 0.01 per cent - ten times less than EurCom's original proposal on transactions in shares. For other EU member states, FTT is controversial: Poland's MinFin wants the tax's impact on the financial market and budget to be analysed before it is launched.

PSL won't agree to introducing income tax in agriculture, writes Gazeta Wyborcza. Work on the tax has formally begun: MinFin prepared a draft law on the changes to the law and sent it to MinAgr. Yet the ministry controlled by PSL has replied that it won't deal with the draft law before the end of its term, GW reports. In 2011, Tusk announced that PIT would be introduced in agriculture, adding that it should be subject to income tax, despite its specific features. (page 17)

Once again, Dentons was the largest firm, employing 105 lawyers and legal advisers. Sołtysiński Kawecki & Szlęzak came second (78), followed by Domański Zakrzewski Palinka (77) and CMS (75), writes Rzeczpospolita. In terms of revenue, Dentons also topped the list with PLN 140 million. 274 law firms featured in the ranking. The Polish market for legal services could be worth over PLN 2 billion, according to Rz. (pages A1, C4-C5)

In February, alcohol producers contributed almost PLN 191 million in excise tax on spirits to the budget, 45 per cent less than the previous year, writes Puls Biznesu. Representatives of the alcohol sector say this is only the beginning: this year's 15 per cent increase in excise will mean that additional revenue to the budget will remain on paper. According to MinFin's assumptions, this year excise is to bring PLN 780 million more to the budget than in 2013, PB emphasises. (page 5)

The General Assembly of Supreme Court Judges has chosen Lech Paprzycki and Małgorzata Gersdorf as candidates. Paprzycki heads the chamber of penal law and is a lecturer at the Leon Koźmiński Academy. Gerdorf is a judge at the chamber of labour law and works at the University of Warsaw. While Paprzycki was among the favourites, Gerdorf's candidacy comes as a surprise. The Chief Justice will be chosen from the two by the president.

MinFin wants to finalise the e-tax system, which has been delayed for several years, writes Puls Biznesu. The tax authorities would prepare yearly statements for individual tax payers, but those wishing to donate 1 per cent to a charity will have to add it to their electronic statements themselves. According to PB, this will limit the NGOs' revenue, as most of it comes from people over the age of 50, most of whom don’t have web access. (page 3)

As we predicted in our analysis, the European Court of Justice ruled that an EU law forcing phone operators to store data on calls is illegal. At present, courts and prosecutors can request this sort of data for a period of up to two years. The Court announced that the regulations do not guarantee that the billing data will only be used to prevent crime. The Sejm will need to adjust the Polish law on telecommunications to the decision.

A three-day meeting of ConTrib will begin today concerning a case initiated by the Ombudsman, who believes that the law currently grants the services too much freedom in collecting data on citizens. It enables surveillance under the pretext of information gathering. The Tribunal will probably deem some of the regulations to be unconstitutional, forcing the government to speed up work on the new law on operational activities. For more on the meeting, see our preview.

The PM has appointed Adam Jasser as the head of the Office for Competition and Consumer Protection (UOKiK). He will replace Małgorzata Kransodębska-Tomkiel, who was dismissed by Donald Tusk on 10 February. Jasser won the contest for UOKiK head; until now he was a minister at PMChan, where he supervised regulation impact assesment and was the closest associate of Jan Krzysztof Bielecki, the head of the Economic Council.

The latest amendment to the draft law on ordinary courts, forced through by Marek Biernacki, contains provisions allowing MinJust to gain information about every ongoing court hearing. Biernacki would have the right to process information on the parties involved, the participants and their representatives and give him the status of personal data administrator, writes Dziennik Gazeta Prawna. This means that the minister would also have access to sensitive data, without the control of the General Inspectorate for Personal Data Protection (GIODO). According to experts, these regulations infringe on the constitutionally-protected private sphere.

Mazowsze has questioned the mechanism forcing it to share its funds with poorer regions. The ConTrib has ruled that the current regulations do not guarantee local governments' sufficient revenue to allow them to carry out their day-to-day tasks. As in the case of the decision of January 2013 concerning the equalisation tax for municipalities and districts, the Tribunal did not demand that the tax be abolished, only that the system used to calculate the amount be changed. MPs have 18 months to change the relevant regulations.

The local government paid MinFin PLN 64.8 million in equalisation tax (so-called janosikowe) it owed for September and October 2013. To avoid having its bank accounts blocked and paying an execution fee, Mazowsze had to take out a bank loan. This, however, does not solve the problem: the voivodeship lacks money to pay PLN 110 million in janosikowe and interest due for November and December 2013, while its current revenue does not cover the tax in 2014. 

Donald Tusk dismissed Małgorzata Krasnodębska-Tomkiel, the head of the Office for Competition and Consumer Protection (UOKiK). According to government spokesperson Małgorzata Kidawa-Błońska, the dismissal is a continuation of the government reshuffle started in late 2013. Krasnodębska-Tomkiel had been UOKiK's head since 4 June 2008, with links to the institution going back to 1998. For the reasons behind her dismissal see our analysis.

In April, Portugal will see the launch of lotteries where participants can win top-range cars, writes the Financial Times. They will be offered to citizens who ask for receipts that include their personal tax number. Portugal's secretary of state for fiscal affairs says that this will increase the number of registered transactions by 50 per cent, or 2 billion invoices a year. In this way, the authorities hope to combat the shadow economy; its value in Portugal has been estimated at 20 per cent of GDP.

The full bench of the Supreme Court has decided that in future the MinJus, rather than his deputy, will have to sign decisions concerning the transfer of judges to other courts. The resolution was passed as a result of Jarosław Gowin's reorganisation of regional courts, which led to the tranfer of 500 judges. Following the Supreme Court's decision, cases adjudicated by judges in reorganised courts will not have to be retried.

Deputy MinFin Janusz Cichoń said yesterday that the changes will include a reintroduced clause against tax avoidance, which we wrote about in our analysis. The new regulations will also define the limits of allowed tax optimisation and prohibit actions purely aimed at avoiding taxes. This timetable indicates that the ministry will not draft the new tax code, which FinMin Mateusz Szczurek announced in his first statement, any time soon. 

Tomorrow the Council of Ministers' standing committee will deal with assumption for amending the tax code, of which the most important element is the clause on tax avoidance, reports Puls Biznesu. The targets of the treasury's offensive are well-known sportsmen and celebrities, hybrid structures, trusts, foundations, holdings and those cooperating with tax havens. Experts warn that MinFin has wrongly identified them, writes PB. For more on how Poles avoid paying taxes see our analysis.

At the request of opposition MPs, the Sejm's treasury committee will deal with the impact of copper and silver mining tax. The committee's extraordinary meeting will be held on 9 January. Last year, the government imposed a tax on copper and silver mining, which only KGHM pays. Each day the company pays about PLN 6-7 million in copper tax into the budget, which weakens its financial position. For more on KGHM see our analysis.

As of yesterday, companies can deduct the full VAT when purchasing passenger cars with "a grille", which are approved as trucks. This is because Brussels' consent on the former limitations on VAT deduction expired at the beginning of the year. MinFin wants to adopt the new regulations as soon as possible to reduce their adverse impact on the state budget: an amendment to the VAT bill is already in social consultations. Purchasing a car with "a grille" will probably be possible until 1 March. 

Brussels has initiated proceedings against Poland after its failure to introduce EU anti-fraud regulations regarding labour contracts for a specified period. In Poland, 27 per cent of employees' are employed on these contracts, almost twice the EU average. "Solidarność” questions, among other things, the difference in periods of notice between contracts for specified and unspecified periods of time. Initiating EurCom proceedings is the first stage; suing Poland at the EU Court of Justice may be the final one. 

On Thursday, the government's Standing Committee is to deal with an amendment to the MinEco's state forests bill. The amendment stipulates that the State Forests company has to pay a one-off tax amounting to the maximum annual profit for 2008-2012. According to PI calculations, that amounts to over PLN 800 million. The money are to come from the company's own capital and, contrary to earlier proposals, will not be spent on road constructions, but transferred directly to the budget. 

The Polska Grupa Pocztowa (Polish Postal Group, PGP) has finally won the tender for providing letters from prosecutor's offices and courts, writes Dziennik Gazeta Prawna. This is a huge disaster for Poczta Polska, which stands to lose PLN 500 million. The national carrier plans to use all legal means to prove that it is the only qualified company to carry out such a complicated task. This is based on the number of locations - PGP doesn't have posts in all districts. The National Board of Appeal stated that the company will have to have the posts open for the duration of the contract, but not necessarily right away.

MinJust is preparing for the biggest reform of criminal law since 1927. Courts will adjudicate fines rather than prison sentences, and their size will not depend on the convicted person's wealth, writes Rzeczpospolita. Fines are to amount to 60 per cent of all sentences (it is currently 20 per cent). Those who do not pay the fine will have their names added to a register of debtors. The changes will reach the government in April, and are to enter force in January 2015.

According to a EurCom report, Poland has a problem with illegal deals during procurement, writes Dziennik Gazeta Prawna. UOKiK is conducting 57 investigations into tenders where manipulation is suspected. Only a dozen or so decisions confirming collusion have been announced so far; meanwhile, it is hoped that coordination between state organs will make the fight more effective. "That's why we are working with prosecutors, the CBA, the Public Procurement Office and the National Board of Appeals, said UOKiK chair Małgorzata Krasnodębska-Tomkiel.

In an open session today, the European Court of Human Rights will hear the parties in a case against Poland concerning the alleged CIA prison in Szymany. The case has been brought by Abu Zubajd and Abd al-Rahim al-Nashiri, who claim they were detained and tortured in Poland in 2002-2003. Warsaw demands that the case be thrown out of court as the Polish Prosecutor's Office is still conducting an inquiry into the matter. The ECHR is due to make a decision within the next few months. If the complaint is recognised, Poland's responsibility for torture will be determined in an international forum.

The ConTrib has decided that the bill should define the maximum waste charge, as it does constitute a kind of a tax. Thus municipalities cannot freely set the level of the charge themselves. Although the bill remains valid, the parliament has 18 months to amend the legislation and introduce a mechanism for calculating the charges. The opposition is happy with the verdict, as wants the maximum charges for waste disposal to be clearly defined. PO, on the other hand, claims that the approved provisions are of a purely technical nature. 

Joanna Skoczek, head of the Department of Public and Cultural Diplomacy at MinFor, has lost her post. In 2011, she was in charge of the department coordinating Poland's Presidency in the European Council. The information coincides with: • another MinFor employee facing accusations regarding irregularities in deciding tenders for conference coverage during the presidency and • publications that point to the ministry's employees' connections with the heads of the companies that won the tenderss - CAM Media and EasyLog.

The amendment to the law on public procurement will make the ordering party an expert on prices, according to Puls Biznesu. If it decides that the lowest price is good, the remaining participants of the tender will not have the opportunity to prove that it is a case of dumping. According to the chairman of GDDKiA Lech Witecki the best check on dumping offers are competitors in the tender. Witecki gives the example of the tender for the Grot bridge in Warsaw, where the management chose the cheapest offer but the second in line questioned the price of the winning company and won the case at the National Chamber of Appeals.

Poland will probably have to allow right hand drive cars to be registered, reports Rzeczpospolita. Poland will then face the risk of an influx of cheap cars from the UK.The ruling that Poland will have to change the law was made by Niilo Jaaskinen, Advocate General at the European Court of Justice, who is overseeing the proceedings against Poland in this matter. According to the chairman of the Polish Automotive Industry Association (PZPM), Jakub Faryś, driving this sort of car on Polish roads could be dangerous.

Certain regulations concerning local elections could be sent to the Constitutional Tribunal since the Supreme Administrative Court has doubts about whether they conform with the constitution, writes Rzeczpospolita. The doubts concern the division into electoral districts, commissioners' rights and the lack of a legal path for challenging the State Election Commissions' provisions. One year ahead of the local elections, these doubts can be of crucial importance, according to Rz.

The next set of judges and entire outside divisions created by the so-called Gowin's reform are suspending their adjudication. The Supreme Court, in its full composition, will investigate whether they have the right to adjudicate in the courts that the deputy minister transferred them to, rather than the minister, writes Gazeta Wyborcza. This is one of the most serious conflicts between judges and MinJus, for the limits of government power over courts. Sentences could be revoked and cases adjudicated by judges transferred without their own consent would have to be started from scratch.

In 2014 ZUS will pay people accumulated pensions that were previously withheld, and then the tax authorities will impose a high tax on them, reports Dziennik Gazeta Prawna. This applies to pensions that ZUS withheld because a person did not stop working after he or she reached the retirement age. The Constitutional Tribunal has undermined the regulations that led to the payments been withheld. Pensioners who receive the compensatory payments could face a 32 per cent tax, while the poorer ones might lose the right to social assistance.

Irregularities have been found in 17 of 37 forms of life annuity agreements analysed by the Office of Competition and Consumer Protection (UOKiK). For instance, companies that grant financial benefits in exchange for property rights, used to prohibit sub-letting part or all of the apartment without their consent; they also demanded that owners cover the cost of repairs. According to UOKiK, the irregularities result from the lack of appropriate legal regulations. We wrote about the government's plans in this area in our recent analysis.

Yesterday the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg passed a verdict concerning the way Russia conducted the investigation into the Katyń massacre. The ECHR decided that it cannot rule on the matter as Moscow only signed the European Convention on Human Rights in 1998, eight years after the Russian Prosecutor's Office started the inquiry. The verdict rules out the possibility of putting pressure on Russia to reopen investigations into crimes committed under communism.

EurCom has withdrawn its complaint against Poland from the Court of Justice of the European Union concerning the incomplete implementation of the energy directive. As a result, Poland will avoid paying a fine of Euro 84,000 for each day of delay in adopting EU law. The withdrawal of the case follows the introduction by the government of the small energy three-pack. Poland still faces fines for failing to implement two other energy directives - we wrote about this in a recent analysis.

Rail operators could demand this much from the State Treasury after PKP PLK charged them excessive rates for seven years, writes Rzeczpospolita. The possibility of reimbursement was opened thanks to a ruling by the Court of Justice of the European Union, which forced PKP PLK to lower its fees from December 2013 (by 20 per cent, on average). PKP PLK's biggest creditor is PKP Cargo, which overpaid PLN 5.3 billion.

There may have been corruption in 23 per cent of Polish tenders, according to research by the European Anti-Fraud Office (OLAF) and PwC, cited in Puls Biznesu. After price collusion, corruption is the second-most frequent crime connected to public procurement. The research was conducted in eight countries. The Netherlands did best (fewer than 1 per cent of tenders threatened with corruption), while the most problematic country was Spain (41 per cent). Poland came fourth.

As of yesterday, some of the judges whose courts were abolished on 1 January 2013 do not appear in the court room and do not announce sentences, writes Dziennik Gazeta Prawna. This is the result of a Supreme Court justification, which says that former MinJust Jarosław Gowin made an error: he did not personally sign the decision on transferring judges from the courts that had been closed down. According to the Supreme Court, these decisions are invalid, and the judges cannot adjudicate. "The Supreme Court's resolution was issued regarding a concrete case and is not binding in other proceedings," commented deputy MinJust Wojciech Hajduk.

The parliamentary subcommittee on the tax system is working on MinFin's draft, which foresees imposing corporate income tax (CIT) on limited partnerships (spółki komandytowe) and partnerships limited by shares (spółki komandytowo-akcyjne). Yesterday, MPs decided to exclude limited partnerships from the tax. The appropriate correction was proposed by Jakub Szulc (PO); deputy MinFin Maciej Grabowski, who was present at the session, did not oppose it. However, CIT will still be imposed on partnerships limited by shares.

In 2012, 24 million taxpayers filed PIT forms for PLN 674 billion in income, nearly PLN 21 billion more than the previous year, writes Gazeta Wyborcza. The average income, after taking out social security contributions, amounts to over PLN 25,800 and is about PLN 1,200 more than in 2011. Poles paid the Treasury PLN 50.4 billion in taxes. 4.3 million taxpayers took advantage of tax breaks for children and 4.1 million - tax breaks for internet.

MinFin wants to make limited and joint-stock partnerships pay CIT tax. It claims that this is necessary because these companies are used to avoid paying taxes, writes Puls Biznesu. Experts warn that this solution will discourage foreign investment and lead to a rise in unemployment. "Both types of company will become less attractive and could disappear from the market," said the chairman of ITI group, Wojciech Kostrzewa. The first reading of the draft amending the law on CIT and PIT will be held today in the Sejm.

The Government Centre for Legislation (RCL) has voiced doubts about maintaining a higher level of VAT tax until the end of 2016, invoking the constitutional principle of citizens' trust in the state and its laws, writes Puls Biznesu. MinFin has defended its decision, citing the principle of balanced budgets. "As to which value takes priority, there is no easy answer. If the state were to collapse because VAT wasn't increased, then we cannot let it happen," said constitutional expert Prof. Piotr Winczorek.

Only those formers whose income in 2014 reaches PLN 200,000 (in coming years, this threshold will fall to PLN 100,000) will pay the 19 per cent income tax, according to the assumptions of the draft law prepared by MinFin, reported in Rzeczpospolita. People whose earnings were below the threshold would pay PLN 185 per year for each hectare of land. "For most farmers this is a horribly archaic solution, forcing them to pay regardless of their harvest," commented PSL MP Władysław Serafin.

In current legal situation, there is no way to exempt Mazowieckie voivodship from paying the remaining instalments of the redistribution tax (janosikowe), the MinFin said yesterday. Janosikowe is a system of subsidies paid by richer local authorities to poorer ones. Because of lower revenue (mainly from CIT), Mazowsze will be short of about PLN 340 million by the end of the year, and have to pay PLN 220 million of janosikowe. On 16 September, the voivodship authorities will decide whether they will continue paying the tax. 

According to Włodzimierz Karpiński the quality of management at Treasury-owned companies has significantly improved, but certain flaws are still visible. This is why there will be three new departments at MinTrea: post-privatisation activities, ownership policy and key companies. One of the new arrangement's goals is to help supervisory boards perform their duties. The new solutions are yet to be approved by the PM. We described the new distribution of powers between deputy ministers in yesterday's analysis.

The Public Procurement Office (UZP) is preparing another draft law - the third - on amending the law on pubic procurement. The new regulations will make it harder to exclude a contractor from the tender. The purchaser will only be able to do so if the contractor was guilty of serious negligence while carrying out another order, writes Puls Biznesu. The regulations proposed by UZP also mean that the Office would no longer have to publish its blacklist of companies accused of being unreliable.

The Public Procurement Office (UZP) wants to put a stop the undervaluation of bids for public tenders, writes Puls Biznesu. In the draft law amending the law on public procurement, the UZP envisages that a company that offers a very low price during a tender will have to prove that it can actually fulfil the order. If it cannot, the company will be excluded from the tender and the purchaser will be able to keep the deposit. The amendment will not only put a stop to price pathologies, but also reduce the grey area on the labour market, writes PB.

According to the draft, commandite partnerships and commandite joint stock companies will have to pay corporate income tax (CIT). Right now, income generated by these types of companies is not taxable - just partners' income. The tightening of the legislation is to boost CIT revenue. Some enterprises are registered as commandite or commandite joint stock companies in order to benefit from loopholes in the tax system.

Animal welfare legislation offers no possibility of ritual slaughter for the purposes of religious communities. The only way to remove the conflict between their rights and the provisions of the legislation is to obtain the interpretation of the Constitutional Tribunal, said MinAd Michał Boni after his meeting with Poland's Chief Rabbi Michael Schudrich, head of Jewish Religious Communities association in Poland Piotr Kadlcik and mufti of Poland Tomasz Miśkiewicz. Boni has asked the religious leaders to apply to the Tribunal for interpretation. The economic impact of the ban was the subject of our recent analysis.

When it comes to public procurement, PO wants quality, not price, to decide on the outcome of tenders. MP Maria Janyska, deputy chairperson at the parliamentary sub-committee dealing with draft amendments to the procurement bill, explained yesterday that change would aim to reduce the misuse of the price criterion. According to PO's draft, a contractor will be obliged to apply other criteria to the public procurement process.

MinFor is working to develop a coherent system for promoting Polish entrepreneurs abroad. One of the basic requirements for a company to receive support from a Polish diplomatic mission will be paying the CIT tax in Poland, writes Puls Biznesu. MinFor will allow entrepreneurs who do not pay their taxes in Poland to benefit from the support, but only with explicit instructions from the Ministry.

In 2009-2012, the tax inspectorate applied for phone records over 6,500 times, in 3,000 cases determined the location of a mobile phone, and tapped into 45 phones, writes Dziennik Gazeta Prawna. The MinFin doesn't know how many inspections were carried out by tax officials using information from the tax inspectorate, how many of these culminated in the decision to pay a lower tax or how much money has flowed into the state coffers in this way. According to experts, this amounts to a total lack of supervision on the part of the MinFin.

The Ministry of Finance has announced that, starting on 1 August it will introduce new regulations concerning VAT on selected steel products. The tax will be paid by the buyer, not by the seller, like at the moment. The changes are meant to prevent tax fraud in the trade on steel rods. The estimates of the Polish Steel Association show that in 2012 half of the steel rods used in Poland came from illegal trade. Other EU states are planning to introduce similar regulations.

The chairman of the Sejm subcommittee for changes in the law on public procurement Adam Szejnfeld has proprosed to raise the threshold under which regulations on tenders do not apply to Euro 50,000 - writes "Dziennik Gazeta Prawna". At the moment this threshold is Euro 14,000. "The level of professionalism and integrity in Polish tenders no longer deviates from European standards; it's time to ease these conditions," argued the PO MP. The government is working on a draft bill that will raise the threshold, but only to Euro 20,000.

According to a new proposal by the Ministry of Finance, shale gas extraction will be tax-exempt until 2020. Deputy Prime Minister Jacek Rostowski said yesterday that the changes in the tax on extraction should encourage companies to invest. This is a reaction after several foreign companies left Poland - the Minister of Finance has been known for his dislike of tax exemptions of any kind. More about the change in the government's attitude to mining firms in today's analysis.

The most important countries of the Eurozone are planning a centralised system for charging and collected tax on financial transactions, which would make it harder for investors from outside the Eurozone to avoid it, writes the "Financial Times". The plan affects the United Kingdom, which planned to make the City a zone free of this tax. Eleven EU member states have agreed to this tax. It was meant to come into practice in January 2014, but has been delayed.