Law of Electronic Communications

On December 9, 2022, the draft Law of Electronic Communications (print no. 2861) and the draft Act Provisions implementing the Law of Electronic Communications (print no. 2862) were submitted to the Sejm. 

The acts will constitute a regulatory framework for electronic communication in Poland, and the primary purpose of the legislative work is to implement the provisions of Directive (EU) 2018/1972 of the European Parliament and of the Council of December 11, 2018, establishing the European Electronic Communications Code into the national legal order.

The draft act also covers all regulations in the field of electronic communication - necessary definitions; rules for conducting business activity in this area, including issues of entry in relevant registers, information and reporting obligations, fees, rules for consulting and consolidation, security of networks and services, and obligations for state security; frequency and numbering management; access, including symmetric access, market analysis, regulatory obligations, costing and regulatory accounting, radio equipment; services, including the rights of end users, universal service, issues of liability for non-performance or improper performance of electronic communication services, the confidentiality of electronic communication, digital TV and radio broadcasts; issues of competent authorities and proceedings before the President of UKE (Office of Electronic Communications) as well as criminal provisions and fines.
 
Due to the importance of the draft regulations and many comments from our member companies - AmCham has prepared a position paper and addressed them to key stakeholders in Poland.

In our position paper, we raise the following remarks and postulates, e.g.:

- The postulate to abolish the obligation to retain data only in the territory of the Republic of Poland;
- the need to take into account the different nature of the NB-ICS (number-based interpersonal communications service) and NI-ICS (number-independent interpersonal communication services) communication services and not to apply the same regulations to different types of entrepreneurs,
- A very wide catalog of services (Police, Border Guard, Internal Security Agency, Central Anti-corruption Bureau) that may have access to communication-related data (broadly defined), without specifying the basis for the request, the scope, and the mode in which entities may obtain these data,
- The postulate to exempt entrepreneurs providing services both in the field of NB-ICS and NI-ICS from the obligation to cooperate in extracting information from data obtained as part of the processes described
- Withdrawal from further processing of changes in the MCMO's responsibilities,
- Withdrawal from further changes in the scope of the obligation to offer "à la carte" programs and to apply the same prices for all distributors.

The vote on the acts in the Sejm will take place on January 11-13. AmCham observes the further development of draft legislation and is ready to continue working on supporting the development of the best possible legislative solutions.

The AmCham position paper is available here.