On 22 May 2015, after several months of awaiting, the text of the Regulation of the Council of Ministers of 20 April 2015 concerning the application for qualification procedure was published in the Journal of Laws (Journal of Laws of 2015, item 708). The regulation came into force as of 23 May 2015.

The Act of 15 June 2018 amending the Geological and Mining Law and certain other laws enters into force on 29 August 2018.

On January 31st, the Economic Committee of the Council of Ministers approved the amendment of the act of December 12th, 2017 which amends the Geological and Mining Law („Amendment”).

The Government Legislation Centre has published on its website a draft law amending the Act on Access to Information regarding the Environment and its Protection, Public Participation in Environmental Protection and Environmental Impact Assessments and the Act on the Protection of Nature. The draft envisages the establishment of a new state entity – the Directorate for Environmental Protection (“DEP”).

The Regulation of the Minister of Energy of 16th March 2017 on mining rescues was published in the Journal of Laws on 31st May 2017 (Journal of Laws of 2017, item 1052) [hereinafter: the Regulation].

On 1st June 2017, the Polish Senate adopted the Act of 25th May 2017 amending the Geological and Mining Law (hereinafter: the Amendment). The amendment aims to implement Directive 2013/30/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council of 12 June 2013 on the safety of offshore oil and gas operations and amending Directive 2004/35/EC (OJ L 178, 28.06.2013, p. 66) [hereinafter: the Directive].

The lengthiness of proceedings is a frequent problem in the adjudication of administrative cases. This issue is particularly relevant when it comes to various kinds of proceedings related to business activity, such as the obtaining of a concession.

As a matter of fact, the notion of validity of an environmental decision remains undefined. With respect to such decisions, one may rather talk about the possibility of its application by the investor within a certain limit of time. According to Article 72(3) of the Act of 3 October 2008 providing information on the environment and environmental protection, public participation in environmental protection and on environmental impact assessment (Environmental Information Act), the environmental decision should be attached to an application for a decision concerning, inter alia, a concession for the extraction of minerals from deposits. The submission of the relevant application should take place within 6 years of the date on which the environmental decision became final. In case of a project which is implemented in stages, and provided that the conditions defined in the environmental decision have not changed, the application may be submitted within 10 years of the date on which the environmental decision became final.

It goes beyond any doubt that coal will continue to be one of the key energy carriers driving growth in Poland, Europe and across the world. Maintaining the leading role of coal under the current EU climate policy is a challenging task and calls for the implementation of low-emission technologies involving state-of-the-art, efficient and clean power generation processes referred to as Clean Coal Technologies (“CTT”).

On 13th September 2016, a draft bill regarding the Polish Geological Survey was published (“Draft Bill”). The primary objective of the new legislation is to create a Polish Geological Survey (“PGS”, in Polish: Polska Służba Geologiczna) a new executive agency, which will be responsible for ensuring effective implementation of national geological policy. Below is a summary of the most important provisions of the Draft Bill.