Entrepreneurs request an urgent dialogue and changes to the project on the issues indicated in a specially prepared appeal to the Minister of Interior and Administration.
Civil protection regulations. Entrepreneurs have a number of reservations
6 organizations bringing together Polish entrepreneurs appealed to the Minister of the Interior and Administration to urgently introduce changes to the draft regulations on civil protection and to initiate a dialogue with entrepreneurs.
Entrepreneurs write:
" As Polish citizens and representatives of entrepreneurs in many industries employing hundreds of thousands of people, we perfectly understand the need to increase the level of civil protection and develop appropriate regulations in this area. We also see scope for cooperation between the public and private sectors in carrying out the tasks of protecting the civilian population. However, this cooperation should be based on on transparent, collaborative and rational principles.
Meanwhile, the draft provisions of the Act on Civil Protection and Civil Defense (UD70) and the Regulation on technical conditions and technical conditions for the use of protective structures (MSWiA949) contain solutions whose implementation is unrealistic within the time assumed by the drafter and which impose disproportionate obligations. This is how the situation should be defined when the state decides that it can transfer the costs of creating a defense system to private entrepreneurs.
Therefore, we request an urgent dialogue with entrepreneurs and changes to the project in the points indicated below. For our part, we declare our full readiness and commitment to cooperate in shaping the best solutions for population protection and civil defense.
1. Too short vacatio legis and risk of investment paralysis
The ministry has been working on the Civil Protection and Civil Defense Act for months. As a result of this work, an almost 80-page document was published, which deals with population defense and civil protection in a multi-threaded manner. A one-week deadline was set for reading it, analyzing it and submitting comments during public consultations. Realizing the seriousness of the situation and the need to conduct an efficient legislative process, we must emphasize that haste may negatively affect the creation of good, precise and fair law.
At this point it is worth mentioning Art. 73 of the draft act. The above-mentioned regulation stipulates that underground floors in public buildings, but also in multi-family residential buildings, and underground garages are designed and constructed in a way that – at least – allows for the organization of a temporary shelter there.
The draft does not contain any transitional provisions, apart from the general deadline that the regulations are to enter into force 30 days after publication in the Journal of Laws. First of all, it should be pointed out that the 30-day deadline for adapting to the new regulations is not realistic. The design process of multi-family buildings takes several months and involves the need to develop a number of arrangements. The introduced changes force investors to redesign their investments, which will result in a delay in the commencement of the construction of several dozen thousand apartments. Assuming that the bill will enter into force in the fall of this year, the lack of appropriate transitional provisions will result in no applications for permits for the construction of multi-family buildings being submitted in the fourth quarter of 2024 and the first quarter of 2025 due to the fact that the entire the market will be forced to redesign planned investments and adapt to new regulations. To avoid paralysis, it is necessary to introduce a vacatio legis of at least 6 months in relation to Art. 73 and 76 section 5 project.
Additionally, it is necessary – as rightly pointed out by the Government Legislation Center in its comments to the draft – "to regulate in the transitional provisions of the Act the impact of the proposed regulations on the ongoing proceedings under the provisions of the Construction Law regarding the approval of construction designs, granting building permits or admitting buildings for use." In this regard, a provision should be introduced to guarantee the possibility of completing commenced administrative and construction procedures on the terms that were in force on the date of their initiation.
Today, the date of entry into force of the draft regulation on technical conditions and technical conditions for the use of protective structures, which constitutes an implementing act to the Civil Protection Act, is not known. We would like to point out that this regulation, which specifies in detail the conditions that defense structures should meet – like any technical regulations – should be subject to notification to the European Commission.
It is also worth emphasizing that currently the devices required to equip collective protection facilities are not widely available on the market. This niche, unless it is given enough time to fill it naturally, may lead to the suspension of investments, as well as to speculation on the prices of materials and equipment for protective facilities.
2. Lack of clear rules for financing the construction of collective protection facilities by private entities.
Pursuant to Art. 83 of the draft Act on Civil Protection and Civil Defense, financing of tasks related to protective infrastructure is not guaranteed and will not cover the entire costs incurred (at most 80%). The above-mentioned provision not only states that civil protection authorities may impose obligations without ensuring their financial coverage, but also provides considerable freedom in determining and granting any public funds.
The Polish Association of Developer Companies has already drawn attention to the problems resulting from the inclusion of financing in the project in its position paper. Moreover, the National Council of the Chamber of Architects of the Republic of Poland indicated that: "the financing referred to above should cover 100% of the investment costs. Moreover, it is proposed that it should be mandatory and not optional, as is clear from the current wording of the project." Recommendations regarding the establishment of clear and fair financing rules were also issued by Ministries. Thus, in the comments submitted during consultations, the Ministry of Development and Technology indicated that "it seems that when the owner is ordered to carry out works related to protective structures, the financing should amount to up to 100% of the costs."
The Minister of State Assets states: "I propose to supplement the provision of Art. 83 section 1 of the project with provisions regarding the procedure, manner and conditions of transferring/applying for financial resources for the implementation of the tasks included in this provision. Failure to regulate these issues may result in discretionary decision-making by civil protection authorities and negatively affect the transparency of spending public funds.”
These are only selected voices from the comments submitted, but they constitute a clear declaration of the need to change the regulations being processed. The following conclusion can be drawn: the costs incurred by private entities serving the protection of the population and civil defense, which the public sector is obliged to implement in accordance with the Constitution of the Republic of Poland, should be fully and obligatorily covered by the State.
3. Elimination of ambiguities and exclusion of internally contradictory terminology
The draft Act on Civil Protection and Civil Defense is inconsistent and does not correspond with the provisions of the Act of July 7, 1994 – Construction Law, as well as with the draft regulation on technical conditions and technical conditions for the use of protective structures.
We strongly request that these errors be corrected during legislative work, which will allow for an understandable and clear reading of statutory obligations. Non-uniform terminology is contrary to the principles of the legislative process, creates chaos, raises interpretation problems and practical difficulties in the application and enforcement of regulations, and may also result in arbitrary or even different application of regulations by courts and administrative bodies.
Summary:
Dear Minister, we hope that you will understand our concern and treat the appeal to make the necessary changes in the draft regulations as necessary. For our part, we guarantee full readiness, commitment and expert cooperation in order to develop comprehensive, proportionate and efficient solutions to increase the level of population protection and civil defense.
