Poland is working on the implementation of the European Electronic Communications Code

Poland
Available languages: PL

21 December 2020 is the deadline for EU Member States to implement the European Electronic Communications Code (EECC) to their legal systems, which was introduced under the EU directive of 2018 establishing a new regulatory framework for electronic communications.

The Ministry of Digital Affairs developed the assumptions and the initial draft of the Act implementing EECC - the Electronic Communications Law (ECL) - which is to replace the currently applicable Telecommunications Law dated 16 July 2004 and amend many other regulations (e.g. the Act on the Provision of Services by Electronic Means). The draft Act is currently at the pre-consultation stage.

The draft ECL which has 394 Articles on 241 pages regulates many issues, including but not limited to: the principles of performing and controlling activity consisting in the provision of electronic communications services, the rights and obligations of electronic communications business entities and end users, the regulation of electronic communications markets, the terms and conditions of managing frequencies, as well as the terms and conditions of processing telecommunications data as part of the provision of electronic communications services. It also changes the principles of conducting direct marketing activities with the use of telecommunications terminal equipment (email marketing, telemarketing, etc.).

Due to the broad regulatory scope, comments to the draft ECL are submitted in stages containing specific blocks of issues. According to the valid works schedule announced by the Ministry of Digital Affairs, the interested parties may submit comments concerning access issues (Section III, Section IV Chapter 4, Section VII Chapter 5 of the draft ECL) and the end user rights (Section VII Chapter 1 of the draft ECL) by 24 April 2020.

The Ministry of Digital Affairs also announced plans to carry out workshops with the participation of entities that submit their comments and opinions within the indicated deadlines.

The next stage of the works will involve public consultations, which are planned to start in June 2020.