The Court of Justice of the European Union on Thursday issued a judgment on the failure to transpose Directive 2018/1972 establishing the European Electronic Communications Code. “The negligence of the previous government meant that Poland will have to pay high fines. Work on the implementation of the regulations in the new term is being carried out very intensively,” he explains.
The PiS government neglected the EU directive. Poland must pay a high penalty. CJEU judgment
In accordance with the CJEU ruling, Poland was obliged to pay a lump sum of EUR 4 million and a periodic penalty payment of EUR 50,000. euro per day from March 14, 2024 until the date of removal of the infringement and reimbursement of the costs of proceedings before the Court of Justice of the EU.
The Directive establishing the European Electronic Communications Code entered into force on 20 December 2018. It contains a package of rules comprehensively regulating the electronic communications sector. The deadline for its transposition expired on December 21, 2020. Due to the lack of implementation of the directive by Poland, on July 8, 2022, the European Commission filed a complaint to the Court of Justice of the European Union.
Legislative work in Poland began in July 2020 and was not finalized by the end of the previous term. “This was primarily due to the appearance in the draft act of provisions that did not result directly from the implemented directive, and related to, among others, operational control and data retention, as well as changes to the Broadcasting Act (the so-called lex pilot)” – explains the Ministry of Digital Affairs .
Donald Tusk’s government is already working. “We remain in dialogue with the European Commission”
The government explains that in the new term of office, the ministry immediately resumed work on the implementation of the European Electronic Communications Code. – We remain in dialogue with the European Commission, striving for efficient and full implementation of the provisions of the European Electronic Communications Code. This is one of our priorities – said Deputy Minister of Digitization Michał Gramatyka. The ministry indicated that the drafts of the Electronic Communications Act and the introductory provisions have been updated. Controversial provisions have been removed.
The currently applicable provisions of the Telecommunications Law were reinstated as regards the catalog of entities with obligations regarding the retention of telecommunications data and their disclosure, and the substantive changes in the Broadcasting Act of December 29, 1992 were limited to modifications to the provision regarding the granting of licenses. Changes to the Act of May 7, 2010 on supporting the development of telecommunications services and networks were also limited to those necessary from the point of view of implementing the provisions of the European Electronic Communications Code.
In December 2023, the Minister of Digital Affairs submitted a request to include the projects in the list of legislative and program works of the Council of Ministers. On January 29, 2024, the projects were entered into the list under numbers UC7 and UC8.
“Due to significant delays in the implementation of the European Electronic Communications Code, the Minister of Digital Affairs submitted a request to proceed with the draft Electronic Communications Act and the introductory provisions using a separate (accelerated) procedure, to which the Secretary of the Council of Ministers agreed,” we read.
On February 23 and 26, 2024, the projects were submitted for inter-ministerial consultations, opinions and public consultations (with a 14-day deadline) and opinions from trade unions and employers’ organizations (with a 21-day deadline). Currently, the Ministry of Digitization is analyzing the comments and preparing a project to be presented to the Standing Committee of the Council of Ministers. The government’s legislative stage is scheduled to end in May 2024, so that the bills can be submitted to the Sejm no later than June.
Source: Gazeta
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