Chapter 11: Poland

(continued)

MAPPING AND EVALUATION OF OPPORTUNITIES

International Decisionmaking

There is no law which generally regulates public participation in international decisionmaking, except for the possibility of subjecting it to referendum. However, binding instruments require ratification in the same procedure as for national laws, and there is an increasing practice of getting the public (NGOs) involved in lawmaking.

At the governmental level there has been recent good practice of extremely broad public participation in preparing a national position for Aarhus Convention, with majority of public comments being included in the national position. The government announced its willingness to get the public involved in negotiation concerning EU accession. First steps have been taken by the government (European Integration Minister) to establish practical arrangements enabling environmental NGOs to be involved in negotiation concerning ecological issues, in particular in preparation of the so called "Ecological Integration Strategy."

TABLE 4: International Decisionmaking
	Initiation of DM (problem/ proposal)	Defining the scope, issues and stakeholders (pre-decision scoping)	Defining the scope of DM (impacts and alternatives)	Evaluation of the alternatives	Selection of the alternative (DM about the selected alternative)	Execution of the selected alternative	Post-decision monitoring & enforcement (feedback/ adjustment)
Phases of Decisionmaking LEVELS OF PUBLIC PARTICIPATION
Control of decisionmaking (right to decide)	2	2	2	2	2	2	1
Decisionmaking power is shared (right to joint decisionmaking)	1	1	1	1	1	1	1
Comments are seriously taken into account (right to be heard)	1	1	3	3	3	3	3
Adequate notification (right to be informed)	1	1	2	3	3	3	3
Access to information (right to access to information)	3	3	3	3	3	5	5

Preparation and Approval of National Laws and Regulations

There are no binding procedural laws, except for referendum, but there is recent good practice in both parliament and the environment ministry (the latter induced by the results of the Project for Cooperation)

TABLE 5: Preparation and Approval of National Laws and Regulations
	Initiation of DM (problem/ proposal)	Defining the scope, issues and stakeholders (pre-decision scoping)	Defining the scope of DM (impacts and alternatives)	Evaluation of the alternatives	Selection of the alternative (DM about the selected alternative)	Execution of the selected alternative	Post-decision monitoring & enforcement (feedback/ adjustment)
Phases of Decisionmaking LEVELS OF PUBLIC PARTICIPATION
Control of decisionmaking (right to decide)	2	2	2	2	2	2	1
Decisionmaking power is shared (right to joint decisionmaking)	1	1	1	1	1	1	1
Comments are seriously taken into account (right to be heard)	2	3	3	4	4	4	3
Adequate notification (right to be informed)	2	3	3	4	4	4	3
Access to information (right to access to information)	4	4	4	4	4	5	5

Preparation and Approval of National Strategies and Policies

There are no binding procedural laws, but there has been recent good practice (including increasing notification via the ministry Website).

TABLE 6: Preparation and Approval of National Strategies and Policies
	Initiation of DM (problem/ proposal)	Defining the scope, issues and stakeholders (pre-decision scoping)	Defining the scope of DM (impacts and alternatives)	Evaluation of the alternatives	Selection of the alternative (DM about the selected alternative)	Execution of the selected alternative	Post-decision monitoring & enforcement (feedback/ adjustment)
Phases of Decisionmaking LEVELS OF PUBLIC PARTICIPATION
Control of decisionmaking (right to decide)	2	2	2	2	2	1	1
Decisionmaking power is shared (right to joint decisionmaking)	2	2	2	2	2	2	2
Comments are seriously taken into account (right to be heard)	2	3	3	4	3	4	4
Adequate notification (right to be informed)	3	3	3	4	4	4	4
Access to information (right to access to information)	3	3	4	5	5	5	5

Preparation and Approval of Local Laws and Regulations

There is a constitutional right to participate in all meetings of collegial elected bodies, but no general procedure for public participation. A number of separate procedures exist (local referendum, local land-use, etc.) with extensive public participation. This is generally well observed in practice, presumably due to the possibility of challenging the rule at stake in court either on procedural or substantive grounds.

TABLE 7: Preparation and Approval of Local Rules and Regulations
	Initiation of DM (problem/ proposal)	Defining the scope, issues and stakeholders (pre-decision scoping)	Defining the scope of DM (impacts and alternatives)	Evaluation of the alternatives	Selection of the alternative (DM about the selected alternative)	Execution of the selected alternative	Post-decision monitoring & enforcement (feedback/ adjustment)
Phases of Decisionmaking LEVELS OF PUBLIC PARTICIPATION
Control of decisionmaking (right to decide)	2	2	2	2	2	2	1
Decisionmaking power is shared (right to joint decisionmaking)	2	2	2	2	2	2	2
Comments are seriously taken into account (right to be heard)	4	4	4	4	4	4	4
Adequate notification (right to be informed)	4	4	4	4	4	4	4
Access to information (right to access to information)	5	5	5	5	5	5	5

Preparation and Approval of Regional/Local Policies (Strategies)

There are no general rules. In practice, participation of NGOs elaborating local policies is increasing.

TABLE 8: Preparation and Approval of Regional/Local Policies (Strategies)
	Initiation of DM (problem/ proposal)	Defining the scope, issues and stakeholders (pre-decision scoping)	Defining the scope of DM (impacts and alternatives)	Evaluation of the alternatives	Selection of the alternative (DM about the selected alternative)	Execution of the selected alternative	Post-decision monitoring & enforcement (feedback/ adjustment)
Phases of Decisionmaking LEVELS OF PUBLIC PARTICIPATION
Control of decisionmaking (right to decide)	2	2	2	2	2	2	1
Decisionmaking power is shared (right to joint decisionmaking)	2	2	2	2	2	2	2
Comments are seriously taken into account (right to be heard)	4	4	4	4	4	4	4
Adequate notification (right to be informed)	4	4	4	4	4	4	4
Access to information (right to access to information)	5	5	5	5	5	5	5

Preparation and Approval of Territorial Plans (Spatial/Land-Use Plans)

There is extensive public participation only in the case of local land-use plans which create a binding law. In the case of other spatial plans there is a different practice, with participation mostly limited to NGOs.

TABLE 9: Preparation and Approval of Territorial Plans (Spatial/Land-Use Plans)
	Initiation of DM (problem/ proposal)	Defining the scope, issues and stakeholders (pre-decision scoping)	Defining the scope of DM (impacts and alternatives)	Evaluation of the alternatives	Selection of the alternative (DM about the selected alternative)	Execution of the selected alternative	Post-decision monitoring & enforcement (feedback/ adjustment)
Phases of Decisionmaking LEVELS OF PUBLIC PARTICIPATION
Control of decisionmaking (right to decide)	2	2	2	2	2	2	1
Decisionmaking power is shared (right to joint decisionmaking)	1	1	1	1	1	1	1
Comments are seriously taken into account (right to be heard)	5	5	5	5	5	5	5
Adequate notification (right to be informed)	5	5	5	5	5	5	5
Access to information (right to access to information)	5	5	5	5	5	5	5

EIA/Siting

There is a well-elaborated legal scheme in environmental law to supplement general Administrative Procedure Code (APA) provisions for public participation in relation to individuals having interest and NGOs and local groups. Broad standing is given to both, but in the case of NGOs restrictive court rulings can be experienced.

TABLE 10: Environmental Impact Assessment/Siting
	Initiation of DM (problem/ proposal)	Defining the scope, issues and stakeholders (pre-decision scoping)	Defining the scope of DM (impacts and alternatives)	Evaluation of the alternatives	Selection of the alternative (DM about the selected alternative)	Execution of the selected alternative	Post-decision monitoring & enforcement (feedback/ adjustment)
Phases of Decisionmaking LEVELS OF PUBLIC PARTICIPATION
Control of decisionmaking (right to decide)	1	1	1	1	1	1	1
Decisionmaking power is shared (right to joint decisionmaking)	1	1	1	1	1	1	1
Comments are seriously taken into account (right to be heard)	1	3	5	5	5	5	5
Adequate notification (right to be informed)	4	5	5	5	5	5	5
Access to information (right to access to information)	5	5	5	5	5	5	5

Permitting

There are no special provisions to supplement general APA provisions. In practice no sufficient public participation.

Management of Environmental Funds

There are clear rules concerning electing NGO representatives to boards of both national and regional funds who all have rights to vote. New policy announced the increase in transparency of these funds' activities for the general public.

REC * PUBLICATIONS * DOORS TO DEMOCRACY - CEE * POLAND