POLAND Law and Practice Contributed by: Tomasz Konopka, Katarzyna Randzio-Sajkowska and Jakub Kocuba, Sołtysiński Kawecki & Szlęzak
2.6 Lobbyists In Poland, lobbying activities are regulated in the Act on Lobbying in the Legislative Process of 7 July 2005. This Act specifies the principles of transparency of lobbying activities in the leg - islative process, the principles of conducting professional lobbying activities, the forms of control of professional lobbying activities, and the principles of maintaining a register of enti - ties conducting professional lobbying activities. The above-mentioned lobbying activities are legal and public. The Act concerns legislative processes that can be influenced by profession - al lobbying entities. According to the provisions of this Act, there is a register of entities that carry out such activities, and only entry in such a reg - ister allows legal lobbying. An entity carrying out lobbying activities without being registered will be subject to a fine of between PLN3,000 and PLN50,000, which may be imposed repeatedly if the entity fails to take steps to be entered in the register and continues to lobby illegally. The Polish Criminal Code provides for a gen - eral rule of statute of limitations applicable to all offences. According to this rule, the statute of limitations varies according to the nature of the offence and the range of the statutory penalty. An offence shall cease to be punishable if the following years have elapsed since it was com - mitted: • 40 – if the act constitutes the crime of murder; • 20 – if the act constitutes another crime (ie, a crime is an offence punishable by at least three years’ imprisonment); 3. Scope of Application 3.1 Limitation Period
• 15 – if the act constitutes a misdemeanour punishable by imprisonment exceeding five years; • Ten – if the act constitutes a misdemeanour punishable by imprisonment exceeding three years; and • Five – if the act constitutes another offence. The offences described in 2.1 Bribery , 2.2 Influence-Peddling , 2.4 Public Officials and 2.5 Intermediaries , are usually no longer pun - ishable after 20, 15 or ten years from the time they were committed, depending on whether the specific offence is treated as a crime (punishable by imprisonment for not less than three years) or as a misdemeanour (punishable by imprison - ment for up to more than three or five years). Notwithstanding the above, if the investigation was initiated within the period, the offence ceas - es to be punishable after a further ten years. With regards to keeping inaccurate financial records (see 2.3 Financial Record-Keeping ), fis - cal (tax) regulations are applicable. In this case, the limitation period is five years. However, if proceedings were instituted within this period, the offence ceases to be punishable after the lapse of a further five years. 3.2 Geographical Reach of Applicable Legislation In principle, Polish criminal law provides for criminal liability for acts that were committed in Polish territory, or the effect of which occurred in Poland. Criminal liability is also envisaged for crimes committed abroad by a Polish citizen. A foreigner may be held liable if the crime commit - ted was against the interests of Poland, a Polish citizen, or a Polish legal person. For a perpe - trator to be held liable for a crime committed abroad, the act must be deemed a crime under
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