Doing Business 2018 Poland Economy Pro le of Poland Doing Business 2018 Indicators (in order of appearance in the document) Starting a business Procedures, time, cost and paid-in minimum capital to start a limited liability company Dealing with construction Procedures, time and cost to complete all formalities to build a warehouse and the quality control and permits safety mechanisms in the construction permitting system Getting electricity Procedures, time and cost to get connected to the electrical grid, the reliability of the electricity supply and the transparency of tariffs Registering property Procedures, time and cost to transfer a property and the quality of the land administration system Getting credit Movable collateral laws and credit information systems Protecting minority investors Minority shareholders’ rights in related-party transactions and in corporate governance Paying taxes Payments, time and total tax rate for a firm to comply with all tax regulations as well as post-filing processes Trading across borders Time and cost to export the product of comparative advantage and import auto parts Enforcing contracts Time and cost to resolve a commercial dispute and the quality of judicial processes Resolving insolvency Time, cost, outcome and recovery rate for a commercial insolvency and the strength of the legal framework for insolvency Labor market regulation Flexibility in employment regulation and aspects of job quality About Doing Business The Doing Business project provides objective measures of business regulations and their enforcement across 190 economies and selected cities at the subnational and regional level. The Doing Business project, launched in 2002, looks at domestic small and medium-size companies and measures the regulations applying to them through their life cycle. Doing Business captures several important dimensions of the regulatory environment as it applies to local rms. It provides quantitative indicators on regulation for starting a business, dealing with construction permits, getting electricity, registering property, getting credit, protecting minority investors, paying taxes, trading across borders, enforcing contracts and resolving insolvency. Doing Business also measures features of labor market regulation. Although Doing Business does not present rankings of economies on the labor market regulation indicators or include the topic in the aggregate distance to frontier score or ranking on the ease of doing business, it does present the data for these indicators. By gathering and analyzing comprehensive quantitative data to compare business regulation environments across economies and over time, Doing Business encourages economies to compete towards more e cient regulation; o ers measurable benchmarks for reform; and serves as a resource for academics, journalists, private sector researchers and others interested in the business climate of each economy. In addition, Doing Business o ers detailed subnational reports, which exhaustively cover business regulation and reform in di erent cities and regions within a nation. These reports provide data on the ease of doing business, rank each location, and recommend reforms to improve performance in each of the indicator areas. Selected cities can compare their business regulations with other cities in the economy or region and with the 190 economies that Doing Business has ranked. The rst Doing Business report, published in 2003, covered 5 indicator sets and 133 economies. This year’s report covers 11 indicator sets and 190 economies. Most indicator sets refer to a case scenario in the largest business city of each economy, except for 11 economies that have a population of more than 100 million as of 2013 (Bangladesh, Brazil, China, India, Indonesia, Japan, Mexico, Nigeria, Pakistan, the Russian Federation and the United States) where Doing Business, also collected data for the second largest business city. The data for these 11 economies are a population-weighted average for the 2 largest business cities. The project has bene ted from feedback from governments, academics, practitioners and reviewers. The initial goal remains: to provide an objective basis for understanding and improving the regulatory environment for business around the world. Page 2   for insolvency Doing Business Labor market 2018 regulation Poland Flexibility in employment regulation and aspects of job quality About Doing Business The Doing Business project provides objective measures of business regulations and their enforcement across 190 economies and selected cities at the subnational and regional level. The Doing Business project, launched in 2002, looks at domestic small and medium-size companies and measures the regulations applying to them through their life cycle. Doing Business captures several important dimensions of the regulatory environment as it applies to local rms. It provides quantitative indicators on regulation for starting a business, dealing with construction permits, getting electricity, registering property, getting credit, protecting minority investors, paying taxes, trading across borders, enforcing contracts and resolving insolvency. Doing Business also measures features of labor market regulation. Although Doing Business does not present rankings of economies on the labor market regulation indicators or include the topic in the aggregate distance to frontier score or ranking on the ease of doing business, it does present the data for these indicators. By gathering and analyzing comprehensive quantitative data to compare business regulation environments across economies and over time, Doing Business encourages economies to compete towards more e cient regulation; o ers measurable benchmarks for reform; and serves as a resource for academics, journalists, private sector researchers and others interested in the business climate of each economy. In addition, Doing Business o ers detailed subnational reports, which exhaustively cover business regulation and reform in di erent cities and regions within a nation. These reports provide data on the ease of doing business, rank each location, and recommend reforms to improve performance in each of the indicator areas. Selected cities can compare their business regulations with other cities in the economy or region and with the 190 economies that Doing Business has ranked. The rst Doing Business report, published in 2003, covered 5 indicator sets and 133 economies. This year’s report covers 11 indicator sets and 190 economies. Most indicator sets refer to a case scenario in the largest business city of each economy, except for 11 economies that have a population of more than 100 million as of 2013 (Bangladesh, Brazil, China, India, Indonesia, Japan, Mexico, Nigeria, Pakistan, the Russian Federation and the United States) where Doing Business, also collected data for the second largest business city. The data for these 11 economies are a population-weighted average for the 2 largest business cities. The project has bene ted from feedback from governments, academics, practitioners and reviewers. The initial goal remains: to provide an objective basis for understanding and improving the regulatory environment for business around the world. The distance to frontier (DTF) measure shows the distance of each economy to the “frontier,” which represents the best performance observed on each of the indicators across all economies in the Doing Business sample since 2005. An economy’s distance to frontier is re ected on a scale from 0 to 100, where 0 represents the lowest performance and 100 represents the frontier. The ease of doing business ranking ranges from 1 to 190. The ranking of 190 economies is determined by sorting the aggregate distance to frontier scores, rounded to two decimals. More about Doing Business (PDF, 5MB) Ease of Doing Business in Region OECD high income DB 2018 Rank 190 1 Poland Income Category High income 27 Population 37,948,016 DB 2018 Distance to Frontier (DTF) GNI Per Capita (US$) 12,680 0 100 77.30 City Covered Warsaw DB 2018 Distance to Frontier (DTF) 0 100 79.00: Germany (Rank: 20) 77.46: Regional Average (OECD high income) 77.30: Poland (Rank: 27) 76.27: Czech Republic (Rank: 30) 72.39: Hungary (Rank: 48) Page 3   71.91: Bulgaria (Rank: 50) aggregate distance to frontier scores, rounded to two decimals. More Doingabout 2018 (PDF, Doing Business Business 5MB) Poland Ease of Doing Business in Region OECD high income DB 2018 Rank 190 1 Poland Income Category High income 27 Population 37,948,016 DB 2018 Distance to Frontier (DTF) GNI Per Capita (US$) 12,680 0 100 77.30 City Covered Warsaw DB 2018 Distance to Frontier (DTF) 0 100 79.00: Germany (Rank: 20) 77.46: Regional Average (OECD high income) 77.30: Poland (Rank: 27) 76.27: Czech Republic (Rank: 30) 72.39: Hungary (Rank: 48) 71.91: Bulgaria (Rank: 50) Note: The distance to frontier (DTF) measure shows the distance of each economy to the “frontier,” which represents the best performance observed on each of the indicators across all economies in the Doing Business sample since 2005. An economy’s distance to frontier is re ected on a scale from 0 to 100, where 0 represents the lowest performance and 100 represents the frontier. The ease of doing business ranking ranges from 1 to 190. Rankings on Doing Business topics - Poland 1 1 22 29 28 41 38 54 51 51 55 55 82 Rank 109 120 136 163 190 Starting Dealing Getting Registering Getting Protecting Paying Trading Enforcing Resolving a with Electricity Property Credit Minority Taxes across Contracts Insolvency Business Construction Investors Borders Permits Distance to Frontier (DTF) on Doing Business topics - Poland 100.00 100 82.78 81.35 79.42 77.71 80 75.16 76.49 75.00 61.67 63.44 60 DTF 40 20 0 Starting Dealing Getting Registering Getting Protecting Paying Trading Enforcing Resolving a with Electricity Property Credit Minority Taxes across Contracts Insolvency Business Construction Change:0.00 Change:0.00 Change:0.00 Investors Change:+0.39 Borders Change:0.00 Change:+1.34 Change:+0.03 Permits Change:0.00 Change:0.00 Change:+0.01 Starting a Business Page 4   This topic measures the paid-in minimum capital requirement, number of procedures, time and cost for a small- to medium-sized a with Electricity Property Credit Minority Taxes across Contracts Insolvency Business Construction Change:0.00 Change:0.00 Change:0.00 Investors Change:+0.39 Borders Change:0.00 Change:+1.34 Change:+0.03 Permits Change:0.00 Change:0.00 Doing Business 2018 Poland Change:+0.01 Starting a Business This topic measures the paid-in minimum capital requirement, number of procedures, time and cost for a small- to medium-sized limited liability company to start up and formally operate in economy’s largest business city. To make the data comparable across 190 economies, Doing Business uses a standardized business that is 100% domestically owned, has start-up capital equivalent to 10 times income per capita, engages in general industrial or commercial activities and employs between 10 and 50 people one month after the commencement of operations, all of whom are domestic nationals. Starting a Business considers two types of local limited liability companies that are identical in all aspects, except that one company is owned by 5 married women and the other by 5 married men. The distance to frontier score for each indicator is the average of the scores obtained for each of the component indicators. The most recent round of data collection for the project was completed in June 2017. See the methodology for more information. What the indicators measure Case study assumptions Procedures to legally start and operate a To make the data comparable across economies, several assumptions company (number) about the business and the procedures are used. It is assumed that any required information is readily available and that the entrepreneur will pay Pre-registration (for example, name verification no bribes. or reservation, notarization) Registration in economy’s largest business city The business: - Is a limited liability company (or its legal equivalent). If there is more than Post-registration (for example, social security one type of limited liability company in the economy, the most common registration, company seal) among domestic rms is chosen. Information on the most common form is Obtaining approval from spouse to start business obtained from incorporation lawyers or the statistical o ce. or leave home to register company - Operates in the economy’s largest business city and the entire o ce Obtaining any gender-specific permission that space is approximately 929 square meters (10,000 square feet). For 11 can impact company registration, company economies the data are also collected for the second largest business city. operations and process of getting national - Is 100% domestically owned and has ve owners, none of whom is a legal identity card entity; and has a start-up capital of 10 times income per capita and has a Time required to complete each procedure turnover of at least 100 times income per capita. (calendar days) - Performs general industrial or commercial activities, such as the production or sale of goods or services to the public. The business does Does not include time spent gathering not perform foreign trade activities and does not handle products subject information to a special tax regime, for example, liquor or tobacco. It does not use Each procedure starts on a separate day (2 heavily polluting production processes. procedures cannot start on the same day) - Leases the commercial plant or o ces and is not a proprietor of real Procedures fully completed online are recorded estate and the amount of the annual lease for the o ce space is equivalent as ½ day to 1 times income per capita. Procedure is considered completed once final - Does not qualify for investment incentives or any special bene ts. document is received - Has at least 10 and up to 50 employees one month after the commencement of operations, all of whom are domestic nationals. No prior contact with officials - Has a company deed 10 pages long. Cost required to complete each procedure (% of The owners: income per capita) - Have reached the legal age of majority. If there is no legal age of majority, Official costs only, no bribes they are assumed to be 30 years old. No professional fees unless services required by - Are sane, competent, in good health and have no criminal record. law or commonly used in practice - Are married and the marriage is monogamous and registered with the authorities. Paid-in minimum capital (% of income per capita) - Where the answer di ers according to the legal system applicable to the Funds deposited in a bank or with third party woman or man in question (as may be the case in economies where there before registration or up to 3 months after is legal plurality), the answer used will be the one that applies to the incorporation majority of the population. Standardized Company Page 5   before registration or up to 3 months after is legal plurality), the answer used will be the one that applies to the incorporation majority of the population. Doing Business 2018 Poland Standardized Company Legal form Sp z.o.o. - Limited Liability Company Paid-in minimum capital requirement PLN 5,000 City Covered Warsaw OECD high OECD high Indicator Poland income income Overall Best Performer Procedure – Men (number) 5 4.9 4.9 1.00 (New Zealand) Time – Men (days) 37 8.5 8.5 0.50 (New Zealand) Cost – Men (% of income per capita) 12.0 3.1 3.1 0.00 (United Kingdom) Procedure – Women (number) 5 4.9 4.9 1.00 (New Zealand) Time – Women (days) 37 8.5 8.5 0.50 (New Zealand) Cost – Women (% of income per capita) 12.0 3.1 3.1 0.00 (United Kingdom) Paid-in min. capital (% of income per capita) 10.7 8.7 8.7 0.00 (113 Economies) Figure – Starting a Business in Poland and comparator economies – Ranking and DTF DB 2018 Distance to Frontier (DTF) 0 100 91.35: Regional Average (OECD high income) 87.60: Hungary (Rank: 79) 87.44: Czech Republic (Rank: 81) 85.37: Bulgaria (Rank: 95) 83.46: Germany (Rank: 113) 82.78: Poland (Rank: 120) Note: The ranking of economies on the ease of starting a business is determined by sorting their distance to frontier scores for starting a business. These scores are the simple average of the distance to frontier scores for each of the component indicators. Figure – Starting a Business in Poland – Procedure, Time and Cost Time Cost 12 35 10 30 ost (% of income per capita) 25 8 Time (days) 20 6 15 4 10 Page 6   starting a business. These scores are the simple average of the distance to frontier scores for each of the component indicators. Doing Business 2018 Poland Figure – Starting a Business in Poland – Procedure, Time and Cost Time Cost 12 35 10 30 Cost (% of income per capita) 25 8 Time (days) 20 6 15 4 10 2 5 0 0 1 2 3 4 *5 Procedures (number) * This symbol is shown beside procedure numbers that take place simultaneously with the previous procedure. Note: Online procedures account for 0.5 days in the total time calculation. For economies that have a di erent procedure list for men and women, the graph shows the time for women. For more information on methodology, see the Doing Business website (http://www.doingbusiness.org/methodology). For details on the procedures re ected here, see the summary below. Details – Starting a Business in Poland – Procedure, Time and Cost No. Procedure Time to Complete Associated Costs 1 Notarize company agreement 1 day PLN 1,010 + 0.4% of Agency : Notary the amount of share capital over PLN The fee to notarize the company deed of association cannot exceed PLN 60,000 + 6 PLN cost 10,000 plus VAT and civil law transaction tax. per page (typically 10 pages are purchased) + (the One of the document to be submitted is a list of all the founders of the company with the number and nominal value of shares held by each amount of share shareholder. By law, each founder (5 founders) must make a declaration that capital - (Notary fee + they have covered their share of the capital. Such declarations are usually 23% VAT) + Court included in the provisions of the Articles of Association. Furthermore, a fees)*0.5% civil law statement by all the members of the management board that contributions transactions tax were made in full by all the shareholders must be made. Since January 1, 2012 a new alternative method for establishment of a company has been introduced that does not require notarization of the company's agreement. However, the system was only ready to be used in practice in 2015 (https://ekrs.ms.gov.pl/). The system requires online registration and e-signature, which the majority of entrepreneurs do not use. Furthermore, online registration allows a company to be organised according to a simple form of the articles of association, which can be modi ed only to a certain extent. 2 Deposit paid-in capital at the bank 1 day no charge Agency : Commercial Bank Page 7   (http://www.doingbusiness.org/methodology). For details on the procedures re ected here, see the summary below. Doing Business 2018 Poland Details – Starting a Business in Poland – Procedure, Time and Cost No. Procedure Time to Complete Associated Costs 1 Notarize company agreement 1 day PLN 1,010 + 0.4% of Agency : Notary the amount of share capital over PLN The fee to notarize the company deed of association cannot exceed PLN 60,000 + 6 PLN cost 10,000 plus VAT and civil law transaction tax. per page (typically 10 pages are purchased) + (the One of the document to be submitted is a list of all the founders of the company with the number and nominal value of shares held by each amount of share shareholder. By law, each founder (5 founders) must make a declaration that capital - (Notary fee + they have covered their share of the capital. Such declarations are usually 23% VAT) + Court included in the provisions of the Articles of Association. Furthermore, a fees)*0.5% civil law statement by all the members of the management board that contributions transactions tax were made in full by all the shareholders must be made. Since January 1, 2012 a new alternative method for establishment of a company has been introduced that does not require notarization of the company's agreement. However, the system was only ready to be used in practice in 2015 (https://ekrs.ms.gov.pl/). The system requires online registration and e-signature, which the majority of entrepreneurs do not use. Furthermore, online registration allows a company to be organised according to a simple form of the articles of association, which can be modi ed only to a certain extent. 2 Deposit paid-in capital at the bank 1 day no charge Agency : Commercial Bank The procedure of opening a bank account di ers from bank to bank. Banks always require the company's articles of association and some banks may also require REGON and NIP certi cates (which as a rule are obtained together with National Court Registration number but may also be obtained independently before KRS registration). The National Court Register does not issue NIP and REGON automatically to the bank, however the bank can check this data on the internet platform of National Court Register which is easily and publicly available. Some banks require a whole set of registration, statistical and tax certi cates to open a bank account. In such case, a bank account can practically be opened only after the company is registered at the National Court Register. While the law provides for the obligation of the founders to pay the entire share capital before applying to the National Court Register to register a company, at the same time it does not authorize the National Court Register to verify whether such payments have actually been made. The Register can only verify the management board's statement in this respect. Therefore, in practice, if the company does not manage to open a bank account before registration in the National Court Register, the respective amounts to cover a share capital are temporarily deposited either at the founders' accounts or an account opened by the management board member(s), and are subsequently transferred to the company`s bank account once it is opened. 3 File for company registration at the National Court Register 4 weeks PLN 500 for Agency : National Court Register registration and Page 8   PLN an account opened by the management board member(s), and are Doing subsequently transferred Business 2018 to the company`s bank account once it is opened. Poland 3 File for company registration at the National Court Register 4 weeks PLN 500 for Agency : National Court Register registration and PLN 100 for publication The registration with the National Court Register determines the creation of a new business entity and is binding for other authorities such as: Tax O ce, Statistical O ce and Social Insurance O ce. Newly established companies are given their tax identi cation number (NIP) and statistical number (REGON) automatically within few days of court registration. Additional required information should be submitted directly to the authorities after the registration. After registration of the company, the National Court Register sends the registration data to a newly established central register of taxpayers (Centralny Rejestr Podmiotów - Krajowa Ewidencja Podatników). The National Court Register o ers online registration. However, the electronic registration is not used by the majority of rms for various reasons. The e-registration requires an electronic signature or ePuap as well as the presence of at least one shareholder and management board members with electronic signatures or ePuap pro le. Also, the electronic system provides for a very simpli ed template of articles of association of the new company allowing modi cations to a limited extent only. Online registration system was introduced in 2012, and became operational in 2015. 4 Register for taxes and VAT 7 days no charge Agency : Tax O ce All information included in the registration application to the National Court Register is automatically sent to the tax o ce. A Tax Identi cation Number (NIP) is automatically assigned to a company. A NIP number may also be obtained before the registration of the company in the National Court Register. However, in more documents must be presented to nalize the tax registration process. A newly registered business entity will be required to le a form NIP-8 (containing supplementary data) with the head of the tax o ce within 21 days after the entity is initially entered in the National Court Register, or in the case of changes in the supplementary data within 7 days of occurrence of the circumstances justifying the change. The company must register for VAT by the date when the company carries out VAT-covered business activities for the rst time. The registration must be submitted with the Tax O ce. The company must provide: (a) its business name and legal form; (b) the REGON (statistical number); (c) start date for its business activities; and (d) the address of its registered o ce. Company may request to obtain a certi cate con rming the VAT registration, which costs PLN 170. However, it is not mandatory. If the Company is planning to conduct future foreign trade activities within the European Union, the company must register as an EU VAT taxpayer. VAT and EU VAT registration may be done simultaneously by ling one VAT-R Page 9   form. The company must submit that application before commencing the new company allowing modi cations to a limited extent only. Online Business system Doing registration 2018 was introduced in 2012, and became operational in 2015. Poland 4 Register for taxes and VAT 7 days no charge Agency : Tax O ce All information included in the registration application to the National Court Register is automatically sent to the tax o ce. A Tax Identi cation Number (NIP) is automatically assigned to a company. A NIP number may also be obtained before the registration of the company in the National Court Register. However, in more documents must be presented to nalize the tax registration process. A newly registered business entity will be required to le a form NIP-8 (containing supplementary data) with the head of the tax o ce within 21 days after the entity is initially entered in the National Court Register, or in the case of changes in the supplementary data within 7 days of occurrence of the circumstances justifying the change. The company must register for VAT by the date when the company carries out VAT-covered business activities for the rst time. The registration must be submitted with the Tax O ce. The company must provide: (a) its business name and legal form; (b) the REGON (statistical number); (c) start date for its business activities; and (d) the address of its registered o ce. Company may request to obtain a certi cate con rming the VAT registration, which costs PLN 170. However, it is not mandatory. If the Company is planning to conduct future foreign trade activities within the European Union, the company must register as an EU VAT taxpayer. VAT and EU VAT registration may be done simultaneously by ling one VAT-R form. The company must submit that application before commencing foreign trade activity within the European Union. 5 Register employees with the Social Security Agency (Zakład Ubezpieczeń 1 day no charge Społecznych - ZUS) (simultaneous with Agency : Social Security Agency (Zakład Ubezpieczeń Społecznych - ZUS) previous procedure) The registration of a newly established company as an employer should be done within 7 days from the date when the rst employee(s) start their employment at the company (which is usually the date of signing the employment contract, but can also be a later or an earlier date). Both the company and the employees are registered at ZUS (separate applications that can be led at the same time). Both registrations are made in the ZUS branch relevant for the registered o ce of the company. Subsequently, each new employee of the company should be registered by the company in ZUS within 7 days from the date of starting work. After obtaining information from National Court Register and supplementary data through NIP-8 form submitted to tax o ce, ZUS opens a contribution payer's account for all the paid contributions. To nalize registration, the company has to submit: - form ZUS ZPA (registration of employer); - form ZUS ZUA (registration of employees covered with social and health Page 10   insurance or only with social insurance); form. The company must submit that application before commencing Doing foreign trade Business within the European Union. activity Poland 2018 5 Register employees with the Social Security Agency (Zakład Ubezpieczeń 1 day no charge Społecznych - ZUS) (simultaneous with Agency : Social Security Agency (Zakład Ubezpieczeń Społecznych - ZUS) previous procedure) The registration of a newly established company as an employer should be done within 7 days from the date when the rst employee(s) start their employment at the company (which is usually the date of signing the employment contract, but can also be a later or an earlier date). Both the company and the employees are registered at ZUS (separate applications that can be led at the same time). Both registrations are made in the ZUS branch relevant for the registered o ce of the company. Subsequently, each new employee of the company should be registered by the company in ZUS within 7 days from the date of starting work. After obtaining information from National Court Register and supplementary data through NIP-8 form submitted to tax o ce, ZUS opens a contribution payer's account for all the paid contributions. To nalize registration, the company has to submit: - form ZUS ZPA (registration of employer); - form ZUS ZUA (registration of employees covered with social and health insurance or only with social insurance); - form ZUS ZZA (registration of employees covered with only health insurance). The forms can be submitted at ZUS, by mail or online (https://pue.zus.pl/portal/rejestracja.npi). The online procedure requires the use of quali ed electronic signature, as well as special software (program "Płatnik" which can be downloaded at http://pue.zus.pl/platnik). Most companies perform the rst registration with ZUS in person. Applies to women only. Takes place simultaneously with previous procedure. Dealing with Construction Permits This topic tracks the procedures, time and cost to build a warehouse—including obtaining necessary the licenses and permits, submitting all required noti cations, requesting and receiving all necessary inspections and obtaining utility connections. In addition, the Dealing with Construction Permits indicator measures the building quality control index, evaluating the quality of building regulations, the strength of quality control and safety mechanisms, liability and insurance regimes, and professional certi cation requirements. The most recent round of data collection was completed in June 2017. See the methodology for more information What the indicators measure Case study assumptions Procedures to legally build a warehouse (number) To make the data comparable across economies, several assumptions about the construction company, the warehouse project and the utility Submitting all relevant documents and obtaining connections are used. all necessary clearances, licenses, permits and certificates The construction company (BuildCo): Submitting all required notifications and - Is a limited liability company (or its legal equivalent) and operates in the receiving all necessary inspections economy’s largest business city. For 11 economies the data are also collected for the second largest business city. Obtaining utility connections for water and - Is 100% domestically and privately owned; has ve owners, none of whom sewerage is a legal entity. Has a licensed architect and a licensed engineer, both Registering and selling the warehouse after its registered with the local association of architects or engineers. BuildCo is completion not assumed to have any other employees who are technical or licensed Time required to complete each procedure experts, such as geological or topographical experts. Page 11   Applies to women only. Takes place simultaneously with previous procedure. Doing Business 2018 Poland Dealing with Construction Permits This topic tracks the procedures, time and cost to build a warehouse—including obtaining necessary the licenses and permits, submitting all required noti cations, requesting and receiving all necessary inspections and obtaining utility connections. In addition, the Dealing with Construction Permits indicator measures the building quality control index, evaluating the quality of building regulations, the strength of quality control and safety mechanisms, liability and insurance regimes, and professional certi cation requirements. The most recent round of data collection was completed in June 2017. See the methodology for more information What the indicators measure Case study assumptions Procedures to legally build a warehouse (number) To make the data comparable across economies, several assumptions about the construction company, the warehouse project and the utility Submitting all relevant documents and obtaining connections are used. all necessary clearances, licenses, permits and certificates The construction company (BuildCo): Submitting all required notifications and - Is a limited liability company (or its legal equivalent) and operates in the receiving all necessary inspections economy’s largest business city. For 11 economies the data are also collected for the second largest business city. Obtaining utility connections for water and - Is 100% domestically and privately owned; has ve owners, none of whom sewerage is a legal entity. Has a licensed architect and a licensed engineer, both Registering and selling the warehouse after its registered with the local association of architects or engineers. BuildCo is completion not assumed to have any other employees who are technical or licensed Time required to complete each procedure experts, such as geological or topographical experts. (calendar days) - Owns the land on which the warehouse will be built and will sell the warehouse upon its completion. Does not include time spent gathering information The warehouse: Each procedure starts on a separate day— - Will be used for general storage activities, such as storage of books or though procedures that can be fully completed stationery. online are an exception to this rule - Will have two stories, both above ground, with a total constructed area of Procedure is considered completed once final approximately 1,300.6 square meters (14,000 square feet). Each oor will document is received be 3 meters (9 feet, 10 inches) high and will be located on a land plot of No prior contact with officials approximately 929 square meters (10,000 square feet) that is 100% owned by BuildCo, and the warehouse is valued at 50 times income per capita. Cost required to complete each procedure (% of - Will have complete architectural and technical plans prepared by a warehouse value) licensed architect. If preparation of the plans requires such steps as Official costs only, no bribes obtaining further documentation or getting prior approvals from external agencies, these are counted as procedures. Building quality control index (0-15) - Will take 30 weeks to construct (excluding all delays due to administrative Sum of the scores of six component indices: and regulatory requirements). Quality of building regulations (0-2) The water and sewerage connections: Quality control before construction (0-1) - Will be 150 meters (492 feet) from the existing water source and sewer Quality control during construction (0-3) tap. If there is no water delivery infrastructure in the economy, a borehole Quality control after construction (0-3) will be dug. If there is no sewerage infrastructure, a septic tank in the smallest size available will be installed or built. Liability and insurance regimes (0-2) - Will have an average water use of 662 liters (175 gallons) a day and an Professional certifications (0-4) average wastewater ow of 568 liters (150 gallons) a day. Will have a peak water use of 1,325 liters (350 gallons) a day and a peak wastewater ow of 1,136 liters (300 gallons) a day. - Will have a constant level of water demand and wastewater ow throughout the year; will be 1 inch in diameter for the water connection and 4 inches in diameter for the sewerage connection. Standardized Warehouse Page 12   and 4 inches in diameter for the sewerage connection. Doing Business 2018 Poland Standardized Warehouse Estimated value of warehouse PLN 2,347,323.50 City Covered Warsaw OECD high OECD high Indicator Poland income income Overall Best Performer Procedures (number) 12 12.5 12.5 7.00 (Denmark) Time (days) 153 154.6 154.6 27.5 (Korea, Rep.) Cost (% of warehouse value) 0.3 1.6 1.6 0.10 (5 Economies) Building quality control index (0-15) 10.0 11.4 11.4 15.00 (3 Economies) Figure – Dealing with Construction Permits in Poland and comparator economies – Ranking and DTF DB 2018 Distance to Frontier (DTF) 0 100 78.16: Germany (Rank: 24) 75.16: Poland (Rank: 41) 75.14: Regional Average (OECD high income) 73.35: Bulgaria (Rank: 51) 67.93: Hungary (Rank: 90) 62.77: Czech Republic (Rank: 127) Note: The ranking of economies on the ease of dealing with construction permits is determined by sorting their distance to frontier scores for dealing with construction permits. These scores are the simple average of the distance to frontier scores for each of the component indicators. Figure – Dealing with Construction Permits in Poland – Procedure, Time and Cost Time Cost 0.1 140 120 0.08 Cost (% of warehouse value) 100 Time (days) 0.06 80 60 0.04 40 0.02 20 0 0 1 *2 *3 *4 5 6 *7 8 9 10 * 11 12 Procedures (number) * This symbol is shown beside procedure numbers that take place simultaneously with the previous procedure. Page 13   component indicators. Doing Business 2018 Poland Figure – Dealing with Construction Permits in Poland – Procedure, Time and Cost Time Cost 0.1 140 120 0.08 Cost (% of warehouse value) 100 Time (days) 0.06 80 60 0.04 40 0.02 20 0 0 1 *2 *3 *4 5 6 *7 8 9 10 * 11 12 Procedures (number) * This symbol is shown beside procedure numbers that take place simultaneously with the previous procedure. Note: Online procedures account for 0.5 days in the total time calculation. For economies that have a di erent procedure list for men and women, the graph shows the time for women. For more information on methodology, see the Doing Business website (http://www.doingbusiness.org/methodology). For details on the procedures re ected here, see the summary below. Figure – Dealing with Construction Permits in Poland and comparator economies – Measure of Quality 14 13.0 13.0 12.0 12 11.4 10.0 9.5 10 Index score 8 6 4 2 0 Poland Bulgaria Czech Republic Germany Hungary OECD high income Details – Dealing with Construction Permits in Poland – Procedure, Time and Cost No. Procedure Time to Complete Associated Costs 1 Obtain current geodesic map 21 days PLN 2,000 Agency : City Administration Obtaining a current geodesic map is necessary for preparing a building project. According to the Building Code, a building project should consist of an architectural project; a major planning scheme of the plot; declarations of energy, water and sewage, and other suppliers, if applicable; a declaration by the administrator of the public road about the possibility of connecting the plot to the public road; the results, if applicable, of the geological examinations; and a speci cation of the geotechnical conditions of the property. Page 14   One of these documents, the major planning scheme of the plot, should be Poland Bulgaria Czech Republic Germany Hungary OECD high income Doing Business 2018 Poland Details – Dealing with Construction Permits in Poland – Procedure, Time and Cost No. Procedure Time to Complete Associated Costs 1 Obtain current geodesic map 21 days PLN 2,000 Agency : City Administration Obtaining a current geodesic map is necessary for preparing a building project. According to the Building Code, a building project should consist of an architectural project; a major planning scheme of the plot; declarations of energy, water and sewage, and other suppliers, if applicable; a declaration by the administrator of the public road about the possibility of connecting the plot to the public road; the results, if applicable, of the geological examinations; and a speci cation of the geotechnical conditions of the property. One of these documents, the major planning scheme of the plot, should be corrected by an expert on a copy of the most recent geodetic map. Such a map is collected by the division of the County O ce (Starostwo) or, as in Warsaw and some other cities, by the relevant division of the city administration. This map is valid for only about 6 months, which explains the need for it to be constantly updated. Once obtained, the map need to be updated by a private surveyor or by the and approved by the local administrative o ce of surveyors (Municipality of Warsaw). In practice majority of companies hire a private surveyor who obtains the map from the municipality (or online) and makes the necessary corrections on the outdated map. This will cost around PLN 2000 which includes administrative fees payable to the municipality. 2 Request and obtain consent from licensed sanitary expert 7 days PLN 750 Agency : Licensed Sanitary Expert The building project must be reviewed by a licensed sanitary expert. An expert approves the project by a xing his or her name stamp and an approval/non approval clause to the project. The authority issuing building permits then checks whether this procedure has been completed by the expert. 3 Request and obtain consent from licensed re safety expert 3 days PLN 1,000 Agency : Fire Safety Expert The building project must be reviewed by a licensed re safety expert. Fire safety experts are supervised by the Commander of the Fire Department and appointed by the Polish General Commandant of the Governmental Fire Department. An expert approves the project by a xing his or her name stamp and an approval/non-approval clause to the project. 4 Receive an approval from the Project Documentation Coordination Unit 30 days no charge (ZUDP) about the lack of con icts among utility connections Agency : Project Documentation Coordination Unit (ZUDP) The Project Documentation Coordination Unit (Zespół Uzgodnień Dokumentacji Projektowej, ZUDP) consists of city o cials, representatives of utility companies and representatives of any agency that might manage cables, pipes or other underground material. ZUDP meets once every 3 weeks to analyze the proposed project of connecting to the utilities and check if there is any con ict among the di erent networks. The obtaining of this approval can be done simultaneously with obtaining other pre- Page 15   Department. An expert approves the project by a xing his or her name Doing stamp and an Business approval/non-approval 2018 Poland clause to the project. 4 Receive an approval from the Project Documentation Coordination Unit 30 days no charge (ZUDP) about the lack of con icts among utility connections Agency : Project Documentation Coordination Unit (ZUDP) The Project Documentation Coordination Unit (Zespół Uzgodnień Dokumentacji Projektowej, ZUDP) consists of city o cials, representatives of utility companies and representatives of any agency that might manage cables, pipes or other underground material. ZUDP meets once every 3 weeks to analyze the proposed project of connecting to the utilities and check if there is any con ict among the di erent networks. The obtaining of this approval can be done simultaneously with obtaining other pre- approvals before obtaining the building permit. The building permit cannot be issued without the positive opinion of ZUDP. The investor- or its representatives – are invited to participate when ZUDP meets, but they are not required to be there. 5 Request and obtain building permit 65 days PLN 588 Agency : Municipality (O ce of Architectural and Building Administration) Construction work cannot begin before BuildCo has obtained the building permit. To acquire the building permit, the investor must send the o cial application form to the appropriate o ce of architectural and building administration at the Municipality. The following documents should be attached to the application: • Four copies of the building project, with all opinions, adjustments, permits, and other documents required by the particular legal acts • The investor's formal written statement concerning the right to dispose of the real estate on which the building is to be built • The decision regarding the conditions of building in the area, as stated within the framework of a binding special layout plan, if such a decision (which is not obligatory) was issued before applying for the building permit The opinions, adjustments, and permits mentioned above should be acquired by BuildCo or its attorney. In practice, they are obtained by the architect who prepares the project. The building project should be accompanied by a document certifying that the project designer is registered as a building expert. The decision on the conditions of building in a certain area is obligatory when the area is not covered by a binding special layout plan. In 2006, the o cial fees changed slightly due to the adoption of the new Law on O cial Payment. As of 2007, these fees amount to PLN 539.00 for issuance of a building permit (PLN 1.00 per sq. m., but no more than PLN 539.00) and PLN 47.00 for approval of the building project. PLN 2.50 is added for the cost of wire transfer. Thus, the total cost is about PLN 588.50. In case the application is to be signed and led by an authorized representative, an authorization should also be attached. The legally allowed time for making an administrative decision granting a building permit is 30 days (Administrative Code, General Administrative Regulations, Art. 35.3), but Article 35 Section 6 of the construction law provides 65 days for resolving di cult cases. Even so, the administration frequently reviews a case for a few months as it can sometimes requests many new documents and an explanation from the applicant and can suspend proceeding with the application until these documents and explanations are submitted. Page 16   representatives – are invited to participate when ZUDP meets, but they are Doing not to be there. required2018 Business Poland 5 Request and obtain building permit 65 days PLN 588 Agency : Municipality (O ce of Architectural and Building Administration) Construction work cannot begin before BuildCo has obtained the building permit. To acquire the building permit, the investor must send the o cial application form to the appropriate o ce of architectural and building administration at the Municipality. The following documents should be attached to the application: • Four copies of the building project, with all opinions, adjustments, permits, and other documents required by the particular legal acts • The investor's formal written statement concerning the right to dispose of the real estate on which the building is to be built • The decision regarding the conditions of building in the area, as stated within the framework of a binding special layout plan, if such a decision (which is not obligatory) was issued before applying for the building permit The opinions, adjustments, and permits mentioned above should be acquired by BuildCo or its attorney. In practice, they are obtained by the architect who prepares the project. The building project should be accompanied by a document certifying that the project designer is registered as a building expert. The decision on the conditions of building in a certain area is obligatory when the area is not covered by a binding special layout plan. In 2006, the o cial fees changed slightly due to the adoption of the new Law on O cial Payment. As of 2007, these fees amount to PLN 539.00 for issuance of a building permit (PLN 1.00 per sq. m., but no more than PLN 539.00) and PLN 47.00 for approval of the building project. PLN 2.50 is added for the cost of wire transfer. Thus, the total cost is about PLN 588.50. In case the application is to be signed and led by an authorized representative, an authorization should also be attached. The legally allowed time for making an administrative decision granting a building permit is 30 days (Administrative Code, General Administrative Regulations, Art. 35.3), but Article 35 Section 6 of the construction law provides 65 days for resolving di cult cases. Even so, the administration frequently reviews a case for a few months as it can sometimes requests many new documents and an explanation from the applicant and can suspend proceeding with the application until these documents and explanations are submitted. Formally, the time to validate the administrative decision is 14 days from the date it was delivered to the parties. In practice, the investor should expect that other parties, such as neighbors and ecological organizations, will appeal against this decision. Appeal cases may take a few years. Therefore, making an administrative decision can take from 60 days (legally) to 365 days (in practice), while validation takes from 14 days (legally, and with no trouble arising) to 4 years (in case of appeals). Since February 1, 2013, the Mayor’s o ce must enter the date of application and the date the permit was delivered. It is electronic and the application can be tracked down. 6 Conclude agreement with utility provider: water and sewage 5 days PLN 250 Agency : Water and Sewage Municipal Agency for the Capital City of Warsaw Page 17   and the date the permit was delivered. It is electronic and the application can Doing be tracked down. Business 2018 Poland 6 Conclude agreement with utility provider: water and sewage 5 days PLN 250 Agency : Water and Sewage Municipal Agency for the Capital City of Warsaw S.A. BuildCo incurs the cost of building a connection to a water and sewage networks. This cost depends on the technical conditions and may amount to approximately PLN 200.00 to PLN 300.00. Initiating the ow of water by the supplier does not require any additional payment. 7 Notify municipal authority about the beginning of construction and 1 day no charge register the building diary Agency : Municipality BuildCo must notify the authority that issued the building permit of the start of construction work 7 days in advance (Article 41.4 of the Construction Law), providing the relevant authority with information about the building director and supervising inspector. The following documents must be attached (Article 41.4 of the Construction Law): • Statement of the building director (site manager) regarding completion of the safety and health protection plan, and plans for the management of building works • Statement of the supervising inspector regarding control assumption • Certi cates con rming the building director's and supervising inspector's professional skills • Information regarding the safety and hygiene of working conditions on the building site The investor must immediately inform the relevant authority of any changes in the data above and register the building log with this authority. 8 Receive inspection from Warsaw Water Company and obtain water and 1 day no charge sewage connections Agency : Water and Sewage Municipal Agency for the Capital City of Warsaw S.A. When the water and sewage connection project is agreed upon, BuildCo may submit a declaration to start the connection works. Within 3 days after such declaration, the Water and Sewage Municipal Agency shall draft the agreement on supervision of connection works which shall be signed by both parties. The Water and Sewage Municipal Agency may conduct a technical inspection of construction works and will connect the warehouse to water and sewage systems on the same day. All works are done by the contractor and the agency will verify that the connection for water is done properly. 9 Receive inspection from the National Sanitary Inspectorate and obtain 14 days no charge approval Agency : National Sanitary Inspectorate Upon completion of the building and prior to commencement of its use, Buildco should notify the State Sanitary Inspectorate (Sanepid) about the same. Sanepid should issue its opinion on the compliance on the compliance of the building and building project (design) in respect to sanitary matters within 14 days. 10 Receive inspection from the State Fire Service and obtain approval 14 days PLN 50 Agency : State Fire Service Page 18   Upon completion of the building and prior to commencement of its use, of the building and building project (design) in respect to sanitary matters Doing within 14 days. Business 2018 Poland 10 Receive inspection from the State Fire Service and obtain approval 14 days PLN 50 Agency : State Fire Service Upon completion of the building and prior to commencement of its use, Buildco should notify the State Fire Service about the same. The State Fire Service should issue its opinion on the compliance of the building with the building project (design) in respect of sanitary matters within 14 days. Obtain geodetic post-executive inventory 3 days PLN 2,000 11 Agency : Poviat Geodetic O ce When the building is complete, it is necessary to undertake the geodetic post-executive inventory to con rm the real, nal layout of the building on the geodetic map. The process is completed by a certi ed geodesist and is reviewed by the Poviat Geodetic O ce. 12 Request and receive occupancy permit 21 days PLN 135 Agency : County Building Supervision Inspectorate When the building works are over, BuildCo must inform the authority that issued the building permit in writing of its intention to start using the building. The special exploitation, or occupancy, permit must be obtained before beginning exploitation, or occupancy. If such a requirement is mentioned in the building permit text, BuildCo must submit an application for an occupancy permit. In many cases, this permit must be preceded by the obligatory post-executive control inspection carried out by the authority that issued the building permit. The application should be led with the County Building Supervision Inspectorate. The maximum payment for an occupancy permit amounts to PLN 135.00. The following documents must be attached to the application: • Original copy of the building diary (register) • Building director's written statement, indicating that the building was completed in total compliance with the project, building permit, and law regulations, and that the building site and its neighborhood have been cleared of construction debris • Expert’s reports and protocols of required tests and controls • Geodetic post-executive protocol • Investor's written statement of lack of objections from the authorities • Con rmation of completion of the building connection to utility networks Occupancy permit is usually issued within 2-3 weeks. Takes place simultaneously with previous procedure. Details – Dealing with Construction Permits in Poland – Measure of Quality Answer Score Building quality control index (0-15) 10.0 Quality of building regulations index (0-2) 1.0 How accessible are building laws and regulations in your economy? (0-1) Available online; 1.0 Free of charge. Page 19   Which requirements for obtaining a building permit are clearly speci ed in the building List of required 0.0 Takes place simultaneously with previous procedure. Doing Business 2018 Poland Details – Dealing with Construction Permits in Poland – Measure of Quality Answer Score Building quality control index (0-15) 10.0 Quality of building regulations index (0-2) 1.0 How accessible are building laws and regulations in your economy? (0-1) Available online; 1.0 Free of charge. Which requirements for obtaining a building permit are clearly speci ed in the building List of required 0.0 regulations or on any accessible website, brochure or pamphlet? (0-1) documents; Fees to be paid. Quality control before construction index (0-1) 1.0 Which third-party entities are required by law to verify that the building plans are in Licensed 1.0 compliance with existing building regulations? (0-1) architect; Licensed engineer. Quality control during construction index (0-3) 2.0 What types of inspections (if any) are required by law to be carried out during Inspections by 1.0 construction? (0-2) in-house engineer. Do legally mandated inspections occur in practice during construction? (0-1) Mandatory 1.0 inspections are always done in practice. Quality control after construction index (0-3) 2.0 Is there a nal inspection required by law to verify that the building was built in Yes, in-house 2.0 accordance with the approved plans and regulations? (0-2) engineer submits report for nal inspection; Final inspection is not required by law. Do legally mandated nal inspections occur in practice? (0-1) Final inspection 0.0 does not always occur in practice. Liability and insurance regimes index (0-2) 2.0 Which parties (if any) are held liable by law for structural aws or problems in the Architect or 1.0 building once it is in use (Latent Defect Liability or Decennial Liability)? (0-1) engineer; Construction company. Which parties (if any) are required by law to obtain an insurance policy to cover Architect or 1.0 possible structural aws or problems in the building once it is in use (Latent Defect engineer; Liability Insurance or Decennial Insurance)? (0-1) Construction company; Insurance is Page 20   commonly taken Construction Doing Business 2018 Poland company. Which parties (if any) are required by law to obtain an insurance policy to cover Architect or 1.0 possible structural aws or problems in the building once it is in use (Latent Defect engineer; Liability Insurance or Decennial Insurance)? (0-1) Construction company; Insurance is commonly taken in practice. Professional certi cations index (0-4) 2.0 What are the quali cation requirements for the professional responsible for verifying University 1.0 that the architectural plans or drawings are in compliance with existing building degree in regulations? (0-2) architecture or engineering; Being a registered architect or engineer; Passing a certi cation exam. What are the quali cation requirements for the professional who supervises the University 1.0 construction on the ground? (0-2) degree in engineering, construction or construction management; Being a registered architect or engineer; Passing a certi cation exam. Getting Electricity This topic measures the procedures, time and cost required for a business to obtain a permanent electricity connection for a newly constructed warehouse. Additionally, the reliability of supply and transparency of tari s index measures reliability of supply, transparency of tari s and the price of electricity. The most recent round of data collection for the project was completed in June 2017. See the methodology for more information. What the indicators measure Case study assumptions Procedures to obtain an electricity connection To make the data comparable across economies, several assumptions are (number) used. Submitting all relevant documents and obtaining The warehouse: all necessary clearances and permits - Is owned by a local entrepreneur and is used for storage of goods. Completing all required notifications and - Is located in the economy’s largest business city. For 11 economies the receiving all necessary inspections data are also collected for the second largest business city. Obtaining external installation works and possibly - Is located in an area where similar warehouses are typically located and is purchasing material for these works in an area with no physical constraints. For example, the property is not Concluding any necessary supply contract and near a railway. obtaining final supply - Is a new construction and is being connected to electricity for the rst Page 21   time. certi cation exam. Doing Business 2018 Poland Getting Electricity This topic measures the procedures, time and cost required for a business to obtain a permanent electricity connection for a newly constructed warehouse. Additionally, the reliability of supply and transparency of tari s index measures reliability of supply, transparency of tari s and the price of electricity. The most recent round of data collection for the project was completed in June 2017. See the methodology for more information. What the indicators measure Case study assumptions Procedures to obtain an electricity connection To make the data comparable across economies, several assumptions are (number) used. Submitting all relevant documents and obtaining The warehouse: all necessary clearances and permits - Is owned by a local entrepreneur and is used for storage of goods. Completing all required notifications and - Is located in the economy’s largest business city. For 11 economies the receiving all necessary inspections data are also collected for the second largest business city. Obtaining external installation works and possibly - Is located in an area where similar warehouses are typically located and is purchasing material for these works in an area with no physical constraints. For example, the property is not Concluding any necessary supply contract and near a railway. obtaining final supply - Is a new construction and is being connected to electricity for the rst time. Time required to complete each procedure - Has two stories with a total surface area of approximately 1,300.6 square (calendar days) meters (14,000 square feet). The plot of land on which it is built is 929 Is at least 1 calendar day square meters (10,000 square feet). Each procedure starts on a separate day Does not include time spent gathering The electricity connection: information - Is a permanent one with a three-phase, four-wire Y connection with a subscribed capacity of 140-kilo-volt-ampere (kVA) with a power factor of 1, Reflects the time spent in practice, with little when 1 kVA = 1 kilowatt (kW). follow-up and no prior contact with officials - Has a length of 150 meters. The connection is to either the low- or Cost required to complete each procedure (% of medium-voltage distribution network and is either overhead or income per capita) underground, whichever is more common in the area where the Official costs only, no bribes warehouse is located and requires works that involve the crossing of a 10- meter road (such as by excavation or overhead lines) but are all carried out Value added tax excluded on public land. There is no crossing of other owners’ private property The reliability of supply and transparency of because the warehouse has access to a road. tari s index (0-8) - Does not require work to install the internal wiring of the warehouse. This has already been completed up to and including the customer’s service Duration and frequency of power outages (0–3) panel or switchboard and the meter base. Tools to monitor power outages (0–1) Tools to restore power supply (0–1) The monthly consumption: Regulatory monitoring of utilities’ performance - It is assumed that the warehouse operates 30 days a month from 9:00 (0–1) a.m. to 5:00 p.m. (8 hours a day), with equipment utilized at 80% of capacity Financial deterrents limiting outages (0–1) on average and that there are no electricity cuts (assumed for simplicity reasons) and the monthly energy consumption is 26,880 kilowatt-hours Transparency and accessibility of tariffs (0–1) (kWh); hourly consumption is 112 kWh. Price of electricity (cents per kilowatt-hour)* - If multiple electricity suppliers exist, the warehouse is served by the Price based on monthly bill for commercial cheapest supplier. warehouse in case study - Tari s e ective in March of the current year are used for calculation of the price of electricity for the warehouse. Although March has 31 days, for * N o t e : Doing Business m e a s u r e s t h e p r i c e o f calculation purposes only 30 days are used. electricity, but it is not included in the distance to frontier score nor the ranking on the ease of getting electricity. Page 22   Standardized Connection frontier score nor the ranking on the ease of getting electricity. Doing Business 2018 Poland Standardized Connection Price of electricity (US cents per kWh) 14.1 Name of utility Innogy Stoen Operator City Covered Warsaw OECD high OECD high Indicator Poland income income Overall Best Performer Procedures (number) 4 4.7 4.7 2 (United Arab Emirates) Time (days) 122 79.1 79.1 10 (United Arab Emirates) Cost (% of income per capita) 18.6 63.0 63.0 0.00 (Japan) Reliability of supply and transparency of tariff 7 7.4 7.4 8.00 (28 Economies) index (0-8) Figure – Getting Electricity in Poland and comparator economies – Ranking and DTF DB 2018 Distance to Frontier (DTF) 0 100 98.79: Germany (Rank: 5) 90.33: Czech Republic (Rank: 15) 84.44: Regional Average (OECD high income) 81.35: Poland (Rank: 54) 63.26: Hungary (Rank: 110) 54.80: Bulgaria (Rank: 141) Note: The ranking of economies on the ease of getting electricity is determined by sorting their distance to frontier scores for getting electricity. These scores are the simple average of the distance to frontier scores for each of the component indicators. Figure – Getting Electricity in Poland – Procedure, Time and Cost Time Cost 120 20 100 Cost (% of income per capita) 15 80 Time (days) 60 10 40 5 20 Page 23   getting electricity. These scores are the simple average of the distance to frontier scores for each of the component indicators. Doing Business 2018 Poland Figure – Getting Electricity in Poland – Procedure, Time and Cost Time Cost 120 20 100 Cost (% of income per capita) 15 80 Time (days) 60 10 40 5 20 0 0 1 2 *3 4 Procedures (number) * This symbol is shown beside procedure numbers that take place simultaneously with the previous procedure. Note: Online procedures account for 0.5 days in the total time calculation. For economies that have a di erent procedure list for men and women, the graph shows the time for women. For more information on methodology, see the Doing Business website (http://www.doingbusiness.org/methodology). For details on the procedures re ected here, see the summary below. Figure – Getting Electricity in Poland and comparator economies – Measure of Quality 9 8 8 8 7.4 7 7 7 6 6 Index score 5 4 3 2 1 0 Poland Bulgaria Czech Republic Germany Hungary OECD high income Details – Getting Electricity in Poland – Procedure, Time and Cost No. Procedure Time to Complete Associated Costs 1 Submit application to Innogy Stoen Operator and await connection 30 calendar days PLN 0 agreement Agency : Innogy Stoen Operator The application to the utility (Innogy Stoen Operator) can be submitted online, however, the following documents are required: type of building, entitlement to use the building, the service requirement, the commencement date (date this warehouse will start its activity), the detailed information on the client (REGON/NIP/Bank account), map with plan of the building, Spacial-Programme Conception, and a copy of the building permit. No external inspection is required. Page 24   After processing the application, Innogy Stoen Operator will send the Poland Bulgaria Czech Republic Germany Hungary OECD high income Doing Business 2018 Poland Details – Getting Electricity in Poland – Procedure, Time and Cost No. Procedure Time to Complete Associated Costs 1 Submit application to Innogy Stoen Operator and await connection 30 calendar days PLN 0 agreement Agency : Innogy Stoen Operator The application to the utility (Innogy Stoen Operator) can be submitted online, however, the following documents are required: type of building, entitlement to use the building, the service requirement, the commencement date (date this warehouse will start its activity), the detailed information on the client (REGON/NIP/Bank account), map with plan of the building, Spacial-Programme Conception, and a copy of the building permit. No external inspection is required. After processing the application, Innogy Stoen Operator will send the technical conditions and a draft contract showing the amount to be paid – the connection fees (the connection fees include the cost of design, all the materials and labor cost). Connection fees are annually approved by the Regulator. Once the client agrees to the technical conditions, the contract is signed. 2 Receive external works from utility 85 calendar days PLN 8,712.2 Agency : Innogy Stoen Operator Once the fees are paid, Innogy Stoen Operator hires an engineering company (surveyors, designers) to do the electrical design and to obtain all approvals and decisions required by law. This engineering company is usually di erent from the company/electrician which is hired by the customer to do the design of internal wiring in his building or on his plot. The designer will also contact the client to discuss where the collection box should be located (i.e. the work on the property itself is done by the client). Once the design has been approved by utility, the engineering company submits all documents related to the construction of connection to the municipality. For instance, for a 140kVA power connection, an underground cable is necessary and in order to lay the cables, the engineering company needs to get municipal approval for the external connection works. Meanwhile, Innogy Stoen Operator hires a construction company to build the connection in the eld and construct the connection including excavation and the use of drilling machine (faster and recommended technology) to lay 150 m low-voltage cable on the ground. 3 Receive protocol from Innogy Stoen Operator that connection is 1 calendar day PLN 0 completed Agency : Innogy Stoen Operator Innogy Stoen Operator will be physically present on the day that the contractor (the owner’s personal contractor) is ready to pull the cables and connect them to the connection box. All work on the property of the warehouse is to be done by the private contractor of the client that is pulling the cables from the warehouse to the connection box (installed by utility, with the connection box ready to receive those cables with stops to prevent any further surge). Once this connection is done, Innogy Stoen Operator will give to the Owner a protocol that the connection is nished. This protocol is Page 25   necessary to sign the supply contract. excavation and the use of drilling machine (faster and recommended Business to Doing technology) lay 150 2018 m low-voltage cable on the ground. Poland 3 Receive protocol from Innogy Stoen Operator that connection is 1 calendar day PLN 0 completed Agency : Innogy Stoen Operator Innogy Stoen Operator will be physically present on the day that the contractor (the owner’s personal contractor) is ready to pull the cables and connect them to the connection box. All work on the property of the warehouse is to be done by the private contractor of the client that is pulling the cables from the warehouse to the connection box (installed by utility, with the connection box ready to receive those cables with stops to prevent any further surge). Once this connection is done, Innogy Stoen Operator will give to the Owner a protocol that the connection is nished. This protocol is necessary to sign the supply contract. 4 Conclude supply agreement and await opening of the meter 7 calendar days PLN 0 Agency : Electricity supplier After the external connection works have been approved, the customer concludes a supply contract and waits for the opening of the meter. Electricity cannot ow if the client has not signed a contract with a provider of electricity but the supplier will not sign a contract unless the owner has the protocol provided by Innogy Stoen Operator stating that the connection is nished. Once the signing is done, the supplier will inform the utility directly that they have been chosen by the client to be his/her electricity provider (supplier). Takes place simultaneously with previous procedure. Details – Getting Electricity in Poland – Measure of Quality Answer Reliability of supply and transparency of tari index (0-8) 7 Total duration and frequency of outages per customer a year (0-3) 2 System average interruption duration index (SAIDI) 1.2 System average interruption frequency index (SAIFI) 1.0 What is the minimum outage time (in minutes) that the utility considers for the calculation of SAIDI/SAIFI 3.0 Mechanisms for monitoring outages (0-1) 1 Does the distribution utility use automated tools to monitor outages? Yes Mechanisms for restoring service (0-1) 1 Does the distribution utility use automated tools to restore service? Yes Regulatory monitoring (0-1) 1 Does a regulator—that is, an entity separate from the utility—monitor the utility’s performance on Yes reliability of supply? Financial deterrents aimed at limiting outages (0-1) 1 Does the utility either pay compensation to customers or face nes by the regulator (or both) if outages Yes Page 26   exceed a certain cap? Takes place simultaneously with previous procedure. Doing Business 2018 Poland Details – Getting Electricity in Poland – Measure of Quality Answer Reliability of supply and transparency of tari index (0-8) 7 Total duration and frequency of outages per customer a year (0-3) 2 System average interruption duration index (SAIDI) 1.2 System average interruption frequency index (SAIFI) 1.0 What is the minimum outage time (in minutes) that the utility considers for the calculation of SAIDI/SAIFI 3.0 Mechanisms for monitoring outages (0-1) 1 Does the distribution utility use automated tools to monitor outages? Yes Mechanisms for restoring service (0-1) 1 Does the distribution utility use automated tools to restore service? Yes Regulatory monitoring (0-1) 1 Does a regulator—that is, an entity separate from the utility—monitor the utility’s performance on Yes reliability of supply? Financial deterrents aimed at limiting outages (0-1) 1 Does the utility either pay compensation to customers or face nes by the regulator (or both) if outages Yes exceed a certain cap? Communication of tari s and tari changes (0-1) 1 Are e ective tari s available online? Yes Link to the website, if available online http://enerad.pl/por ownywarka- kalkulator/porowna nie/01- 689/102194/20/577/ 14/10000/100/100/5 77/1/12/60/14/0/0/0/ 0/1+/0/0.4590/0/1/6/ 0/ Are customers noti ed of a change in tari ahead of the billing cycle? Yes Note: If the duration and frequency of outages is 100 or less, the economy is eligible to score on the Reliability of supply and transparency of tari index. If the duration and frequency of outages is not available, or is over 100, the economy is not eligible to score on the index. If the minimum outage time considered for SAIDI/SAIFI is over 5 minutes, the economy is not eligible to score on the index. Registering Property This topic examines the steps, time and cost involved in registering property, assuming a standardized case of an entrepreneur who Page 27   wants to purchase land and a building that is already registered and free of title dispute. In addition, the topic also measures the If the minimum outage time considered for SAIDI/SAIFI is over 5 minutes, the economy is not eligible to score on the index. Doing Business 2018 Poland Registering Property This topic examines the steps, time and cost involved in registering property, assuming a standardized case of an entrepreneur who wants to purchase land and a building that is already registered and free of title dispute. In addition, the topic also measures the quality of the land administration system in each economy. The quality of land administration index has ve dimensions: reliability of infrastructure, transparency of information, geographic coverage, land dispute resolution, and equal access to property rights. The most recent round of data collection for the project was completed in June 2017. See the methodology for more information. What the indicators measure Case study assumptions Procedures to legally transfer title on immovable To make the data comparable across economies, several assumptions property (number) about the parties to the transaction, the property and the procedures are used. Preregistration procedures (for example, checking for liens, notarizing sales agreement, The parties (buyer and seller): paying property transfer taxes) - Are limited liability companies (or the legal equivalent). Registration procedures in the economy's largest - Are located in the periurban area of the economy’s largest business city. business citya. For 11 economies the data are also collected for the second largest Postregistration procedures (for example, filling business city. title with municipality) - Are 100% domestically and privately owned. Time required to complete each procedure - Have 50 employees each, all of whom are nationals. (calendar days) - Perform general commercial activities. Does not include time spent gathering information The property (fully owned by the seller): - Has a value of 50 times income per capita, which equals the sale price. Each procedure starts on a separate day - though - Is fully owned by the seller. procedures that can be fully completed online - Has no mortgages attached and has been under the same ownership for are an exception to this rule the past 10 years. Procedure is considered completed once final - Is registered in the land registry or cadastre, or both, and is free of title document is received disputes. No prior contact with officials - Is located in a periurban commercial zone, and no rezoning is required. Cost required to complete each procedure (% of - Consists of land and a building. The land area is 557.4 square meters property value) (6,000 square feet). A two-story warehouse of 929 square meters (10,000 square feet) is located on the land. The warehouse is 10 years old, is in Official costs only (such as administrative fees, good condition, has no heating system and complies with all safety duties and taxes). standards, building codes and legal requirements. The property, Value Added Tax, Capital Gains Tax and illicit consisting of land and building, will be transferred in its entirety. payments are excluded - Will not be subject to renovations or additional construction following the Quality of land administration index (0-30) purchase. - Has no trees, natural water sources, natural reserves or historical Reliability of infrastructure index (0-8) monuments of any kind. Transparency of information index (0–6) - Will not be used for special purposes, and no special permits, such as for Geographic coverage index (0–8) residential use, industrial plants, waste storage or certain types of agricultural activities, are required. Land dispute resolution index (0–8) - Has no occupants, and no other party holds a legal interest in it. Equal access to property rights index (-2–0) Standard Property Transfer Property value PLN 2,347,323.50 City Covered Warsaw Page 28   OECD high OECD high Doing Business 2018 Poland Standard Property Transfer Property value PLN 2,347,323.50 City Covered Warsaw OECD high OECD high Indicator Poland income income Overall Best Performer Procedures (number) 6 4.6 4.6 1.00 (4 Economies) Time (days) 33 22.3 22.3 1.00 (3 Economies) Cost (% of property value) 0.3 4.2 4.2 0.00 (5 Economies) Quality of the land administration index (0-30) 19.5 22.7 22.7 29.00 (Singapore) Figure – Registering Property in Poland and comparator economies – Ranking and DTF DB 2018 Distance to Frontier (DTF) 0 100 80.09: Hungary (Rank: 29) 79.68: Czech Republic (Rank: 32) 76.81: Regional Average (OECD high income) 76.49: Poland (Rank: 38) 69.30: Bulgaria (Rank: 67) 65.71: Germany (Rank: 77) Note: The ranking of economies on the ease of registering property is determined by sorting their distance to frontier scores for registering property. These scores are the simple average of the distance to frontier scores for each of the component indicators. Figure – Registering Property in Poland – Procedure, Time and Cost Time Cost 0.35 30 0.3 25 Cost (% of property value) 0.25 20 Time (days) 0.2 15 0.15 10 0.1 5 0.05 0 0 1 *2 *3 *4 5 6 Procedures (number) * This symbol is shown beside procedure numbers that take place simultaneously with the previous procedure. Page 29   Note: Online procedures account for 0.5 days in the total time calculation. For economies that have a di erent procedure list for registering property. These scores are the simple average of the distance to frontier scores for each of the component indicators. Doing Business 2018 Poland Figure – Registering Property in Poland – Procedure, Time and Cost Time Cost 0.35 30 0.3 25 Cost (% of property value) 0.25 20 Time (days) 0.2 15 0.15 10 0.1 5 0.05 0 0 1 *2 *3 *4 5 6 Procedures (number) * This symbol is shown beside procedure numbers that take place simultaneously with the previous procedure. Note: Online procedures account for 0.5 days in the total time calculation. For economies that have a di erent procedure list for men and women, the graph shows the time for women. For more information on methodology, see the Doing Business website (http://www.doingbusiness.org/methodology). For details on the procedures re ected here, see the summary below. Figure – Registering Property in Poland and comparator economies – Measure of Quality 30 25.0 26.0 25 22.7 22.0 19.5 19.0 20 Index score 15 10 5 0 Poland Bulgaria Czech Republic Germany Hungary OECD high income Details – Registering Property in Poland – Procedure, Time and Cost No. Procedure Time to Complete Associated Costs 1 Obtain a certi cate of the property allocation in the local Spatial 14 days PLN 17 (PLN 5 for the Development Plan (simultaneous with application and PLN Agency : Warsaw City Hall - O ce of Architecture and Spatial Planning Procedures 2, 3 and 12 for the 4) certification) Parties obtain an extract of the local Spatial Development Plan entry in order to verify that the property is not classi ed as agricultural property. If it were agricultural, certain limitations on the transfer would apply. The cost of this extract is of PLN 30. Due to recent changes in national legislation, many local Spatial Development Plans have expired and new plans have not been adopted yet. Therefore in many cases the notary must be presented with a certi cate of property allocation in the Spatial Development Plan that also certi es, if applicable, that there is no Plan for the relevant property. The Page 30   cost of the certi cate is of PLN 17. Some information concerning the Spatial Poland Bulgaria Czech Republic Germany Hungary OECD high income Doing Business 2018 Poland Details – Registering Property in Poland – Procedure, Time and Cost No. Procedure Time to Complete Associated Costs 1 Obtain a certi cate of the property allocation in the local Spatial 14 days PLN 17 (PLN 5 for the Development Plan (simultaneous with application and PLN Agency : Warsaw City Hall - O ce of Architecture and Spatial Planning Procedures 2, 3 and 12 for the 4) certification) Parties obtain an extract of the local Spatial Development Plan entry in order to verify that the property is not classi ed as agricultural property. If it were agricultural, certain limitations on the transfer would apply. The cost of this extract is of PLN 30. Due to recent changes in national legislation, many local Spatial Development Plans have expired and new plans have not been adopted yet. Therefore in many cases the notary must be presented with a certi cate of property allocation in the Spatial Development Plan that also certi es, if applicable, that there is no Plan for the relevant property. The cost of the certi cate is of PLN 17. Some information concerning the Spatial Development Plan (e.g. information about the coverage by the plan) is also available online. If the information online is su cient and detailed, the notary may not need to request an additional document. 2 Obtain an extract of the Cadastre entry 7 days PLN 50, PLN 150 Agency : Warsaw City Hall - O ce of Geodesy and Cadastre (simultaneous with (extract along with Procedures 1, 3, the Cadaster map) in Parties obtain an extract of the Cadastre entry held by respective geodesic and 4) paper; authorities, stating the evidentiary number and the boundaries of the real PLN 40, PLN 140 estate on the o cial map, as well as information regarding the character of (extract along with the plots comprising the real estate (e.g. agricultural, housing, urban). If no the Cadastre map (in local Spatial Development Plan is adopted for the area this information will constitute the basis to determine the plot type. electronic form); 3 Obtain an extract of the Land and Mortgage Registry entry Less than a day PLN 20 (abbreviated Agency : Land and Mortgage Registry (online procedure; extract); PLN 50 (full simultaneous with extract) The seller must obtain an extract of the Land and Mortgage Registry entry, procedures 1, 2, which will need to be presented to the notary. This document discloses the and 4) owner or perpetual usufructuary of the property. It also discloses whether there are any mortgages or other encumbrances over the property. The extract of the entry from the Land and Mortgage Register can be issued either by the relevant court, or directly through the online platform. The cost of the full extract is of PLN 60 if obtained through the court, and PLN 50 if requested online. The price of the abbreviated extract is of PLN 20 if requested online. According to the legislation, the Land and Mortgage Registry is maintained in electronic form and available on www.ekw.ms.gov.pl . The transition to the electronic system started in September 2004. 4 Obtain company record from the National Court Register Less than a day No cost (extract Agency : National Court Register (online procedure; obtained online); simultaneous with PLN 30 (abbreviated As the purchaser and the seller are companies, a record from the register of procedures 1, 2, extract); entrepreneurs of the National Court Register is required, in order to and 3) PLN 60 (full extract) establish who is authorized to transfer the property (e.g. who is an authorized director in the case of a limited liability or a joint stock company). The record can be obtained for free online through the o cial website https://ems.ms.gov.pl/. 5 A notary executes the sale or transfer agreement 1 day Notary’s fees are Agency : Notary based on the Page 31   https://ems.ms.gov.pl/. Doing Business 2018 Poland 5 A notary executes the sale or transfer agreement 1 day Notary’s fees are Agency : Notary based on the following fee The agreement on the transfer of ownership or perpetual 'usufruct' of the schedule, that sets property must be executed in the form of a notarial deed. The notarial deed the maximum includes information obtained from the Land and Mortgage Registry, from chargeable fees: the Cadastre, from the Spatial Development Plan and from the National 1) up to 3,000 PLN - Court Register. Necessary documents are either brought by the parties or obtained by the notary through online platforms. Based on this information, 100 PLN; the notary will also establish whether the persons who sign the agreement 2) from 3,000 PLN to are authorized to represent the company. The corporate consent of the 10,000 PLN - 100 PLN shareholders' meeting for the transfer of the property is required by the + 3 % of excess over Companies Code unless the Articles of Association excludes such necessity. 3,000 PLN; 3) from The relevant corporate consent must be presented to the notary public, in 10,000 PLN to 30,000 order to establish the validity of the transfer of the property. PLN - 310 PLN + 2 % of excess over 10,000 For all properties that exceed EUR 15,000 the notary must inform the PLN; General Inspector for Financial Information (GIIF). He sends this information 4) from 30,000 PLN to the GIIF through a dedicated webpage: https://www.giif.mofnet.gov.pl/giif/; to 60,000 PLN - 710 Additionally the notary sends: PLN + 1 % of excess a. A letter to the Tax O ce (to inform about the transaction); over 30,000 PLN; b. A letter to the Cadastre (to inform about the changes); 5) from 60,000 PLN c. A letter to the City Hall (to inform of the change of the owner). to 1.000.000 PLN – 1,010 PLN + 0,4 % of excess over 60,000 PLN; 6) from 1,000,000 PLN to 2,000,000 PLN – 4,770 PLN + 0,2 % of excess over 1,000,000 PLN; 7) from 2,000,000 PLN – 6,770 PLN + 0,25 % of excess over 2,000,000 PLN, but no more than 10,000 PLN, and if the transaction is between close relatives 7,500 PLN. The fee cannot exceed 10,000 PLN or 7,500 PLN (for the person from the first group of taxpayer). Legal basis: Regulation of the Ministry of Justice dated 28 of June 2004. 6 Apply for registration at the Land and Mortgage Registry of the relevant 18 days The registration fee court amounts up to PLN Agency : Land and Mortgage Registry 200 to PLN 150 depending on Ownership of the property is legally transferred from the moment of the Page 32   circumstances signature of the sale agreement in the presence of the notary. However, dated 28 of June Doing Business 2018 Poland 2004. 6 Apply for registration at the Land and Mortgage Registry of the relevant 18 days The registration fee court amounts up to PLN Agency : Land and Mortgage Registry 200 to PLN 150 depending on Ownership of the property is legally transferred from the moment of the circumstances signature of the sale agreement in the presence of the notary. However, (transfer of updating the Land and Mortgage Registry is a necessary step to nalize the ownership for whole property transfer, and allow the new owner to fully bene t from the property real estate) or the (for example by using the property as a collateral for a loan). Starting July 1, 2016 the notary sends the notarial deed with the application for entry into equivalent part the Land and Mortgage Register electronically via the ICT system. The notary (transfer of partial is obliged, no later than the day of conclusion (the signing) of the agreement, ownership) but no to apply for entry in this register via the ICT systems. Next steps in the less than PLN 100. registration proceedings are not yet carried out via the ICT system. The procedure is complete when the owner receives an o cial noti cation from the court that the transfer is registered. If the parties believe a mistake was made in the registration, they can le a complaint to contest the decision. The registration becomes legally binding after 7 days (if a Referendarz registered the property) and 14 days (if it was a judge). Takes place simultaneously with previous procedure. Details – Registering Property in Poland – Measure of Quality Answer Score Quality of the land administration index (0-30) 19.5 Reliability of infrastructure index (0-8) 7.0 What is the institution in charge of immovable property registration? Land and Mortgage Registry In what format are the majority of title or deed records kept in the largest business city Computer/Fully 2.0 —in a paper format or in a computerized format (scanned or fully digital)? digital Is there an electronic database for checking for encumbrances (liens, mortgages, Yes 1.0 restrictions and the like)? Institution in charge of the plans showing legal boundaries in the largest business city: Warsaw City Hall - O ce of Architecture and Spatial Planning In what format are the majority of maps of land plots kept in the largest business city— Computer/Fully 2.0 in a paper format or in a computerized format (scanned or fully digital)? digital Is there an electronic database for recording boundaries, checking plans and providing Yes 1.0 cadastral information (geographic information system)? Is the information recorded by the immovable property registration agency and the Separate 0.0 cadastral or mapping agency kept in a single database, in di erent but linked databases databases or in separate databases? Do the immovable property registration agency and cadastral or mapping agency use Yes 1.0 the same identi cation number for properties? Page 33   Transparency of information index (0–6) 2.5 Takes place simultaneously with previous procedure. Doing Business 2018 Poland Details – Registering Property in Poland – Measure of Quality Answer Score Quality of the land administration index (0-30) 19.5 Reliability of infrastructure index (0-8) 7.0 What is the institution in charge of immovable property registration? Land and Mortgage Registry In what format are the majority of title or deed records kept in the largest business city Computer/Fully 2.0 —in a paper format or in a computerized format (scanned or fully digital)? digital Is there an electronic database for checking for encumbrances (liens, mortgages, Yes 1.0 restrictions and the like)? Institution in charge of the plans showing legal boundaries in the largest business city: Warsaw City Hall - O ce of Architecture and Spatial Planning In what format are the majority of maps of land plots kept in the largest business city— Computer/Fully 2.0 in a paper format or in a computerized format (scanned or fully digital)? digital Is there an electronic database for recording boundaries, checking plans and providing Yes 1.0 cadastral information (geographic information system)? Is the information recorded by the immovable property registration agency and the Separate 0.0 cadastral or mapping agency kept in a single database, in di erent but linked databases databases or in separate databases? Do the immovable property registration agency and cadastral or mapping agency use Yes 1.0 the same identi cation number for properties? Transparency of information index (0–6) 2.5 Who is able to obtain information on land ownership at the agency in charge of Freely accessible 1.0 immovable property registration in the largest business city? by anyone Is the list of documents that are required to complete any type of property transaction No 0.0 made publicly available–and if so, how? Link for online access: Is the applicable fee schedule for any property transaction at the agency in charge of Yes, online 0.5 immovable property registration in the largest business city made publicly available– and if so, how? Link for online access: http://isap.sejm. gov.pl/DetailsSer vlet? id=WDU2005167 1398 Does the agency in charge of immovable property registration commit to delivering a No 0.0 legally binding document that proves property ownership within a speci c time frame– and if so, how does it communicate the service standard? Page 34   id=WDU2005167 Doing Business 2018 Poland 1398 Does the agency in charge of immovable property registration commit to delivering a No 0.0 legally binding document that proves property ownership within a speci c time frame– and if so, how does it communicate the service standard? Link for online access: Is there a speci c and separate mechanism for ling complaints about a problem that No 0.0 occurred at the agency in charge of immovable property registration? Contact information: Are there publicly available o cial statistics tracking the number of transactions at the No 0.0 immovable property registration agency? Number of property transfers in the largest business city in 2015: Who is able to consult maps of land plots in the largest business city? Freely accessible 0.5 by anyone Is the applicable fee schedule for accessing maps of land plots made publicly available No cost 0.5 —and if so, how? Link for online access: www.dziennikust aw.gov.pl. Plans can be examined online free of charge. Any o cial excerpts/outline s are chargeable. Each of the voivodships (regions) have their own o cial journals (freely accessible via internet), where the spatial development plans are published. The link applicable for the Mazovia voivodship: http://edziennik. mazowieckie.pl/# /booktabs Does the cadastral or mapping agency commit to delivering an updated map within a No 0.0 speci c time frame—and if so, how does it communicate the service standard? Link for online access: The authority issuing decision regarding plots is obliged to sent the updated information directly to the cadastral agency Page 35   Does the cadastral or mapping agency commit to delivering an updated map within a No 0.0 c time frame—and speciBusiness Doing if so, how does it communicate the service standard? 2018 Poland Link for online access: The authority issuing decision regarding plots is obliged to sent the updated information directly to the cadastral agency (it applies among other things to subdivision of plots). Is there a speci c and separate mechanism for ling complaints about a problem that No 0.0 occurred at the cadastral or mapping agency? Contact information: Geographic coverage index (0–8) 4.0 Are all privately held land plots in the economy formally registered at the immovable No 0.0 property registry? Are all privately held land plots in the largest business city formally registered at the Yes 2.0 immovable property registry? Are all privately held land plots in the economy mapped? No 0.0 Are all privately held land plots in the largest business city mapped? Yes 2.0 Land dispute resolution index (0–8) 6.0 Does the law require that all property sale transactions be registered at the immovable Yes 1.5 property registry to make them opposable to third parties? Is the system of immovable property registration subject to a state or private Yes 0.5 guarantee? Is there a speci c compensation mechanism to cover for losses incurred by parties who Yes 0.5 engaged in good faith in a property transaction based on erroneous information certi ed by the immovable property registry? Does the legal system require a control of legality of the documents necessary for a Yes 0.5 property transaction (e.g., checking the compliance of contracts with requirements of the law)? If yes, who is responsible for checking the legality of the documents? Registrar; Notary; Lawyer. Does the legal system require veri cation of the identity of the parties to a property Yes 0.5 transaction? If yes, who is responsible for verifying the identity of the parties? Notary. Is there a national database to verify the accuracy of identity documents? No 0.0 For a standard land dispute between two local businesses over tenure rights of a If the dispute is property worth 50 times gross national income (GNI) per capita and located in the based upon largest business city, what court would be in charge of the case in the rst instance? article 10 of the Land &Mortgage Page 36   Is there Doing a national Business database 2018 to verify the accuracy of identity documents? Poland No 0.0 For a standard land dispute between two local businesses over tenure rights of a If the dispute is property worth 50 times gross national income (GNI) per capita and located in the based upon largest business city, what court would be in charge of the case in the rst instance? article 10 of the Land &Mortgage Law it will be resolved by a district court (sąd rejonowy) in other cases - circuit court (sąd okręgowy) due to the value of the subject of the case How long does it take on average to obtain a decision from the rst-instance court for Between 1 and 2 2.0 such a case (without appeal)? years Are there any statistics on the number of land disputes in the rst instance? Yes 0.5 Number of land disputes in the largest business city in 2015: 3577541.0 Equal access to property rights index (-2–0) 0.0 Do unmarried men and unmarried women have equal ownership rights to property? Yes 0.0 Do married men and married women have equal ownership rights to property? Yes 0.0 Getting Credit This topic explores two sets of issues—the strength of credit reporting systems and the e ectiveness of collateral and bankruptcy laws in facilitating lending. The most recent round of data collection for the project was completed in June 2017. See the methodology for more information. What the indicators measure Case study assumptions Strength of legal rights index (0–12) Doing Business assesses the sharing of credit information and the legal rights of borrowers and lenders with respect to secured transactions Rights of borrowers and lenders through through 2 sets of indicators. The depth of credit information index collateral laws (0-10) measures rules and practices a ecting the coverage, scope and Protection of secured creditors’ rights through accessibility of credit information available through a credit registry or a bankruptcy laws (0-2) credit bureau. The strength of legal rights index measures the degree to Depth of credit information index (0–8) which collateral and bankruptcy laws protect the rights of borrowers and lenders and thus facilitate lending. For each economy it is first determined Scope and accessibility of credit information whether a unitary secured transactions system exists. Then two case distributed by credit bureaus and credit scenarios, case A and case B, are used to determine how a nonpossessory registries (0-8) security interest is created, publicized and enforced according to the law. Credit bureau coverage (% of adults) Special emphasis is given to how the collateral registry operates (if Number of individuals and firms listed in largest registration of security interests is possible). The case scenarios involve a credit bureau as a percentage of adult population secured borrower, company ABC, and a secured lender, BizBank. Credit registry coverage (% of adults) In some economies the legal framework for secured transactions will allow Number of individuals and firms listed in credit only case A or case B (not both) to apply. Both cases examine the same set registry as a percentage of adult population of legal provisions relating to the use of movable collateral. Several assumptions about the secured borrower (ABC) and lender (BizBank) are used: Page 37   - ABC is a domestic limited liability company (or its legal equivalent). Do married men and married women have equal ownership rights to property? Yes 0.0 Doing Business 2018 Poland Getting Credit This topic explores two sets of issues—the strength of credit reporting systems and the e ectiveness of collateral and bankruptcy laws in facilitating lending. The most recent round of data collection for the project was completed in June 2017. See the methodology for more information. What the indicators measure Case study assumptions Strength of legal rights index (0–12) Doing Business assesses the sharing of credit information and the legal rights of borrowers and lenders with respect to secured transactions Rights of borrowers and lenders through through 2 sets of indicators. The depth of credit information index collateral laws (0-10) measures rules and practices a ecting the coverage, scope and Protection of secured creditors’ rights through accessibility of credit information available through a credit registry or a bankruptcy laws (0-2) credit bureau. The strength of legal rights index measures the degree to Depth of credit information index (0–8) which collateral and bankruptcy laws protect the rights of borrowers and lenders and thus facilitate lending. For each economy it is first determined Scope and accessibility of credit information whether a unitary secured transactions system exists. Then two case distributed by credit bureaus and credit scenarios, case A and case B, are used to determine how a nonpossessory registries (0-8) security interest is created, publicized and enforced according to the law. Credit bureau coverage (% of adults) Special emphasis is given to how the collateral registry operates (if Number of individuals and firms listed in largest registration of security interests is possible). The case scenarios involve a credit bureau as a percentage of adult population secured borrower, company ABC, and a secured lender, BizBank. Credit registry coverage (% of adults) In some economies the legal framework for secured transactions will allow Number of individuals and firms listed in credit only case A or case B (not both) to apply. Both cases examine the same set registry as a percentage of adult population of legal provisions relating to the use of movable collateral. Several assumptions about the secured borrower (ABC) and lender (BizBank) are used: - ABC is a domestic limited liability company (or its legal equivalent). - ABC has up to 50 employees. - ABC has its headquarters and only base of operations in the economy’s largest business city. For 11 economies the data are also collected for the second largest business city. - Both ABC and BizBank are 100% domestically owned. The case scenarios also involve assumptions. In case A, as collateral for the loan, ABC grants BizBank a nonpossessory security interest in one category of movable assets, for example, its machinery or its inventory. ABC wants to keep both possession and ownership of the collateral. In economies where the law does not allow nonpossessory security interests in movable property, ABC and BizBank use a fiduciary transfer-of-title arrangement (or a similar substitute for nonpossessory security interests). In case B, ABC grants BizBank a business charge, enterprise charge, floating charge or any charge that gives BizBank a security interest over ABC’s combined movable assets (or as much of ABC’s movable assets as possible). ABC keeps ownership and possession of the assets. OECD high OECD high Indicator Poland income income Overall Best Performer Strength of legal rights index (0-12) 7 6.0 6.0 12.00 (4 Economies) Depth of credit information index (0-8) 8 6.6 6.6 8.00 (34 Economies) Page 38   Credit registry coverage (% of adults) 0.0 18.3 18.3 100.00 (3 Economies) possible). ABC keeps ownership and possession of the assets. Doing Business 2018 Poland OECD high OECD high Indicator Poland income income Overall Best Performer Strength of legal rights index (0-12) 7 6.0 6.0 12.00 (4 Economies) Depth of credit information index (0-8) 8 6.6 6.6 8.00 (34 Economies) Credit registry coverage (% of adults) 0.0 18.3 18.3 100.00 (3 Economies) Credit bureau coverage (% of adults) 85.7 63.7 63.7 100.00 (23 Economies) Figure – Getting Credit in Poland and comparator economies – Ranking and DTF DB 2018 Distance to Frontier (DTF) 0 100 75.00: Hungary (Rank: 29) 75.00: Poland (Rank: 29) 70.00: Bulgaria (Rank: 42) 70.00: Czech Republic (Rank: 42) 70.00: Germany (Rank: 42) 63.03: Regional Average (OECD high income) Note: The ranking of economies on the ease of getting credit is determined by sorting their distance to frontier scores for getting credit. These scores are the distance to frontier score for the sum of the strength of legal rights index and the depth of credit information index. Figure – Legal Rights in Poland and comparator economies 12 10 10 9 8 Index score 7 7 6 6.0 6 4 2 0 Poland Bulgaria Czech Republic Germany Hungary OECD high income Details – Legal Rights in Poland Strength of legal rights index (0-12) 7 Does an integrated or uni ed legal framework for secured transactions that extends to the creation, publicity and No enforcement of functional equivalents to security interests in movable assets exist in the economy? Does the law allow businesses to grant a non possessory security right in a single category of movable assets, without Yes requiring a speci c description of collateral? Page 39   Poland Bulgaria Czech Republic Germany Hungary OECD high income Doing Business 2018 Poland Details – Legal Rights in Poland Strength of legal rights index (0-12) 7 Does an integrated or uni ed legal framework for secured transactions that extends to the creation, publicity and No enforcement of functional equivalents to security interests in movable assets exist in the economy? Does the law allow businesses to grant a non possessory security right in a single category of movable assets, without Yes requiring a speci c description of collateral? Does the law allow businesses to grant a non possessory security right in substantially all of its assets, without requiring Yes a speci c description of collateral? May a security right extend to future or after-acquired assets, and does it extend automatically to the products, proceeds Yes or replacements of the original assets? Is a general description of debts and obligations permitted in collateral agreements; can all types of debts and Yes obligations be secured between parties; and can the collateral agreement include a maximum amount for which the assets are encumbered? Is a collateral registry in operation for both incorporated and non-incorporated entities, that is uni ed geographically Yes and by asset type, with an electronic database indexed by debtor's name? Does a notice-based collateral registry exist in which all functional equivalents can be registered? No Does a modern collateral registry exist in which registrations, amendments, cancellations and searches can be No performed online by any interested third party? Are secured creditors paid rst (i.e. before tax claims and employee claims) when a debtor defaults outside an insolvency No procedure? Are secured creditors paid rst (i.e. before tax claims and employee claims) when a business is liquidated? Yes Are secured creditors subject to an automatic stay on enforcement when a debtor enters a court-supervised No reorganization procedure? Does the law protect secured creditors’ rights by providing clear grounds for relief from the stay and/or sets a time limit for it? Does the law allow parties to agree on out of court enforcement at the time a security interest is created? Does the law Yes allow the secured creditor to sell the collateral through public auction or private tender, as well as, for the secured creditor to keep the asset in satisfaction of the debt? Figure – Credit Information in Poland and comparator economies 10 8 8 8 7 6.6 Index score 6 5 5 4 2 0 Poland Bulgaria Czech Republic Germany Hungary OECD high income Details – Credit Information in Poland Page 40   0 Poland Doing Business 2018 PolandBulgaria Czech Republic Germany Hungary OECD high income Details – Credit Information in Poland Credit Credit Depth of credit information index (0-8) bureau registry Score Are data on both firms and individuals distributed? Yes No 1 Are both positive and negative credit data distributed? Yes No 1 Are data from retailers or utility companies - in addition to data from banks and financial institutions - Yes No 1 distributed? Are at least 2 years of historical data distributed? (Credit bureaus and registries that distribute more Yes No 1 than 10 years of negative data or erase data on defaults as soon as they are repaid obtain a score of 0 for this component.) Are data on loan amounts below 1% of income per capita distributed? Yes No 1 By law, do borrowers have the right to access their data in the credit bureau or credit registry? Yes No 1 Can banks and financial institutions access borrowers’ credit information online (for example, Yes No 1 through an online platform, a system-to-system connection or both)? Are bureau or registry credit scores offered as a value-added service to help banks and financial Yes No 1 institutions assess the creditworthiness of borrowers? Score ("yes" to either public bureau or private registry) 8 Note: An economy receives a score of 1 if there is a "yes" to either bureau or registry. If the credit bureau or registry is not operational or covers less than 5% of the adult population, the total score on the depth of credit information index is 0. Coverage Credit bureau Credit registry Number of individuals 21,547,000 0 Number of firms 882,000 0 Total 22,429,000 0 Percentage of adult population 85.7 0.0 Protecting Minority Investors This topic measures the strength of minority shareholder protections against misuse of corporate assets by directors for their personal gain as well as shareholder rights, governance safeguards and corporate transparency requirements that reduce the risk of abuse. The most recent round of data collection for the project was completed in June 2017. See the methodology for more information. What the indicators measure Case study assumptions Extent of disclosure index (0–10): Review and To make the data comparable across economies, a case study uses several approval requirements for related-party assumptions about the business and the transaction. transactions; Disclosure requirements for related-party transactions The business (Buyer): Extent of director liability index (0–10): Ability of - Is a publicly traded corporation listed on the economy’s most important minority shareholders to sue and hold interested stock exchange. If the number of publicly traded companies listed on that directors liable for prejudicial related-party exchange is less than 10, or if there is no stock exchange in the economy, it is assumed that Buyer is a large private company with multiple Page 41   transactions; Available legal remedies (damages, Percentage of adult population 85.7 0.0 Doing Business 2018 Poland Protecting Minority Investors This topic measures the strength of minority shareholder protections against misuse of corporate assets by directors for their personal gain as well as shareholder rights, governance safeguards and corporate transparency requirements that reduce the risk of abuse. The most recent round of data collection for the project was completed in June 2017. See the methodology for more information. What the indicators measure Case study assumptions Extent of disclosure index (0–10): Review and To make the data comparable across economies, a case study uses several approval requirements for related-party assumptions about the business and the transaction. transactions; Disclosure requirements for related-party transactions The business (Buyer): Extent of director liability index (0–10): Ability of - Is a publicly traded corporation listed on the economy’s most important minority shareholders to sue and hold interested stock exchange. If the number of publicly traded companies listed on that directors liable for prejudicial related-party exchange is less than 10, or if there is no stock exchange in the economy, it transactions; Available legal remedies (damages, is assumed that Buyer is a large private company with multiple disgorgement of profits, fines, imprisonment, shareholders. rescission of the transaction) - Has a board of directors and a chief executive o cer (CEO) who may legally act on behalf of Buyer where permitted, even if this is not speci cally Ease of shareholder suits index (0–10): Access to required by law. internal corporate documents; Evidence - Has a supervisory board (applicable to economies with a two-tier board obtainable during trial and allocation of legal system) on which 60% of the shareholder-elected members have been expenses appointed by Mr. James, who is Buyer’s controlling shareholder and a Extent of conflict of interest regulation index member of Buyer’s board of directors. (0–10): Simple average of the extent of disclosure, - Has not adopted any bylaws or articles of association that di er from extent of director liability and ease of default minimum standards and does not follow any nonmandatory codes, shareholder indices principles, recommendations or guidelines relating to corporate Extent of shareholder rights index (0-10): governance. Shareholders’ rights and role in major corporate - Is a manufacturing company with its own distribution network. decisions Extent of ownership and control index (0-10): The transaction involves the following details: Governance safeguards protecting shareholders - Mr. James owns 60% of Buyer and elected two directors to Buyer’s ve- from undue board control and entrenchment member board. Extent of corporate transparency index (0-10): - Mr. James also owns 90% of Seller, a company that operates a chain of Corporate transparency on ownership stakes, retail hardware stores. Seller recently closed a large number of its stores. compensation, audits and financial prospects - Mr. James proposes that Buyer purchase Seller’s unused eet of trucks to expand Buyer’s distribution of its food products, a proposal to which Buyer Extent of shareholder governance index (0–10): agrees. The price is equal to 10% of Buyer’s assets and is higher than the Simple average of the extent of shareholders market value. rights, extent of ownership and control and - The proposed transaction is part of the company’s ordinary course of extent of corporate transparency indices business and is not outside the authority of the company. Strength of minority investor protection index - Buyer enters into the transaction. All required approvals are obtained, (0–10): Simple average of the extent of conflict of and all required disclosures made (that is, the transaction is not interest regulation and extent of shareholder fraudulent). governance indices - The transaction causes damages to Buyer. Shareholders sue Mr. James and the other parties that approved the transaction. OECD high OECD high Indicator Poland income income Overall Best Performer Extent of conflict of interest regulation index (0- 6 6.4 6.4 9.3 (New Zealand) 10) Extent of shareholder governance index (0-10) 6.3 6.4 6.4 Page 42   9.00 (Kazakhstan) and the other parties that approved the transaction. Doing Business 2018 Poland OECD high OECD high Indicator Poland income income Overall Best Performer Extent of conflict of interest regulation index (0- 6 6.4 6.4 9.3 (New Zealand) 10) Extent of shareholder governance index (0-10) 6.3 6.4 6.4 9.00 (Kazakhstan) Figure – Protecting Minority Investors in Poland and comparator economies – Ranking and DTF DB 2018 Distance to Frontier (DTF) 0 100 70.00: Bulgaria (Rank: 24) 63.93: Regional Average (OECD high income) 61.67: Poland (Rank: 51) 58.33: Czech Republic (Rank: 62) 58.33: Germany (Rank: 62) 50.00: Hungary (Rank: 108) Note: The ranking of economies on the strength of minority investor protections is determined by sorting their distance to frontier scores for protecting minority investors. These scores are the simple average of the distance to frontier scores for the extent of con ict of interest regulation index and the extent of shareholder governance index. Figure – Protecting Minority Investors in Poland and comparator economies – Measure of Quality Poland 8 2 7 5 6 9 Bulgaria 9 2 10 5 8 8 Czech Republic 5 6 2 7 6 9 Germany 7 5 5 6 7 5 Hungary 7 4 2 5 6 6 OECD high income 7.3 5.6 6.5 5.2 6.3 7.4 0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45 Sub-Indicator Score Extent of corporate transparency index (0­10) Extent of director liability index (0­10) Extent of disclosure index (0­10) Extent of ownership and control index (0­10) Extent of shareholder rights index (0­10) Ease of shareholder suits index (0­10) Details – Protecting Minority Investors in Poland – Measure of Quality Answer Score Page 43   Extent of ownership and control index (0­10) Extent of shareholder rights index (0­10) Ease of shareholder suits index (0­10) Doing Business 2018 Poland Details – Protecting Minority Investors in Poland – Measure of Quality Answer Score Extent of con ict of interest regulation index (0-10) 6 Extent of disclosure index (0-10) 7 Which corporate body is legally su cient to approve the Buyer-Seller transaction? (0-3) Board of 2.0 directors excluding interested members Must an external body review the terms of the transaction before it takes place? (0-1) No 0.0 Must Mr. James disclose his con ict of interest to the board of directors? (0-2) Existence of a 1.0 con ict without any speci cs Must Buyer disclose the transaction in published periodic lings (annual reports)? (0-2) Disclosure on 2.0 the transaction and on the con ict of interest Must Buyer immediately disclose the transaction to the public and/or shareholders? (0- Disclosure on 2.0 2) the transaction and on the con ict of interest Extent of director liability index (0-10) 2 Can shareholders representing 10% of Buyer's share capital sue directly or derivatively Yes 1.0 for the damage the transaction caused to Buyer? (0-1) Can shareholders hold the interested director liable for the damage the transaction Not liable 0.0 caused to Buyer? (0-2) Can shareholders hold the other directors liable for the damage the transaction caused Liable if negligent 1.0 to Buyer (0-2) Must Mr. James pay damages for the harm caused to Buyer upon a successful claim by No 0.0 shareholders? (0-1) Must Mr. James repay pro ts made from the transaction upon a successful claim by No 0.0 shareholders? (0-1) Is Mr. James disquali ed or ned and imprisoned upon a successful claim by No 0.0 shareholders? (0-1) Can a court void the transaction upon a successful claim by shareholders? (0-2) Only in case of 0.0 fraud or bad faith Ease of shareholder suits index (0-10) 9 Before suing can shareholders representing 10% of Buyer's share capital inspect the Yes 1.0 transaction documents? (0-1) Page 44   shareholder Ease ofBusiness Doing suits index 2018 (0-10) Poland 9 Before suing can shareholders representing 10% of Buyer's share capital inspect the Yes 1.0 transaction documents? (0-1) Can the plainti obtain any documents from the defendant and witnesses at trial? (0-3) Any relevant 3.0 document Can the plainti request categories of documents from the defendant without Yes 1.0 identifying speci c ones? (0-1) Can the plainti directly question the defendant and witnesses at trial? (0-2) Yes 2.0 Is the level of proof required for civil suits lower than that of criminal cases? (0-1) Yes 1.0 Can shareholder plainti s recover their legal expenses from the company? (0-2) Yes if successful 1.0 Extent of shareholder governance index (0-10) 6.3 Extent of shareholder rights index (0-10) 6 Does the sale of 51% of Buyer's assets require shareholder approval? No 0.0 Can shareholders representing 10% of Buyer's share capital call for a meeting of Yes 1.0 shareholders? Must Buyer obtain its shareholders’ approval every time it issues new shares? Yes 1.0 Do shareholders automatically receive preemption rights every time Buyer issues new Yes 1.0 shares? Must shareholders approve the election and dismissal of the external auditor? Yes 1.0 Are changes to the rights of a class of shares only possible if the holders of the a ected Yes 1.0 shares approve? Assuming that Buyer is a limited company, does the sale of 51% of its assets require No 0.0 member approval? Assuming that Buyer is a limited company, can members representing 10% call for a Yes 1.0 meeting of members? Assuming that Buyer is a limited company, must all members consent to add a new No 0.0 member? Assuming that Buyer is a limited company, must a member rst o er to sell their No 0.0 interest to the existing members before they can sell to non-members? Extent of ownership and control index (0-10) 5 Is it forbidden to appoint the same individual as CEO and chair of the board of Yes 1.0 directors? Must the board of directors include independent and nonexecutive board members? No 0.0 Can shareholders remove members of the board of directors without cause before the Yes 1.0 end of their term? Must the board of directors include a separate audit committee exclusively comprising No 0.0 board members? Must a potential acquirer make a tender o er to all shareholders upon acquiring 50% Yes 1.0 Page 45   of Buyer? Must the board of directors include a separate audit committee exclusively comprising No 0.0 board Doing members? Business 2018 Poland Must a potential acquirer make a tender o er to all shareholders upon acquiring 50% Yes 1.0 of Buyer? Must Buyer pay declared dividends within a maximum period set by law? No 0.0 Is a subsidiary prohibited from acquiring shares issued by its parent company? Yes 1.0 Assuming that Buyer is a limited company, must Buyer have a mechanism to resolve Yes 1.0 disagreements among members? Assuming that Buyer is a limited company, must a potential acquirer make a tender No 0.0 o er to all shareholders upon acquiring 50% of Buyer? Assuming that Buyer is a limited company, must Buyer distribute pro ts within a No 0.0 maximum period set by law? Extent of corporate transparency index (0-10) 8 Must Buyer disclose direct and indirect bene cial ownership stakes representing 5%? Yes 1.0 Must Buyer disclose information about board members’ primary employment and No 0.0 directorships in other companies? Must Buyer disclose the compensation of individual managers? Yes 1.0 Must a detailed notice of general meeting be sent 21 days before the meeting? Yes 1.0 Can shareholders representing 5% of Buyer’s share capital put items on the general Yes 1.0 meeting agenda? Must Buyer's annual nancial statements be audited by an external auditor? Yes 1.0 Must Buyer disclose its audit reports to the public? Yes 1.0 Assuming that Buyer is a limited company, must members meet at least once a year? Yes 1.0 Assuming that Buyer is a limited company, can members representing 5% put items on No 0.0 the meeting agenda? Assuming that Buyer is a limited company, must Buyer's annual nancial statements be Yes 1.0 audited by an external auditor? Paying Taxes This topic records the taxes and mandatory contributions that a medium-size company must pay or withhold in a given year, as well as measures the administrative burden in paying taxes and contributions. The most recent round of data collection for the project was completed on June 30, 2017 covering for the Paying Taxes indicator calendar year 2016 (January 1, 2016 – December 31, 2016). Last year (Doing Business 2017) the scope of data collection was expanded to better understand the overall tax environment in an economy. The questionnaire was expanded to include new questions on post- ling processes: VAT refund and tax audit. The data shows where post ling processes and practices work e ciently and what drives the di erences in the overall tax compliance cost across economies. The new section covers both the legal framework and the administrative burden on businesses to comply with post ling processes. See the methodology for more information. What the indicators measure Case study assumptions Page 46   Tax payments for a manufacturing company in Using a case scenario, Doing Business records taxes and mandatory Assuming that Buyer is a limited company, must Buyer's annual nancial statements be Yes 1.0 audited by an external auditor? Doing Business 2018 Poland Paying Taxes This topic records the taxes and mandatory contributions that a medium-size company must pay or withhold in a given year, as well as measures the administrative burden in paying taxes and contributions. The most recent round of data collection for the project was completed on June 30, 2017 covering for the Paying Taxes indicator calendar year 2016 (January 1, 2016 – December 31, 2016). Last year (Doing Business 2017) the scope of data collection was expanded to better understand the overall tax environment in an economy. The questionnaire was expanded to include new questions on post- ling processes: VAT refund and tax audit. The data shows where post ling processes and practices work e ciently and what drives the di erences in the overall tax compliance cost across economies. The new section covers both the legal framework and the administrative burden on businesses to comply with post ling processes. See the methodology for more information. What the indicators measure Case study assumptions Tax payments for a manufacturing company in Using a case scenario, Doing Business records taxes and mandatory 2016 (number per year adjusted for electronic and contributions a medium size company must pay in a year, and measures joint ling and payment) the administrative burden of paying taxes, contributions and dealing with post ling processes. Information is also compiled on frequency of ling Total number of taxes and contributions paid, and payments, time taken to comply with tax laws, time taken to comply including consumption taxes (value added tax, with the requirements of post ling processes and time waiting. sales tax or goods and service tax) Method and frequency of filing and payment To make data comparable across economies, several assumptions are used: Time required to comply with 3 major taxes - TaxpayerCo is a medium-size business that started operations on January (hours per year) 1, 2015. It produces ceramic flowerpots and sells them at retail. All taxes Collecting information, computing tax payable and contributions recorded are paid in the second year of operation Completing tax return, filing with agencies (calendar year 2016). Taxes and mandatory contributions are measured at all levels of government. Arranging payment or withholding Preparing separate tax accounting books, if The VAT refund process: required - In June 2016, TaxpayerCo. makes a large capital purchase: the value of the Total tax and contribution rate (% of pro t before machine is 65 times income per capita of the economy. Sales are equally all taxes) spread per month (1,050 times income per capita divided by 12) and cost of goods sold are equally expensed per month (875 times income per Profit or corporate income tax capita divided by 12). The machinery seller is registered for VAT and excess Social contributions, labor taxes paid by input VAT incurred in June will be fully recovered after four consecutive employer months if the VAT rate is the same for inputs, sales and the machine and Property and property transfer taxes the tax reporting period is every month. Input VAT will exceed Output VAT Dividend, capital gains, financial transactions in June 2016. taxes The corporate income tax audit process: Waste collection, vehicle, road and other taxes - An error in calculation of income tax liability (for example, use of incorrect tax depreciation rates, or incorrectly treating an expense as tax deductible) Post ling Index leads to an incorrect income tax return and a corporate income Time to comply with a VAT refund tax underpayment. TaxpayerCo. discovered the error and voluntarily Time to receive a VAT refund noti ed the tax authority. The value of the underpaid income tax liability is Time to comply with a corporate income tax audit 5% of the corporate income tax liability due. TaxpayerCo. submits corrected information after the deadline for submitting the annual tax Time to complete a corporate income tax audit return, but within the tax assessment period. OECD high OECD high Indicator Poland income income Overall Best Performer Payments (number per year) 7 10.9 10.9 3 (Hong Kong SAR, China) Page 47   return, but within the tax assessment period. Doing Business 2018 Poland OECD high OECD high Indicator Poland income income Overall Best Performer Payments (number per year) 7 10.9 10.9 3 (Hong Kong SAR, China) Time (hours per year) 260 160.7 160.7 55 (Luxembourg) Total tax and contribution rate (% of profit) 40.5 40.1 40.1 18.47% (32 Economies) Postfiling index (0-100) 77.36 83.45 83.45 99.38 (Estonia) Figure – Paying Taxes in Poland and comparator economies – Ranking and DTF DB 2018 Distance to Frontier (DTF) 0 100 83.07: Regional Average (OECD high income) 82.14: Germany (Rank: 41) 79.42: Poland (Rank: 51) 79.26: Czech Republic (Rank: 53) 71.78: Bulgaria (Rank: 90) 71.49: Hungary (Rank: 93) Note: The ranking of economies on the ease of paying taxes is determined by sorting their distance to frontier scores on the ease of paying taxes. These scores are the simple average of the distance to frontier scores for each of the four component indicators – number of tax payments. time, total tax rate and post ling index – with a threshold and a nonlinear transformation applied to one of the component indicators, the total tax rate. The nonlinear distance to frontier for the total tax rate is equal to the distance to frontier for the total tax rate to the power of 0.8. The threshold is de ned as the total tax rate at the 15th percentile of the overall distribution for all years included in the analysis up to and including Doing Business 2015, which is 26.1%. All economies with a total tax rate below this threshold receive the same score as the economy at the threshold. Figure – Paying Taxes in Poland and comparator economies – Measure of Quality 120 97.67 100 90.75 83.45 77.36 80 Index score 69.30 63.94 60 40 20 0 Poland Bulgaria Czech Republic Germany Hungary OECD high income Details – Paying Taxes in Poland Total tax and contribution Tax or mandatory Payments Notes on Time rate (% of Notes contribution (number) Payments (hours) Statutory tax rate Tax base profit) TTR onPage 48   Doing Business 2018 Poland Figure – Paying Taxes in Poland and comparator economies – Measure of Quality 120 97.67 100 90.75 83.45 77.36 80 Index score 69.30 63.94 60 40 20 0 Poland Bulgaria Czech Republic Germany Hungary OECD high income Details – Paying Taxes in Poland Total tax and contribution Tax or mandatory Payments Notes on Time rate (% of Notes contribution (number) Payments (hours) Statutory tax rate Tax base profit) on TTR Social security 1 online 103 16.93% gross 19.10 contributions salaries Corporate income 1 online 59 19% taxable 14.48 tax profit National disabled 1 online 40.65% x 6% x average salary per 3.03 fund employee Labor fund 0 online 2.45% gross 2.76 and salaries jointly Property tax 1 PLN 0.89 per square meter of property 0.93 a land plot and PLN 22.86 per area in square meter of building square meters Guaranteed 0 online 0.1% gross 0.11 employees' fund and salaries jointly Transport tax 1 online PLN 1,408 per truck unit 0.06 owned Value added tax 1 online 98 23% value 0.00 not (VAT) added included Employee paid - 0 online 22.75% (7.75% is credited gross 0.00 withheld Social security and against PIT liability) salaries contributions jointly Fuel Tax 1 included in 0.00 small the price of amount fuel Totals 7 260 40.5 Page 49   Social security and against PIT liability) salaries contributions Doing Business 2018 jointly Poland Fuel Tax 1 included in 0.00 small the price of amount fuel Totals 7 260 40.5 Details – Paying Taxes in Poland – Tax by Type Taxes by type Answer Profit tax (% of profit) 14.5 Labor tax and contributions (% of profit) 25.0 Other taxes (% of profit) 1.0 Details – Paying Taxes in Poland – Measure of Quality Answer Score Post ling index (0-100) 77.36 VAT refunds Does VAT exist? Yes Does a VAT refund process exist per the case study? Yes Restrictions on VAT refund process None Percentage of cases exposed to a VAT audit (%) 50% - 74% Is there a mandatory carry forward period? No Time to comply with VAT refund (hours) 8.0 84 Time to obtain a VAT refund (weeks) 8.2 90.41 Corporate income tax audits Does corporate income tax exist? Yes Percentage of cases exposed to a corporate income tax audit (%) 25% - 49% Time to comply with a corporate income tax audit (hours) 6.0 91.74 Time to complete a corporate income tax audit (weeks) 18.1 43.3 Notes: Names of taxes have been standardized. For instance income tax, pro t tax, tax on company's income are all named corporate income tax in this table. The hours for VAT include all the VAT and sales taxes applicable. The hours for Social Security include all the hours for labor taxes and mandatory contributions in general. The post ling index is the average of the scores on time to comply with VAT refund, time to obtain a VAT refund, time to comply with a corporate income tax audit and time to complete a corporate income tax audit. N/A = Not applicable. Page 50   a corporate income tax audit and time to complete a corporate income tax audit. N/A = Not Doing applicable. Business 2018 Poland Trading across Borders Doing Business records the time and cost associated with the logistical process of exporting and importing goods. Doing Business measures the time and cost (excluding tari s) associated with three sets of procedures—documentary compliance, border compliance and domestic transport—within the overall process of exporting or importing a shipment of goods. The most recent round of data collection for the project was completed in June 2017. See the methodology for more information. Given the importance of trade digitalization, in Doing Business 2018, the Trading across Borders questionnaire included research questions on the availability and status of implementation of Electronic Data Interchange (EDI) and Single Window (SW) systems. With this information, Doing Business built a comprehensive dataset on the adoption and level of sophistication of electronic platforms in 190 economies. These data are not used to compute the distance to frontier score or ranking of the ease of doing business. The new dataset on EDI and SW systems is available here. What the indicators measure Case study assumptions Documentary compliance To make the data comparable across economies, a few assumptions are made about the traded goods and the transactions: Obtaining, preparing and submitting documents during transport, clearance, inspections and port Time: Time is measured in hours, and 1 day is 24 hours (for example, 22 or border handling in origin economy days are recorded as 22×24=528 hours). If customs clearance takes 7.5 Obtaining, preparing and submitting documents hours, the data are recorded as is. Alternatively, suppose documents are required by destination economy and any transit submitted to a customs agency at 8:00a.m., are processed overnight and economies can be picked up at 8:00a.m. the next day. The time for customs clearance Covers all documents required by law and in would be recorded as 24 hours because the actual procedure took 24 practice, including electronic submissions of hours. information Border compliance Cost: Insurance cost and informal payments for which no receipt is issued are excluded from the costs recorded. Costs are reported in U.S. dollars. Customs clearance and inspections Contributors are asked to convert local currency into U.S. dollars based on Inspections by other agencies (if applied to more the exchange rate prevailing on the day they answer the questionnaire. than 20% of shipments) Contributors are private sector experts in international trade logistics and Handling and inspections that take place at the are informed about exchange rates. economy’s port or border Assumptions of the case study: - For all 190 economies covered by Doing Domestic transport Business, it is assumed a shipment is in a warehouse in the largest Loading or unloading of the shipment at the business city of the exporting economy and travels to a warehouse in the warehouse or port/border largest business city of the importing economy. - It is assumed each Transport between warehouse and port/border economy imports 15 metric tons of containerized auto parts (HS 8708) Traffic delays and road police checks while from its natural import partner—the economy from which it imports the largest value (price times quantity) of auto parts. It is assumed each shipment is en route economy exports the product of its comparative advantage (de ned by the largest export value) to its natural export partner—the economy that is the largest purchaser of this product. Shipment value is assumed to be $50,000. - The mode of transport is the one most widely used for the chosen export or import product and the trading partner, as is the seaport, or land border crossing. - All electronic information submissions requested by any government agency in connection with the shipment are considered to be documents obtained, prepared and submitted during the export or import process. - A port or border is a place (seaport, airport or land border crossing) where merchandise can enter or leave an economy. - Relevant government agencies include customs, port authorities, road police, border guards, standardization agencies, ministries or departments of agriculture or industry, national security agencies and any other government authorities. Page 51   a corporate income tax audit and time to complete a corporate income tax audit. N/A = Not applicable. Doing Business 2018 Poland Trading across Borders Doing Business records the time and cost associated with the logistical process of exporting and importing goods. Doing Business measures the time and cost (excluding tari s) associated with three sets of procedures—documentary compliance, border compliance and domestic transport—within the overall process of exporting or importing a shipment of goods. The most recent round of data collection for the project was completed in June 2017. See the methodology for more information. Given the importance of trade digitalization, in Doing Business 2018, the Trading across Borders questionnaire included research questions on the availability and status of implementation of Electronic Data Interchange (EDI) and Single Window (SW) systems. With this information, Doing Business built a comprehensive dataset on the adoption and level of sophistication of electronic platforms in 190 economies. These data are not used to compute the distance to frontier score or ranking of the ease of doing business. The new dataset on EDI and SW systems is available here. What the indicators measure Case study assumptions Documentary compliance To make the data comparable across economies, a few assumptions are made about the traded goods and the transactions: Obtaining, preparing and submitting documents during transport, clearance, inspections and port Time: Time is measured in hours, and 1 day is 24 hours (for example, 22 or border handling in origin economy days are recorded as 22×24=528 hours). If customs clearance takes 7.5 Obtaining, preparing and submitting documents hours, the data are recorded as is. Alternatively, suppose documents are required by destination economy and any transit submitted to a customs agency at 8:00a.m., are processed overnight and economies can be picked up at 8:00a.m. the next day. The time for customs clearance Covers all documents required by law and in would be recorded as 24 hours because the actual procedure took 24 practice, including electronic submissions of hours. information Border compliance Cost: Insurance cost and informal payments for which no receipt is issued are excluded from the costs recorded. Costs are reported in U.S. dollars. Customs clearance and inspections Contributors are asked to convert local currency into U.S. dollars based on Inspections by other agencies (if applied to more the exchange rate prevailing on the day they answer the questionnaire. than 20% of shipments) Contributors are private sector experts in international trade logistics and Handling and inspections that take place at the are informed about exchange rates. economy’s port or border Assumptions of the case study: - For all 190 economies covered by Doing Domestic transport Business, it is assumed a shipment is in a warehouse in the largest Loading or unloading of the shipment at the business city of the exporting economy and travels to a warehouse in the warehouse or port/border largest business city of the importing economy. - It is assumed each Transport between warehouse and port/border economy imports 15 metric tons of containerized auto parts (HS 8708) Traffic delays and road police checks while from its natural import partner—the economy from which it imports the largest value (price times quantity) of auto parts. It is assumed each shipment is en route economy exports the product of its comparative advantage (de ned by the largest export value) to its natural export partner—the economy that is the largest purchaser of this product. Shipment value is assumed to be $50,000. - The mode of transport is the one most widely used for the chosen export or import product and the trading partner, as is the seaport, or land border crossing. - All electronic information submissions requested by any government agency in connection with the shipment are considered to be documents obtained, prepared and submitted during the export or import process. - A port or border is a place (seaport, airport or land border crossing) where merchandise can enter or leave an economy. - Relevant government agencies include customs, port authorities, road police, border guards, standardization agencies, ministries or departments of agriculture or industry, national security agencies and any other government authorities. Page 52   of agriculture or industry, national security agencies and any other Doing Business 2018 Poland government authorities. OECD high OECD high Indicator Poland income income Overall Best Performer Time to export: Border compliance (hours) 0 12.7 12.7 0 (17 Economies) Cost to export: Border compliance (USD) 0 149.9 149.9 0.00 (19 Economies) Time to export: Documentary compliance 1 2.4 2.4 1.0 (25 Economies) (hours) Cost to export: Documentary compliance (USD) 0 35.4 35.4 0.00 (19 Economies) Time to import: Border compliance (hours) 0 8.7 8.7 0.00 (21 Economies) Cost to import: Border compliance (USD) 0 111.6 111.6 0.00 (27 Economies) Time to import: Documentary compliance 1 3.5 3.5 1.0 (30 Economies) (hours) Cost to import: Documentary compliance (USD) 0 25.6 25.6 0.00 (30 Economies) Figure – Trading across Borders in Poland and comparator economies – Ranking and DTF DB 2018 Distance to Frontier (DTF) 0 100 97.41: Bulgaria (Rank: 21) 93.92: Regional Average (OECD high income) 91.77: Germany (Rank: 39) 100.00: Czech Republic (Rank: 1) 100.00: Hungary (Rank: 1) 100.00: Poland (Rank: 1) Note: The ranking of economies on the ease of trading across borders is determined by sorting their distance to frontier scores for trading across borders. These scores are the simple average of the distance to frontier scores for the time and cost for documentary compliance and border compliance to export and import (domestic transport is not used for calculating the ranking). Figure – Trading across Borders in Poland – Time and Cost Time Cost 1.2 1.2 1 1 1 1 0.8 0.8 Time (hours) Cost (USD) 0.6 0.6 0.4 0.4 0.2 0.2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Export - Border Compliance Export - Documentary Compliance Import - Border Compliance Import - Documentary Compliance Page 53   Doing Business 2018 Poland Figure – Trading across Borders in Poland – Time and Cost Time Cost 1.2 1.2 1 1 1 1 0.8 0.8 Time (hours) Cost (USD) 0.6 0.6 0.4 0.4 0.2 0.2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Export - Border Compliance Export - Documentary Compliance Import - Border Compliance Import - Documentary Compliance Details – Trading across Borders in Poland Characteristics Export Import Product HS 87 : Vehicles other than railway or tramway rolling-stock, and HS 8708: Parts and accessories of parts and accessories thereof motor vehicles Trade partner Germany Germany Border Poland- Germany border crossing Poland- Germany border crossing Distance (km) 472 472 Domestic transport 8 8 time (hours) Domestic transport 1000 1000 cost (USD) Details – Trading across Borders in Poland – Components of Border Compliance Time to Complete Associated Costs (hours) (USD) Export: Clearance and inspections required by customs authorities 0.0 0.0 Export: Clearance and inspections required by agencies other than customs 0.0 0.0 Export: Port or border handling 0.0 0.0 Import: Clearance and inspections required by customs authorities 0.0 0.0 Import: Clearance and inspections required by agencies other than customs 0.0 0.0 Import: Port or border handling 0.0 0.0 Details – Trading across Borders in Poland – Trade Documents Export Import Page 54   cost (USD) Doing Business 2018 Poland Details – Trading across Borders in Poland – Components of Border Compliance Time to Complete Associated Costs (hours) (USD) Export: Clearance and inspections required by customs authorities 0.0 0.0 Export: Clearance and inspections required by agencies other than customs 0.0 0.0 Export: Port or border handling 0.0 0.0 Import: Clearance and inspections required by customs authorities 0.0 0.0 Import: Clearance and inspections required by agencies other than customs 0.0 0.0 Import: Port or border handling 0.0 0.0 Details – Trading across Borders in Poland – Trade Documents Export Import CMR waybill CMR waybill Commercial invoice Commercial invoice Packing list Packing list Intrastat Intrastat Enforcing Contracts The enforcing contracts indicator measures the time and cost for resolving a commercial dispute through a local rst-instance court, and the quality of judicial processes index, evaluating whether each economy has adopted a series of good practices that promote quality and e ciency in the court system. The most recent round of data collection was completed in June 2017. See the methodology for more information. What the indicators measure Case study assumptions Time required to enforce a contract through the The dispute in the case study involves the breach of a sales contract courts (calendar days) between 2 domestic businesses. The case study assumes that the court hears an expert on the quality of the goods in dispute. This distinguishes Time to file and serve the case the case from simple debt enforcement. Time for trial and to obtain the judgment To make the data comparable across economies, Doing Business uses Time to enforce the judgment several assumptions about the case: Cost required to enforce a contract through the - The dispute concerns a lawful transaction between two businesses (Seller courts (% of claim) and Buyer), both located in the economy’s largest business city. For 11 Attorney fees economies the data are also collected for the second largest business city. - The buyer orders custom-made goods, then fails to pay. Court fees - The value of the dispute is 200% of the income per capita or the Enforcement fees equivalent in local currency of USD 5,000, whichever is greater. Quality of judicial processes index (0-18) - The seller sues the buyer before the court with jurisdiction over commercial cases worth 200% of income per capita or $5,000. Court structure and proceedings (-1-5) - The seller requests a pretrial attachment to secure the claim. Case management (0-6) - The dispute on the quality of the goods requires an expert opinion. Court automation (0-4) - The judge decides in favor of the seller; there is no appeal. Page 55   Intrastat Intrastat Doing Business 2018 Poland Enforcing Contracts The enforcing contracts indicator measures the time and cost for resolving a commercial dispute through a local rst-instance court, and the quality of judicial processes index, evaluating whether each economy has adopted a series of good practices that promote quality and e ciency in the court system. The most recent round of data collection was completed in June 2017. See the methodology for more information. What the indicators measure Case study assumptions Time required to enforce a contract through the The dispute in the case study involves the breach of a sales contract courts (calendar days) between 2 domestic businesses. The case study assumes that the court hears an expert on the quality of the goods in dispute. This distinguishes Time to file and serve the case the case from simple debt enforcement. Time for trial and to obtain the judgment To make the data comparable across economies, Doing Business uses Time to enforce the judgment several assumptions about the case: Cost required to enforce a contract through the - The dispute concerns a lawful transaction between two businesses (Seller courts (% of claim) and Buyer), both located in the economy’s largest business city. For 11 Attorney fees economies the data are also collected for the second largest business city. - The buyer orders custom-made goods, then fails to pay. Court fees - The value of the dispute is 200% of the income per capita or the Enforcement fees equivalent in local currency of USD 5,000, whichever is greater. Quality of judicial processes index (0-18) - The seller sues the buyer before the court with jurisdiction over commercial cases worth 200% of income per capita or $5,000. Court structure and proceedings (-1-5) - The seller requests a pretrial attachment to secure the claim. Case management (0-6) - The dispute on the quality of the goods requires an expert opinion. Court automation (0-4) - The judge decides in favor of the seller; there is no appeal. Alternative dispute resolution (0-3) - The seller enforces the judgment through a public sale of the buyer’s movable assets. Standardized Case Claim value PLN 91,498.00 Court name Warsaw Regional Court, Commercial Section City Covered Warsaw OECD high OECD high Indicator Poland income income Overall Best Performer Time (days) 685 577.8 577.8 164.00 (Singapore) Cost (% of claim value) 19.4 21.5 21.5 9.00 (Iceland) Quality of judicial processes index (0-18) 10.5 11.0 11.0 15.50 (Australia) Figure – Enforcing Contracts in Poland and comparator economies – Ranking and DTF DB 2018 Distance to Frontier (DTF) 0 100 73.75: Hungary (Rank: 13) 71.32: Germany (Rank: 22) 67.04: Bulgaria (Rank: 40) Page 56   of judicial processes Quality Business Doing index (0-18) 2018 Poland 10.5 11.0 11.0 15.50 (Australia) Figure – Enforcing Contracts in Poland and comparator economies – Ranking and DTF DB 2018 Distance to Frontier (DTF) 0 100 73.75: Hungary (Rank: 13) 71.32: Germany (Rank: 22) 67.04: Bulgaria (Rank: 40) 66.76: Regional Average (OECD high income) 63.44: Poland (Rank: 55) 58.21: Czech Republic (Rank: 91) Note: The ranking of economies on the ease of enforcing contracts is determined by sorting their distance to frontier scores for enforcing contracts. These scores are the simple average of the distance to frontier scores for each of the component indicators. Figure – Enforcing Contracts in Poland – Time and Cost Time Cost 800 40 33.8 685 700 35 611 605 Cost (% of claim value) 564 577.8 600 30 499 Time (days) 500 25 21.5 18.6 19.4 400 20 14.4 15.0 300 15 200 10 100 5 0 0 Bulgaria Czech Republic Germany Hungary OECD high income Poland Figure – Enforcing Contracts in Poland and comparator economies – Measure of Quality Poland 3 1.5 1.5 4.5 Bulgaria 2.5 2.5 2 3.5 Czech Republic 2 3 3 1.5 Germany 3 1.5 2 4.5 Hungary 3 4 2.5 4.5 OECD high income 2.5 2.9 2 3.6 0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 Page 57   16 0 0 Bulgaria Czech Republic Germany Hungary OECD high income Poland Doing Business 2018 Poland Figure – Enforcing Contracts in Poland and comparator economies – Measure of Quality Poland 3 1.5 1.5 4.5 Bulgaria 2.5 2.5 2 3.5 Czech Republic 2 3 3 1.5 Germany 3 1.5 2 4.5 Hungary 3 4 2.5 4.5 OECD high income 2.5 2.9 2 3.6 0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16 Sub-Indicator Score Alternative dispute resolution (0­3) Case management (0­6) Court automation (0­4) Court structure and proceedings (­1­5) Details – Enforcing Contracts in Poland Indicator Time (days) 685 Filing and service 60 Trial and judgment 480 Enforcement of judgment 145 Cost (% of claim value) 19.4 Attorney fees 12 Court fees 5.4 Enforcement fees 2 Quality of judicial processes index (0-18) 10.5 Court structure and proceedings (-1-5) 4.5 Case management (0-6) 1.5 Court automation (0-4) 1.5 Alternative dispute resolution (0-3) 3.0 Details – Enforcing Contracts in Poland – Measure of Quality Page 58   Alternative dispute resolution (0-3) 3.0 Doing Business 2018 Poland Details – Enforcing Contracts in Poland – Measure of Quality Answer Score Quality of judicial processes index (0-18) 10.5 Court structure and proceedings (-1-5) 4.5 1. Is there a court or division of a court dedicated solely to hearing commercial cases? Yes 1.5 2. Small claims court 1.5 2.a. Is there a small claims court or a fast-track procedure for small claims? Yes 2.b. If yes, is self-representation allowed? Yes 3. Is pretrial attachment available? Yes 1.0 4. Are new cases assigned randomly to judges? Yes, but manual 0.5 5. Does a woman's testimony carry the same evidentiary weight in court as a man's? Yes 0.0 Case management (0-6) 1.5 1. Time standards 0.0 1.a. Are there laws setting overall time standards for key court events in a civil case? Yes 1.b. If yes, are the time standards set for at least three court events? No 1.c. Are these time standards respected in more than 50% of cases? Yes 2. Adjournments 0.5 2.a. Does the law regulate the maximum number of adjournments that can be No granted? 2.b. Are adjournments limited to unforeseen and exceptional circumstances? Yes 2.c. If rules on adjournments exist, are they respected in more than 50% of cases? Yes 3. Can two of the following four reports be generated about the competent court: (i) Yes 1.0 time to disposition report; (ii) clearance rate report; (iii) age of pending cases report; and (iv) single case progress report? 4. Is a pretrial conference among the case management techniques used before the No 0.0 competent court? 5. Are there any electronic case management tools in place within the competent court No 0.0 for use by judges? 6. Are there any electronic case management tools in place within the competent court No 0.0 for use by lawyers? Court automation (0-4) 1.5 1. Can the initial complaint be led electronically through a dedicated platform within No 0.0 the competent court? 2. Is it possible to carry out service of process electronically for claims led before the No 0.0 competent court? Page 59   1. Can the initial complaint be led electronically through a dedicated platform within No 0.0 Businesscourt? the competent Doing 2018 Poland 2. Is it possible to carry out service of process electronically for claims led before the No 0.0 competent court? 3. Can court fees be paid electronically within the competent court? Yes 1.0 4. Publication of judgments 0.5 4.a Are judgments rendered in commercial cases at all levels made available to the No general public through publication in o cial gazettes, in newspapers or on the internet or court website? 4.b. Are judgments rendered in commercial cases at the appellate and supreme Yes court level made available to the general public through publication in o cial gazettes, in newspapers or on the internet or court website? Alternative dispute resolution (0-3) 3.0 1. Arbitration 1.5 1.a. Is domestic commercial arbitration governed by a consolidated law or Yes consolidated chapter or section of the applicable code of civil procedure encompassing substantially all its aspects? 1.b. Are there any commercial disputes—aside from those that deal with public No order or public policy—that cannot be submitted to arbitration? 1.c. Are valid arbitration clauses or agreements usually enforced by the courts? Yes 2. Mediation/Conciliation 1.5 2.a. Is voluntary mediation or conciliation available? Yes 2.b. Are mediation, conciliation or both governed by a consolidated law or Yes consolidated chapter or section of the applicable code of civil procedure encompassing substantially all their aspects? 2.c. Are there nancial incentives for parties to attempt mediation or conciliation (i.e., Yes if mediation or conciliation is successful, a refund of court ling fees, income tax credits or the like)? Resolving Insolvency Doing Business studies the time, cost and outcome of insolvency proceedings involving domestic legal entities. These variables are used to calculate the recovery rate, which is recorded as cents on the dollar recovered by secured creditors through reorganization, liquidation or debt enforcement (foreclosure or receivership) proceedings. To determine the present value of the amount recovered by creditors, Doing Business uses the lending rates from the International Monetary Fund, supplemented with data from central banks and the Economist Intelligence Unit. The most recent round of data collection for the project was completed in June 2017. See the methodology for more information. What the indicators measure Case study assumptions Time required to recover debt (years) To make the data on the time, cost and outcome comparable across economies, several assumptions about the business and the case are Measured in calendar years used: Appeals and requests for extension are included - A hotel located in the largest city (or cities) has 201 employees and 50 Cost required to recover debt (% of debtor’s estate) suppliers. The hotel experiences nancial di culties. Page 60   Measured as percentage of estate value - The value of the hotel is 100% of the income per capita or the equivalent if mediation or conciliation is successful, a refund of court ling fees, income tax credits or the like)? Doing Business 2018 Poland Resolving Insolvency Doing Business studies the time, cost and outcome of insolvency proceedings involving domestic legal entities. These variables are used to calculate the recovery rate, which is recorded as cents on the dollar recovered by secured creditors through reorganization, liquidation or debt enforcement (foreclosure or receivership) proceedings. To determine the present value of the amount recovered by creditors, Doing Business uses the lending rates from the International Monetary Fund, supplemented with data from central banks and the Economist Intelligence Unit. The most recent round of data collection for the project was completed in June 2017. See the methodology for more information. What the indicators measure Case study assumptions Time required to recover debt (years) To make the data on the time, cost and outcome comparable across economies, several assumptions about the business and the case are Measured in calendar years used: Appeals and requests for extension are included - A hotel located in the largest city (or cities) has 201 employees and 50 Cost required to recover debt (% of debtor’s estate) suppliers. The hotel experiences nancial di culties. Measured as percentage of estate value - The value of the hotel is 100% of the income per capita or the equivalent Court fees in local currency of USD 200,000, whichever is greater. - The hotel has a loan from a domestic bank, secured by a mortgage over Fees of insolvency administrators the hotel’s real estate. The hotel cannot pay back the loan, but makes Lawyers’ fees enough money to operate otherwise. Assessors’ and auctioneers’ fees In addition, Doing Business evaluates the adequacy and integrity of the Other related fees existing legal framework applicable to liquidation and reorganization Outcome proceedings through the strength of insolvency framework index. The index tests whether economies adopted internationally accepted good Whether business continues operating as a going practices in four areas: commencement of proceedings, management of concern or business assets are sold piecemeal debtor’s assets, reorganization proceedings and creditor participation. Recovery rate for creditors Measures the cents on the dollar recovered by secured creditors Outcome for the business (survival or not) determines the maximum value that can be recovered Official costs of the insolvency proceedings are deducted Depreciation of furniture is taken into account Present value of debt recovered Strength of insolvency framework index (0- 16) Sum of the scores of four component indices: Commencement of proceedings index (0-3) Management of debtor’s assets index (0-6) Reorganization proceedings index (0-3) Creditor participation index (0-4) OECD high OECD high Indicator Poland income income Overall Best Performer Recovery rate (cents on the dollar) 63.1 71.2 71.2 93.1 (Norway) Time (years) 3.0 1.7 1.7 0.4 (Ireland) Page 61   Cost (% of estate) 15.0 9.1 9.1 1.00 (Norway) Creditor participation index (0-4) Doing Business 2018 Poland OECD high OECD high Indicator Poland income income Overall Best Performer Recovery rate (cents on the dollar) 63.1 71.2 71.2 93.1 (Norway) Time (years) 3.0 1.7 1.7 0.4 (Ireland) Cost (% of estate) 15.0 9.1 9.1 1.00 (Norway) Outcome (0 as piecemeal sale and 1 as going 1 .. .. .. concern) Strength of insolvency framework index (0-16) 14.0 12.1 12.1 15.00 (6 Economies) Figure – Resolving Insolvency in Poland and comparator economies – Ranking and DTF DB 2018 Distance to Frontier (DTF) 0 100 90.27: Germany (Rank: 4) 77.71: Poland (Rank: 22) 76.69: Czech Republic (Rank: 25) 76.12: Regional Average (OECD high income) 60.02: Bulgaria (Rank: 50) 54.75: Hungary (Rank: 62) Note: The ranking of economies on the ease of resolving insolvency is determined by sorting their distance to frontier scores for resolving insolvency. These scores are the simple average of the distance to frontier scores for the recovery rate and the strength of insolvency framework index. Figure – Resolving Insolvency in Poland – Time and Cost Time Cost 3.5 3.3 17.0 18 3.0 15.0 16 3 14.5 14 2.5 Cost (% of estate) 2.1 12 Time (years) 2.0 2 9.0 1.7 9.1 10 8.0 1.5 8 1.2 6 1 4 0.5 2 0 0 Bulgaria Czech Republic Germany Hungary OECD high income Poland Figure – Resolving Insolvency in Poland and comparator economies – Measure of Quality Poland 6 3 2 3 Page 62   0 0 Bulgaria Czech Republic Germany Hungary OECD high income Poland Doing Business 2018 Poland Figure – Resolving Insolvency in Poland and comparator economies – Measure of Quality Poland 6 3 2 3 Bulgaria 4 2.5 4 2.5 Czech Republic 5.5 2.5 2 3 Germany 6 3 3 3 Hungary 5 2.5 2 0.5 OECD high income 5.4 2.8 2.3 1.9 0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16 Sub-Indicator Score Management of debtor's assets index (0­6) Commencement of proceedings index (0­3) Creditor participation index (0­4) Reorganization proceedings index (0­3) Figure – Resolving Insolvency in Poland and comparator economies – Recovery Rate Recovery Rate (cents on the dollar) 90 80.6 80 71.2 70 67.0 63.1 60 50 43.7 40 36.0 30 20 10 0 Poland Bulgaria Czech Republic Germany Hungary OECD high income Details – Resolving Insolvency in Poland Indicator Answer Explanation Proceeding liquidation Under Article 21 of the Law on Bankruptcy and Reorganization, debtor's management is obligated to file for bankruptcy within 2 weeks of the date when the debtor becomes insolvent. Although the bankruptcy law has provisions on reorganization, in practice, such proceedings are very rare and most bankruptcy cases are resolved through liquidation. Once the hotel management commences bankruptcy proceedings, the judge will have to decide whether to proceed with liquidation or with reorganization. The judge will most likely order the opening of liquidation proceedings. Outcome going concern Because the value of an operating hotel is higher than selling its assets piecemeal, it is most likely that BizBank and Mirage management will agree that it is in both of their best interest for the hotel to continue operating, which will enable sale as a going concern. Time (in years) 3.0 Page 63   It will take 2-3 weeks for Mirage to prepare the bankruptcy application. After the application Poland Bulgaria Czech Republic Germany Hungary OECD high income Doing Business 2018 Poland Details – Resolving Insolvency in Poland Indicator Answer Explanation Proceeding liquidation Under Article 21 of the Law on Bankruptcy and Reorganization, debtor's management is obligated to file for bankruptcy within 2 weeks of the date when the debtor becomes insolvent. Although the bankruptcy law has provisions on reorganization, in practice, such proceedings are very rare and most bankruptcy cases are resolved through liquidation. Once the hotel management commences bankruptcy proceedings, the judge will have to decide whether to proceed with liquidation or with reorganization. The judge will most likely order the opening of liquidation proceedings. Outcome going concern Because the value of an operating hotel is higher than selling its assets piecemeal, it is most likely that BizBank and Mirage management will agree that it is in both of their best interest for the hotel to continue operating, which will enable sale as a going concern. Time (in years) 3.0 It will take 2-3 weeks for Mirage to prepare the bankruptcy application. After the application is submitted, it will take approximately 2 months for the court to appoint the judges and for the judges to review the case and issue a declaration of bankruptcy. After the declaration is issued, it must be published in the official gazette and at least one local newspaper (14 days). After the announcement is published, it may take up to 2 months to hold the first hearing with all the creditors present. The participants are likely to agree that the hotel should continue operating and the court will appoint an administrator to supervise the operations (up to 2 months). The creditors will then submit their claims to the administrator, who will prepare a list of creditors to be approved by the court. This process can take up to 11 months. After that, the court will likely decide that the company should be liquidated and will appoint a liquidator (up to 4 months). The liquidator must inventory and appraise the assets, which is a lengthy procedure and may take up to a year, because all participants can express opinions on the value of the assets and several appraisers may need to be hired to satisfy the objections of the debtor and creditors. After all the assets are appraised, the liquidator will organize an auction for the sale of assets. Usually, at least two auctions will take place, because most buyers will wait for the second auction, as the price at the second auction will be dropped by 30%. That is why this process of auctioning off the assets may take up to 4 months. BizBank can receive its portion of the sale proceeds within 30 days of the sale. The time estimates may change when the new restructuring proceedings become more common. Cost (% of 15.0 The costs will depend on how disputed the insolvency claims are. Attorneys' fees will be one estate) of the main expenses (3-6%), as well as fees of the administrator (3%), auctioneer (1%) and other professionals involved in the insolvency proceedings (5-7%). Recovery rate (cents on the 63.1 dollar) Details – Resolving Insolvency in Poland – Measure of Quality Answer Score Strength of insolvency framework index (0-16) 14.0 Commencement of proceedings index (0-3) 3.0 What procedures are available to a DEBTOR when commencing insolvency (a) Debtor may 1.0 proceedings? le for both liquidation and Page 64   reorganization dollar) Doing Business 2018 Poland Details – Resolving Insolvency in Poland – Measure of Quality Answer Score Strength of insolvency framework index (0-16) 14.0 Commencement of proceedings index (0-3) 3.0 What procedures are available to a DEBTOR when commencing insolvency (a) Debtor may 1.0 proceedings? le for both liquidation and reorganization Does the insolvency framework allow a CREDITOR to le for insolvency of the debtor? (a) Yes, a creditor 1.0 may le for both liquidation and reorganization What basis for commencement of the insolvency proceedings is allowed under the (c) Both (a) and 1.0 insolvency framework? (b) options are available, but only one of them needs to be complied with Management of debtor's assets index (0-6) 6.0 Does the insolvency framework allow the continuation of contracts supplying essential Yes 1.0 goods and services to the debtor? Does the insolvency framework allow the rejection by the debtor of overly burdensome Yes 1.0 contracts? Does the insolvency framework allow avoidance of preferential transactions? Yes 1.0 Does the insolvency framework allow avoidance of undervalued transactions? Yes 1.0 Does the insolvency framework provide for the possibility of the debtor obtaining credit Yes 1.0 after commencement of insolvency proceedings? Does the insolvency framework assign priority to post-commencement credit? (b) Yes over 1.0 ordinary unsecured creditors but not over secured creditors Reorganization proceedings index (0-3) 3.0 Which creditors vote on the proposed reorganization plan? (b) Only creditors 1.0 whose rights are a ected by the proposed plan Does the insolvency framework require that dissenting creditors in reorganization Yes 1.0 receive at least as much as what they would obtain in a liquidation? Are the creditors devided into classes for the purposes of voting on the reorganization Yes 1.0 plan, does each class vote separately and are creditors in the same class treated Page 65   equally? Does the insolvency framework require that dissenting creditors in reorganization Yes 1.0 receive Doing at least as Business much as 2018 what they would obtain in a liquidation? Poland Are the creditors devided into classes for the purposes of voting on the reorganization Yes 1.0 plan, does each class vote separately and are creditors in the same class treated equally? Creditor participation index (0-4) 2.0 Does the insolvency framework require approval by the creditors for selection or No 0.0 appointment of the insolvency representative? Does the insolvency framework require approval by the creditors for sale of substantial Yes 1.0 assets of the debtor? Does the insolvency framework provide that a creditor has the right to request No 0.0 information from the insolvency representative? Does the insolvency framework provide that a creditor has the right to object to Yes 1.0 decisions accepting or rejecting creditors' claims? Note: Even if the economy’s legal framework includes provisions related to insolvency proceedings (liquidation or reorganization), the economy receives 0 points for the strength of insolvency framework index, if time, cost and outcome indicators are recorded as “no practice”. Labor Market Regulation Doing Business presents the data for the labor market regulation indicators in an annex. The report does not present rankings of economies on these indicators or include the topic in the aggregate distance to frontier score or ranking on the ease of doing business. Detailed data collected on labor market regulation are available on the Doing Business website (http://www.doingbusiness.org/data/exploretopics/labor-market-regulation). The most recent round of data collection was completed in June 2017. See the methodology for more information. What the indicators measure Case study assumptions Hiring To make the data comparable across economies, several assumptions (i) whether xed-term contracts are prohibited for about the worker and the business are used. permanent tasks; (ii) maximum cumulative duration of xed-term contracts; (iii) length of the The worker: probationary period; (iv) minimum wage. - Is a cashier in a supermarket or grocery store, age 19, with one year of work experience. Working hours - Is a full-time employee. (i) maximum number of working days allowed per - Is not a member of the labor union, unless membership is mandatory. week; (ii) premiums for work: at night, on a weekly rest day and overtime; (iii) whether there are The business: restrictions on work at night, work on a weekly rest - Is a limited liability company (or the equivalent in the economy). day and for overtime work; (iv) whether nonpregnant - Operates a supermarket or grocery store in the economy’s largest and nonnursing women can work same night hours business city. For 11 economies the data are also collected for the second as men; (v) length of paid annual leave. largest business city. - Has 60 employees. Redundancy rules - Is subject to collective bargaining agreements if such agreements cover (i) whether redundancy can be basis for terminating more than 50% of the food retail sector and they apply even to rms that workers; (ii) whether employer needs to notify are not party to them. and/or get approval from third party to terminate 1 - Abides by every law and regulation but does not grant workers more redundant worker and a group of 9 redundant bene ts than those mandated by law, regulation or (if applicable) collective workers; (iii) whether law requires employer to bargaining agreements. reassign or retrain a worker before making worker redundant; (iv) whether priority rules apply for redundancies and reemployment. Redundancy cost Page 66   (i) notice period for redundancy dismissal; (ii) the economy receives 0 points for the strength of insolvency framework index, if time, cost and outcome indicators are recorded as “no practice”. Doing Business 2018 Poland Labor Market Regulation Doing Business presents the data for the labor market regulation indicators in an annex. The report does not present rankings of economies on these indicators or include the topic in the aggregate distance to frontier score or ranking on the ease of doing business. Detailed data collected on labor market regulation are available on the Doing Business website (http://www.doingbusiness.org/data/exploretopics/labor-market-regulation). The most recent round of data collection was completed in June 2017. See the methodology for more information. What the indicators measure Case study assumptions Hiring To make the data comparable across economies, several assumptions (i) whether xed-term contracts are prohibited for about the worker and the business are used. permanent tasks; (ii) maximum cumulative duration of xed-term contracts; (iii) length of the The worker: probationary period; (iv) minimum wage. - Is a cashier in a supermarket or grocery store, age 19, with one year of work experience. Working hours - Is a full-time employee. (i) maximum number of working days allowed per - Is not a member of the labor union, unless membership is mandatory. week; (ii) premiums for work: at night, on a weekly rest day and overtime; (iii) whether there are The business: restrictions on work at night, work on a weekly rest - Is a limited liability company (or the equivalent in the economy). day and for overtime work; (iv) whether nonpregnant - Operates a supermarket or grocery store in the economy’s largest and nonnursing women can work same night hours business city. For 11 economies the data are also collected for the second as men; (v) length of paid annual leave. largest business city. - Has 60 employees. Redundancy rules - Is subject to collective bargaining agreements if such agreements cover (i) whether redundancy can be basis for terminating more than 50% of the food retail sector and they apply even to rms that workers; (ii) whether employer needs to notify are not party to them. and/or get approval from third party to terminate 1 - Abides by every law and regulation but does not grant workers more redundant worker and a group of 9 redundant bene ts than those mandated by law, regulation or (if applicable) collective workers; (iii) whether law requires employer to bargaining agreements. reassign or retrain a worker before making worker redundant; (iv) whether priority rules apply for redundancies and reemployment. Redundancy cost (i) notice period for redundancy dismissal; (ii) severance payments due when terminating a redundant worker. Job quality (i) whether law mandates equal remuneration for work of equal value and nondiscrimination based on gender in hiring; (ii) whether law mandates paid or unpaid maternity leave; (iii) length of paid maternity leave; (iv) whether employees on maternity leave receive 100% of wages; (v) availability of ve fully paid days of sick leave a year; (vi) eligibility requirements for unemployment protection. Details – Labor Market Regulation in Poland Answer Hiring Page 67   Fixed-term contracts prohibited for permanent tasks? No days of sick leave a year; (vi) eligibility requirements for unemployment protection. Doing Business 2018 Poland Details – Labor Market Regulation in Poland Answer Hiring Fixed-term contracts prohibited for permanent tasks? No Maximum length of a single xed-term contract (months) 33.0 Maximum length of xed-term contracts, including renewals (months) 33.0 Minimum wage applicable to the worker assumed in the case study (US$/month) 540.2 Ratio of minimum wage to value added per worker 0.4 Maximum length of probationary period (months) 3.0 Working hours Standard workday 8.0 Maximum number of working days per week 5.5 Premium for night work (% of hourly pay) 20.0 Premium for work on weekly rest day (% of hourly pay) 100.0 Premium for overtime work (% of hourly pay) 50.0 Restrictions on night work? No Whether nonpregnant and nonnursing women can work the same night hours as men Yes Restrictions on weekly holiday? No Restrictions on overtime work? No Paid annual leave for a worker with 1 year of tenure (working days) 20.0 Paid annual leave for a worker with 5 years of tenure (working days) 20.0 Paid annual leave for a worker with 10 years of tenure (working days) 26.0 Paid annual leave (average for workers with 1, 5 and 10 years of tenure, in working days) 22.0 Redundancy rules Dismissal due to redundancy allowed by law? Yes Third-party noti cation if one worker is dismissed? No Third-party approval if one worker is dismissed? No Third-party noti cation if nine workers are dismissed? No Third-party approval if nine workers are dismissed? No Retraining or reassignment obligation before redundancy? No Page 68   Third-party Doing approval Business 2018 if nine workers are dismissed? Poland No Retraining or reassignment obligation before redundancy? No Priority rules for redundancies? Yes Priority rules for reemployment? Yes Redundancy cost Notice period for redundancy dismissal for a worker with 1 year of tenure 4.3 Notice period for redundancy dismissal for a worker with 5 years of tenure 13.0 Notice period for redundancy dismissal for a worker with 10 years of tenure 13.0 Notice period for redundancy dismissal (average for workers with 1, 5 and 10 years of tenure) 10.1 Severance pay for redundancy dismissal for a worker with 1 year of tenure 4.3 Severance pay for redundancy dismissal for a worker with 5 years of tenure 8.7 Severance pay for redundancy dismissal for a worker with 10 years of tenure 13.0 Severance pay for redundancy dismissal (average for workers with 1, 5 and 10 years of tenure) 8.7 Job quality Equal remuneration for work of equal value? No Gender nondiscrimination in hiring? Yes Paid or unpaid maternity leave mandated by law? Yes Minimum length of maternity leave (calendar days)? 140.0 Receive 100% of wages on maternity leave? Yes Five fully paid days of sick leave a year? No Unemployment protection after one year of employment? Yes Minimum contribution period for unemployment protection (months)? 12.0 Business Reforms in Poland In the year ending June 1, 2017, 119 economies implemented 264 total reforms across the di erent areas measured by Doing Business. Doing Business has recorded more than 2,900 regulatory reforms making it easier to do business since 2004. Reforms inspired by Doing Business have been implemented by economies in all regions. The following are the reforms for Poland implemented since Doing Business 2008. = Doing Business reform making it easier to do business. = Change making it more di cult to do business. DB2017 Dealing with Construction Permits: Poland made dealing with construction permits simpler by streamlining the process of obtaining a building permit. Getting Electricity: Poland made getting an electricity connection faster by eliminating the need to secure an excavation permit for external connection works, which reduced the time of mentioned works. Resolving Insolvency: Poland made resolving insolvency easier by introducing new restructuring mechanisms, changing voting procedures for restructuring plans and allowing creditors greater participation in insolvency proceedings. It also established a Page 69   central restructuring and bankruptcy register and released guidelines for the remuneration of insolvency representatives. Minimum contribution period for unemployment protection (months)? 12.0 Doing Business 2018 Poland Business Reforms in Poland In the year ending June 1, 2017, 119 economies implemented 264 total reforms across the di erent areas measured by Doing Business. Doing Business has recorded more than 2,900 regulatory reforms making it easier to do business since 2004. Reforms inspired by Doing Business have been implemented by economies in all regions. The following are the reforms for Poland implemented since Doing Business 2008. = Doing Business reform making it easier to do business. = Change making it more di cult to do business. DB2017 Dealing with Construction Permits: Poland made dealing with construction permits simpler by streamlining the process of obtaining a building permit. Getting Electricity: Poland made getting an electricity connection faster by eliminating the need to secure an excavation permit for external connection works, which reduced the time of mentioned works. Resolving Insolvency: Poland made resolving insolvency easier by introducing new restructuring mechanisms, changing voting procedures for restructuring plans and allowing creditors greater participation in insolvency proceedings. It also established a central restructuring and bankruptcy register and released guidelines for the remuneration of insolvency representatives. Labor Market Regulation: Poland reduced the maximum duration of xed term contracts to 33 months and limited the total number of xed term contracts between the same employer and employee to three. DB2016 Getting Electricity: The utility in Poland reduced delays in processing applications for new electricity connections by increasing human and capital resources and by enforcing service delivery timelines. Paying Taxes: Poland made paying taxes easier for companies by introducing an electronic system for ling and paying VAT and transport tax—though it also made paying taxes more costly by increasing transport tax rates and contributions to the National Disabled Fund paid by employers. DB2015 Getting Electricity: Poland made getting electricity less costly by revising the fee structure for new connections. Registering Property: Poland made transferring property easier by introducing online procedures and reducing notary fees. Trading across Borders: Poland made trading across borders easier by implementing a new terminal operating system at the port of Gdansk. DB2014 Starting a Business: Poland made starting a business easier by eliminating the requirement to register the new company at the National Labor Inspectorate and the National Sanitary Inspectorate. Dealing with Construction Permits: Poland made dealing with construction permits easier by eliminating the requirement to obtain a description of the geotechnical documentation of the land. DB2013 Registering Property: Poland made property registration faster by introducing a new caseload management system for the land and mortgage registries and by continuing to digitize the records of the registries. Paying Taxes: Poland made paying taxes easier for companies by promoting the use of electronic ling and payment systems— though it also made paying taxes more costly by increasing social security contributions. Enforcing Contracts: Poland made enforcing contracts easier by amending the civil procedure code and appointing more judges to commercial courts. Resolving Insolvency: Poland strengthened its insolvency process by updating guidelines on the information and documents that need to be included in the bankruptcy petition and by granting secured creditors the right to take over claims encumbered with nancial pledges in case of liquidation. Page 70   DB2012 Resolving Insolvency: Poland strengthened its insolvency process by updating guidelines on the information and documents that need to be included in the bankruptcy petition and by granting secured creditors the right to take over claims encumbered with Doing Business 2018 Poland nancial pledges in case of liquidation. DB2012 Trading across Borders: Poland made trading across borders faster by implementing electronic preparation and submission of customs documents. Resolving Insolvency: Poland amended its bankruptcy and reorganization law to simplify court procedures and extend more rights to secured creditors. DB2011 Registering Property: Poland eased property registration by computerizing its land registry. Labor Market Regulation: Poland reduced the maximum duration of xed-term contracts. DB2010 Starting a Business: Poland made starting a business easier by reducing the minimum capital requirement and consolidating company registration with registration with the tax, social security and statistics authorities. Getting Credit: Poland strengthened its secured transactions system by allowing all legal persons, including foreign entities, to hold a security interest in the form of a pledge and improved access to credit information by starting to collect and distribute information on rms. Paying Taxes: Poland made paying taxes easier and less costly for companies by simplifying its value added tax law and reducing employers’ social security contribution rates. Resolving Insolvency: Poland enhanced its insolvency process through an amendment to its bankruptcy law introducing the option of a prebankruptcy reorganization procedure for nancially distressed companies. DB2009 Resolving Insolvency: Poland improved its insolvency process by tightening professional requirements for administrators and introducing lower limits on trustees’ pay. DB2008 Registering Property: Poland made registering property less costly by switching from variable registration fees to a xed fee schedule. Enforcing Contracts: Poland made enforcing contracts easier by introducing stricter rules of procedure to increase the speed and e ciency of court proceedings. Page 71   Enforcing Contracts: Poland made enforcing contracts easier by introducing stricter rules of procedure to increase the speed and e ciency Doing of court Business proceedings. 2018 Poland Page 72