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On 18 March 2008, the Sejm , the lower chamber of the Parliament, adopted an Act amending the Broadcasting Act and some other Acts. The other legal acts that were subject to amendment are the Telecommunications Law and the Law on Higher Education. The new Act was passed to the Senate and the President of the Republic of Poland on 19 March 2008. The newly adopted Act comprises changes regarding the division of tasks and powers of State regulatory authorities in charge of communications (Office of Electronic Communications - OEC) as well as radio and television broadcasting (National Broadcasting...

In 2007, Krajowa Rada Radiofonii i Telewizji (National Broadcasting Council - KRRiT) announced competitions for the last five free terrestrial television frequencies in Wrocław, Szczecin, Katowice, Nowy Sącz and Leszno. According to the announcement, the competition concerned only broadcasters with a licence for a general (“universal”) programme service. The applications of TVN, TV4, TV Puls and TV Odra were accepted. Just prior to this, in November 2006, TV Puls had filed an application concerning the changes of the terms of its licence as regards the nature of its channel: from a specialised...

On 4 May 2005 the Polish government adopted “the transition from analogue to digital broadcasting strategy”, a long-term act guiding national policy in the area of the digital media (see IRIS 2005-7: 17). According to the strategy, on 8 August 2007, the Ministry of Transport (MT) in cooperation with the Office of Electronic Communications (OEC) and the National Broadcasting Council (NBC) prepared a working document entitled: “Plan for implementing terrestrial digital television in the DVB-T standard”. In the context of a wide consultation procedure some ministries, broadcasters and interested governmental...

On 11 May 2007, after three days of deliberations, the Constitutional Tribunal of Poland issued its judgement on the illegality of several provisions of the Act on Disclosing Documents of the State Security Service from 1944-1990 (see IRIS 2007-5: 17), and presented its reasoning. The Tribunal found a substantial part of the Act to be inconsistent with the Constitution’s provisions and rules. However, the judges were not entirely of the same opinion; nine submitted dissenting opinions on different specific issues dealt with in the judgement. According to the very wide definition of the term “journalist”...

On 6 July 2007 the Sejm - the lower chamber of the Parliament - adopted an amendment to the Ustawa z dnia 6 lipca 2007 r. o zmianie ustawy o prawie autorskim i prawach pokrewnych (Act on Copyright and Related Rights). The new Actwas then sent to the Senate - the upper chamber of the Parliament - that proposed on 26 July certain amendments that are to be examined by the appropriate Sejm’s commission. This small amendment to the Act on Copyright and Related Rights is aimed at achieving conformity to the Constitution - the Constitutional Tribunal had stated on 24 May 2006 that Art. 70, para. 2 of...