Solicitor (England & Wales), Warsaw, Poland
Poland's lower house of Parliament, the Sejm, passed legislation on 9 September that significantly amends the Law on Special Economic Zones of 20 October 1994 ('SEZ') (Official Journal of Laws of 1994, No.123, item 600 as amended). Its legislative route is now through the Senate, and once the amending law is signed by the president it will come into force on 1 January 2001. The amendments are dictated by Poland's obligations in respect of future EU membership. They are also correlated with the new Law of 30 June 2000 on Conditions of Availability and Supervision of Public Support for Enterprises which go some way towards adjusting government support provisions in line with those currently in force in the EU. As well as this, the amendments also modify the basis on which the zones function, in order to meet Poland's obligations under the Europe Agreement.
