by Grazyna Krzywkowska, S.J.D.

There is no separate piece of legislation on publishing in Poland but the Press Law of 1984 regulates issues of freedom of speech, registration of publishers by the court and their operation on the market. The Press Law of 1984 states the freedom to publish and obtain the information as a constitutional right. The authorities have an obligation to disseminate information when required. The refusal of the information has to be submitted to the editorial office of a newspaper or a journal if so required by its editor in chief. Such a refusal with stated reasons and the name of the authority can be taken to a higher authority and then to an administrative court. Freedom of speech can be limited only through legal provisions, for example by the regulations on classified information, unfair competition law or criminal law on libel, for example.

The publisher can be a physical person or a legal entity operating as a company or a company, established and run according to the provisions of the Commercial Code or the Civil Code. The publisher is registered in the court or with the local government authorities, respectively. Every publisher has to comply with regulations of the labor law and its detailed regulations on work safety and other branches of law as does any other entity operating according to business, tax law for example.

Value-added tax has to be paid on the turnover of all enterprises’ services and sales, import or export of products unless they are exempted by law. The general VAT rate is 22 %, however, until December 31, 2003 the VAT rate on sale of books, and special periodicals (from the list of the Ministry of Finance prepared in cooperation with the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage and the Ministry of Education) with ISBN and ISSN numbers will be 0 %. Generally, press VAT rate is 7 % from 2001.01.01. The publishers have to comply with tax law provisions as all other entities on the market. Note, however, the special status of churches before the tax authorities.

The Act on Obligatory Library Copies [of published books] of November 7, 1996 states obligations of publishers on rendering copies of publications to the designated libraries. The publisher operating in Poland is bound to render to the libraries designated by law the number of copies stated in the Act (obligatory copies). Every issue of a publication or a language version of newspaper or a journal, special issues, reprints are subject to this provision.

The Ministry of Education issued the executive Act on the Rates and Detailed Principles and Proceedings of the School and University Textbook Grants Dealing of July 9, 1999. The textbook grants are given from the state budget, in amount of ca. $ 300 for one printed sheet of the first issue of a book and $ 215 for every following issue of a book.

The Polish Copyright Act sets up the Creativity Promotion Fund. The Ministry issued the Act on the Levies on the Creativity Promotion Fund on the Copies of the Works in the Public Domain and the Detailed Principles of the Payments from the Fund and the Principles on Granting Scholarships and Social Assistance from the Fund. Publishers pay a 6% levy from the income earned on works in the public domain. Publishers can apply for a grant for publishing from the Fund. Grants from the Fund are initially approved by the Committee of Publishing Initiatives and Promotion of Culture, then approved by the Minister of the Culture and National Heritage.

The new Copyright Act which was passed on February 4, 1994, includes effective implementation tools such as search and seizure provisions along with sanctions. Poland is a member of the Berne Union, a party to the Berne Convention Paris Act since 1990, to the Universal Copyright Convention since 1978, and a WTO member (TRIPS) since 1995. According to the Europe Agreement of 1991 Poland has to harmonize its copyright provisions with the EU. Economic rights of the author are protected for 70 years after his or her death, protection of the author’s moral rights has no term. Private use of the works is fair. The contracts between the author and the copyright owner are fully negotiable with some limitations (for example in case of a gross disproportion between the author’s compensation and the profit of a copyright owner, the court can proclaim a higher compensation, as required by the author (Art. 44 of the Copyright Act).

Non-profit sector entities publishing books have to report to the tax authority and can obtain bank loans just as any other entity operating on the market. Foundations can run the business within their statutory aims, associations can also run the business in line with other legal provisions. Profit gained from such an activity should be used for the achievement of statutory rights and cannot be shared among the association members.

The autonomous custom duty on books, newspapers and journals is 25 % of their worth for customs purposes if the country where they are imported from is known to the custom authority. The custom duty is doubled if the country of the origin is not known. However, Poland is a member of the WTO and thanks to it the custom rate on books, journals and newspapers is 0 % (conventional customs duty). See, Art. 1 of the GATT on the General Most-Favored-Nation Treatment.

Poland is also a Party to the Lake Success Convention of 1950. In addition, books imported as gifts, worth less than EURO 70, are free from custom duties, based on the provisions of the Act on Standards of Products Imported Free of Custom Duty of November 18, 1997 (Dziennik Ustaw 97.142. 949).

Freedom of speech is provided in the Polish Constitution of 1997 Art. 54: „Everybody is free to speak and obtain and disseminate information”.

The Press Law of January 24, 1984 was published in Dziennik Ustaw 84.05.24. Its Art. 1 states that the press is free to speak and execute the right of citizens to be informed in a reliable way, including the right to transparent public life and social criticisms. According to Art. 2 of the Press Law, authorities should assist the press in the execution of its functions and tasks. This includes facilitation of operation of newspapers and journals editorial offices of different programs, scope and political views. State authorities and enterprises should inform the press about their activities. Under Art. 4 (5) of the Press Law trade unions, local government, and social organizations should disseminate information when they act in the state realm or when they act in the public sphere. The refusal of the information can be justified only by the existence of legally stated limitations. Moreover, Art. 4 of the Press Law provides that the refusal of information should be submitted in writing if so required by an editor in chief. It should be submitted to the editorial office in three days since the refusal took place, the entity that refused the information delivery should be stated, and so should be the date when the refusal took place, the name of the editorial office asking for the document, the subject of the information refused and reasons of the refusal. Such a refusal in writing can be taken to a higher authority and then the administrative court (Naczelny S¹d Administracyjny) when the formalities provided by the Press Law and for the administrative decisions are not complied with as stated in the Administrative Proceedings Code of 1980. Governmental bodies and administration of justice do not have to submit the refusal of the information delivery and their refusal cannot be taken to the administrative court.

Under Art. 5 of the Press Law, every citizen is free to speak and criticize and according to these principles can inform the press. Nobody should suffer from a damage or an accusation because of informing the press if not otherwise provided in law. As stated in Art. 6 of the Press Law, the press should reflect the real state of the reported events and the state authorities and authorities should respond to the press criticism without undue delay, not later than one month after they had been criticized by the press. The press criticism should not be suppressed.

The Press Law Art. 7 (2) defines the meaning of:

- ‘the press’ as periodical publications, which are not homogenous, that are published at least once a year and have a permanent title or name and that have a stated data, newspapers and journals, news services, telexes bulletins, radio and television programs and cinema news shows and all existing and future mass media, including broadcasting stations and wire broadcasting centers, disseminating periodical publications in print, by visual means, sound transmission or by other dissemination means. The notion of the scope of the press covers the editorial staff as well.

- newspaper is a printed periodical or sound or visual transmission that is published more often than once a week.

- journal is a printed periodical that is not published more often than once a week but at least once a year, such sound or visual transmission included. The notions of press material, a journalist, an editor, an editor in chief and an editorial office are defined by the Press Law of 1984 as well.

Exercising of freedom of speech and publish must not be the cause for a crime, for example, libel.

State and business secrets are protected by the Unfair Competition Act of April 16, 1993 (Dziennik Ustaw 93.47.211) as amended, and by the Act on the Protection of the Classified Information of January 22, 1999 (Dziennik Ustaw 99.11.95), respectively. Business secrets (know-how) are dealt with in Art. 11 of the Unfair Competition Act of 1993: ”Unfair competition act is dissemination, disclosure or use of someone else’s information which is a business secret or acquiring of such information if these acts are impediments to the vital interests of the entrepreneur.” This provision is applicable in competition relations on the market but Art. 23 provides that „[W]ho acts against obligations toward an entrepreneur and disseminates trade secret to the third person and uses it in the course of own activities on the market, when such a dissemination causes serious damage to the entrepreneur”, is a subject to sanctions. Sanctions provided are monetary penalties, limitation of freedom or the prison sentence up to two years.

Another limitation to the freedom of speech and publish is the Act on the Classified Information of 1999 defines a state secret and an official secret. Types of information that is classified are listed on a positive list in the Act (Art. 2 of the Act). In addition, a legal precondition for an item to fall under the scope of the classified information is a serious threat to the basic interests of the Republic of Poland, its independence and inviolability of its territory, defense, safety of the state and citizens or a matter which can endanger such interests to a serious extent. The ‘official secret’ is the information which is not a state secret, it was acquired on duty, its illegal disclosure could cause damage to the state interest, public interest or the interest of a citizen or an entity protected by law. See, Art. 2 point 1 and 2 of the Act.

Every publisher has to comply with regulations of the labor law and its detailed regulations on work safety and other branches of law, just as any other entity operating business, tax law or the environmental law provisions on the environment protection, for example.

The Press Law of 1984 in its Art. 8 provides that a publisher can be a legal or physical entity or other entity. The publisher can be a state authority or a state enterprise, political organization, trade union, cooperative organization, local government organization, other social organization or the church and other religious association. The political organization, trade union, state enterprise, cooperative organization, local government organization, other social organization and the church and other religious association can be a publisher or publish through other publishers. As provided in Art 9 of the Press Law, the official publications of the state including Dziennik Ustaw and Monitor Polski, the parliamentary reporter Diariusz Sejmowy and other parliamentary reports and local government councils reports, justice administration publications, case reports and other publications of the same character and diplomatic and consular agency or international organizations publications are outside the scope of the Press Law.

Art. 20 of the Press Law states that the publishing of a newspaper or a journal needs to be registered in the county court in accordance with the headquarters of the publisher. Registration proceeding follows the Civil Proceedings Code. A registration application should contain a title of the newspaper or journal and their editorial office headquarters’ address, the personal data of an editor-in-chief, the name, the headquarters and the address of the publisher, as well as the information on frequency of the newspaper or the journal publication. The statements of the court regarding the registry of the newspaper or a journal are not justified in writing, unless requested. The publishing can be started if the court has not decided on the registration in 30 days from the moment of the application. In addition, changes in data required to be enclosed to the application have to be reported to the court without undue delay.

As stated in Art. 21 of the Press Law, the application for the registration can be denied if the data required by law is missing from the application or if the registration encroaches the right to another press title. The court can suspend publishing for the stated time but not more than for one year if at least three times a year a crime was committed on the columns of the newspaper or journal. The registration is invalid if the newspaper or journal is not published for one year from the day of registration or if there is a one-year break in publishing activities if the editorial office did not apply for the continuation of rights it had from the moment of from registration.

Every copy of the periodical printed matter, agency services and other similar press printed matter should bear the name and address of the publisher. See, Art. 27 (1) of the Press Law. Under Art. 38 (1) of the Press Law an author, editor or another person who caused publication of infringing material are liable for such an infringement, however, responsibility of the publisher is not excluded. Publication of the journal or a magazine without its registration is subject to a monetary penalty, as stated by the Art. 45 of the Press Law. According to the Act 23a of the Press Law, the formalities needed for the registry are provided in an executive act of the Ministry of Justice.

As provided by the Art. 1 of the Act on Economic Activities of December 23, 1988, published in Dziennik Ustaw 88.41.324 as amended, undertaking and conducting of the economic enterprise is free and permissible for all when the legal requirements are followed including establishment of a bank account and information of a tax authority about the bank account number (Art. 3 of the Act). The publisher does not need to obtain a license to publish books, newspapers or journals. It has to be registered with the local government according to Art. 13-19 of the Act on Economic Activities. That is the case if the publisher is a physical person or if it operates as a civil law company, according to the provisions of the Civil Code of 1964 (Dziennik Ustaw 64.16.93). Moreover, according to the Art. 12 of the Act on Economic Activities of 1988, the publisher’s headquarters and the place of economic activities have to be marked outside in a visible way, with a firm, a full name and a succinct description of the economic activities. All products made by the entrepreneur, his or her official stamps and forms should be marked in the same way along with the address of the producer.

If the publisher is a legal entity operating according to the provisions of the Commercial Code of 1934 (Dziennik Ustaw 34.57.502), they are registered in the respective court registry of legal entities. When some activities have to be permitted, they are subject to permission proceedings and cannot be just registered. The publisher can operate as a company or a corporation.

The VAT tax has to be paid on the turnover of all enterprises’ services and sales, import or export of products unless they are exempted by law. According to the Art. 14 of the Act on VAT and the Excise Tax of 1993 (Dziennik Ustaw. 93.11.50) as amended, the turnover of the sale of goods or the export of goods or services is worth less than 80.000 PLN in a fiscal year, it is exempted from the VAT. The general VAT rate is 22 % (Art. 18 of the Act on VAT and the Excise Tax of 1993.

According to Art. 50. 5.of the Act on VAT and the Excise Tax of 1993 “[U]ntil December 31, 2003 the tax rate 0 % is applied to:

1) sale in the country:

a) the works (SWW 2712), with the symbol ISBN as regulated in other provisions,

b) special periodicals,

2) imports:

a) printed books and leaflets (ex PCN 4901), with the symbol ISBN as regulated in other provisions,

b) special periodicals.

5a. The tax rate 0 %, mentioned in (5), is applied only to the goods produced by poligraphic methods.

5b. The special periodicals, mentioned in (5) point 1 b) and point 2 b), are the periodicals with the symbol ISSN regarding the wide scope of cultural, creative, educational, scientific and popular scientific, social, professional, and methodical, regional and local issues, and for blind people and people with impaired sight, published not more often than once a week, in the form of separate issues (numbers) under the common title, which are not supposed to be finished, published regularly, not more than 15.000 copies at the edition.

7. The Finance Minister in cooperation with Culture and National Heritage Minister and Minister of Education creates, in the form of the executive act, the list of the special magazines, mentioned in (5) point 1 b) and point 2 b) and (5b) and the conditions of VAT 0 % rate application. This is the Executive Act of the Ministry of Finance of December 22, 2000 r. regarding the list of special magazines on which the VAT tax rate is 0 % and the conditions of its application. There are 1661 special periodicals in this list. Generally, press VAT rate is 7 % from 2001.01.01 See, Art. 18 (2) of the Act on VAT and the Excise Tax of 1993.

Publishers that are legal entities have to pay legal entities income tax regulated by the Act on Legal Entities Income Tax of February 15, 1992 (Dziennik Ustaw 93.106.482), which is 28 % of the tax basis in the year 2001 and 2002. See, Art. 19 of the Act on Legal Entities Income Tax of 1993. The income gained by the foreign legal entity as a result of copyright is taxed at 20 %. See, Art. 21 (1) point 1 of the Act on Legal Entities Income Tax of 1993. It has to be added here, that there are income tax exemptions for some legal entities. For example, the church within its noneconomical statutory aims, which do not have to be reported to tax authorities. Other activities of the church in the part regarding religion, education, science, culture and charity are also exempted from the tax. The income of companies whose partners are church entities are also exempted in parts intended for the purposes stated above. See, Art. 17 (4a) a, b of the Act on Legal Entities Income Tax of 1993. These provisions are applied when a church is a publisher and the publishing can be treated as its activity concerning education or science.

The publisher who is a physical entity is subject to the physical entity income tax, regulated in the Act on the Physical Entities Income Tax of July 26, 1991 as amended (Dziennik Ustaw 93.90.416). The wages are taxed as stated in this Act. The costs of copyright use or disposal which is reduced from all takings is 50 % as stated by the Art. 22 (9) point 3. Income tax rate is from 19 % to 40 % of the tax basis. See, Art. 27 of the Act. The percentage increases as the tax basis does.

The organization of libraries is regulated by the Act on the Libraries of June 27, 1997 (Dziennik Ustaw 97.85.539) as amended. The Act on Obligatory Library Copies [of published books] of November 7, 1996 (Dziennik Ustaw 96.152.722) states obligations of publishers on rendering some publications to the libraries. The Act contains a different definition of a publisher than the Press Act of 1984. According to the Art. 2 (1) of the Act on Obligatory Library Copies of 1996, ‘a publisher’ is a „legal entity, other independent entity which is not a legal entity or a physical entity that publishes works in the territory of the Republic of Poland. There is a legal presumption that the entity whose name is stated as a publisher on the copies of the publication, is the publisher.” Under the Art. 2 (2), a ‘publication’ is a work reproduced by any means to be disseminated including, a printed matter as books, brochures (leaflets), newspapers, journals, and other publishing material and poster, plans, graphs, tables, drawings, illustrations and notes; audio and/or visual works as records, tapes, cassettes, slides, micro-films, micro-fiche; digital works or computer programs. As stated in the Art. 3 of the Act, the publisher operating in Poland is bound to render to the libraries designated by law the number of copies stated in the Act (obligatory copies). Such an obligation has the publisher that publishes a publication in Poland for a foreign publisher. Every issue of a publication or a language version of newspaper or a journal, special issues, reprints and works that were not disseminated publicly, including the ones that are no longer secret or confidential, are subjects to this provision. In case of the publication in different editorial standards the obligation of obligatory copies rendering applies to the publication of the highest standard. The Ministry of Culture and National Heritage provides for the list of the libraries that have a right to obtain obligatory copies of the publication rules of submission of such copies. See, Art. 3 of the Act on Obligatory Library Copies of 1996.

Based on this delegation the Act on the List of the Libraries the Can obtain the Obligatory Copies and the Course of their Rendering of March 6, 1997 (Dziennik Ustaw 97.29.161) was issued and it regulates the number of libraries and deadliness to render copies. Copies of printed matter intended exclusively for the purpose of official use of the state authorities, local government, army; intended for internal use of political organizations, social organizations, and other organizations if this purpose is stated before they were printed; securities, original artistic printed matter, sound and/or visual fixed on any carrier or by any means for the personal use, forms, tickets, labels and packaging. The Ministry of Culture and National Heritage can exempt some other works from the obligation of rendering obligatory copies to the designated libraries. See, Art. 4 of the Act on Obligatory Library Copies of 1996. There is an obligation to render two copies of a publication to the National Library and the Jagiellonian Library in Cracow, and one copy of any official journals of the governmental administration should be submitted to the Sejm (Parliamentary) Library in Warsaw. See, the Art. 5 (1)-(2) of the Act on Obligatory Library Copies of 1996. The list of libraries with the right to obtain one copy of the publication, as defined by the Act on Obligatory Library Copies of 1996, is issued by the Ministry and is an executive act. There are 15 such libraries on the list at present. The National Library and Jagiellonian Library have to keep the submitted copies in their archives for ever. See, Art. 5 (4) of the Act on Obligatory Library Copies of 1996. Concerning Art. 6 of the Act on Obligatory Library Copies of 1996, the National Cinema Archives in Warsaw are covered by the scope of the Act with regard to one copy of a cinema or a television film. The film producer has to submit such copy to the mentioned National Cinema Archives and he falls under the definition of a publisher. The producer has to comply with provisions on the next, special issues and the editorial standards of the publication as well. The obligatory copies sent to the libraries are exempted from a postal fee. See, the Art. 7 of the Act on Obligatory Library Copies of 1996. The sanction for evading the obligation of submission is the monetary penalty, according to the proceedings on petty crimes. See, the Art 8 of the Act on Obligatory Library Copies of 1996.

According to the Act on the Creation of the Ministry of Education of October 23, 1987 (Dziennik Ustaw 87.33.178) as amended, the Ministry creates the policy on textbook publishing and implements this policy under the Act’s Art. 2 (h). The Ministry issued the executive Act on the Rates and Detailed Principles and Proceedings of the School and University Textbook Grants Dealing on July 9, 1999 (Dziennik Ustaw 99.60.643). The Ministry issued this Act on the basis of Art. 72 (4) of the Act on Public Finances (Dziennik Ustaw 98.155.1014 and 99.38.360 and 99.49.485). The grants are given from the state budget, in amount of circa $ 300 for one printed sheet of the first issue of a book and $ 215 for every following issues of a book. The rate can be increased if the book is very costly but not more than 10 %. See, § 2 of the Act. A form of the grant application and its settlement of accounts is provided in the Act. The Ministry of Education can ask for the expertise before dealing the grant, according to § 4 of the Act.

The Polish Copyright Act in Art. 111 creates the Creativity Promotion Fund. According to its Art. 113, „[T]he financial resources from the Fund are spent for covering the costs of publishing of editions of works, which are exceptionally important for culture, science and the editions for the blind.” The Ministry issued the Act on the Levies on the Creativity Promotion Fund on the Copies of the Works in the Public Domain and the Detailed Principles of the Payments from the Fund and the Principles on Granting Scholarships and Social Assistance from the Fund (Dziennik Ustaw 94.138.735). The publishers have to pay the levy from the income earned on works in the public domain in the amount of 8 % if the books are sold by the third person, 6 % if they are sold by themselves. When such works are literary classics, a part of school curriculum, are in Braille or have academic character and are issued in limited number of copies, the levy is 5 % (§ 1 of the Act). The interested publishers can apply for a grant for publishing from the Fund (§ 3 of the Act). Grants from the Fund are initially approved by the Committee of Publishing Initiatives and Promotion of Culture (§ 12 of the Act), then approved by the Minister (§ 11 (2) of the Act).

The works are protected by the Polish Law on Copyright and Neighboring Rights (hereafter as the Copyright Act) that came into force in May 1994 (Dziennik Ustaw 94.24.83). The term of the copyright protection is 70 years post mortem authoris. See, the Art. 36 of the Copyright Act. For the economic rights and with no term limitation for moral rights. See, the Art. 16 of the Copyright Act. The works of Polish citizens, the ones first published in Poland or in Polish and to the ones protected by international copyright agreements. See, Art. 5 of the Copyright Act.

Art. 51 (3) of the Copyright Act of 1994 stipulates for the exhaustion of the copyright after the first sale of a copy in all countries that create a free trade area with Poland, which include WTO countries. The works in the public domain material maybe used freely, other works can be used in the same way for personal use (Art. 23 (1) of the Copyright Act), research or educational purposes (Art. 27 of the Copyright Act). Libraries and archives and schools can reproduce one copy of already published works that are not available on the market in the course of their work (Art. 28 point 2 of the Copyright Act). Moreover, Art. 4 of the Copyright of 1994 upholds that legal acts and their official drafts, state authorities documents, materials and marks, published descriptions of patents and short press information, are not protected. Such fair use of works should be interpreted in a strict way. The official documents include court, administrative decisions together with governmental documents, legislation and any documents issued by trade organizations, local government, professional associations etc. while fulfilling duties delegated legally by the state. The last category’s of short press information scope is really difficult to decide a priori. The information in question not only has to be published in the press but be short announcements and, probably, current as well.

The works made for hire are protected according to Art. 12 of the Copyright Act: „[A]n employer is a copyright owner of the work created by the author under the employment contract, from the moment of obtaining of the work within the provisions of the employment contract aim and common intention of the parties.” Nevertheless, if the employer is a scientific institution its rights to the work are different than in the case of a nonscientific employer. The scientific institution has only the right to the first publication of the work and the right to use it and disseminate it for a scientific purpose. See, Art. 14 of the Copyright Act. The copyright contracts are freely negotiated with some limitations of this principle. For example, the contract provisions regarding all future works of the author are invalid (Art. 41 (3) of the Copyright Act), the seriously unjust negotiated remuneration can be raised by the court. The contract of the copyright cession and the exclusive license should be in writing, otherwise it is invalid (Art. 53 and 67 (5) of the Copyright Act). The Copyright Act besides damages and redress for the copyright infringement (Art. 79) provides for criminal sanctions (willfully up to 5 years of imprisonment) in the Arts. 115-123 of the Copyright Act. Poland is a member of the Berne Union, Party to the Berne Convention Paris Act since 1990 the Universal Copyright Convention since 1978 and the WTO member since 1995. The Europe Agreement establishing an association between the European Communities and their Member States, of the one part, and the Republic of Poland, on the other part, requires Poland to harmonize its legal system with the European Union standards but the harmonization with, for example, the Database Directive that establishes a sui generis right of its maker for re/utilization and extraction of a content, can excessively limit access to information, so important for Polish users or publishers/database producers. The process of the copyright approximation has to be completed by the year 2002.

Polish intellectual property law has to be amended to achieve harmonization with the EU intellectual property protection in many aspects. This is provided by the Europe Agreement and the Annex on Intellectual Property to the White Paper regarding harmonization of law in accession countries. According to the White Paper on Preparation of the Associated Countries of Central and Eastern Europe for Integration into the Internal Market of the Union section 4.23 ([I]n the area of intellectual property the advances are uneven, even if the Central and Eastern European Countries have shown great interest in legislative developments in the Union and are keen to modernize their legislation [...]. Some work has also been done on copyright and neighboring rights legislation.” To harmonize the level of protection with the EU, Poland has to implement the EU Database Directive of 1996. The Polish Copyright Act was amended on June 9, 2000 to implement the Copyright Term Directive of 1993, with its extension of this term to 70 years after an author’s death and to provide for the revival of copyright for a work which had not been published, fell into the public domain and whose protection is revived for at least 25 years from the date of its first publication. Concerning the implementation of the EU Database Directive of 1996, Poland will have to introduce sui generis protection for databases which cannot be protected as creative complications under Polish Copyright Act of 1994. The US government demanded from the Polish government to establish proper and effective protection of intellectual property already in 1990 by The Treaty on Trade Relations between the Republic of Poland and the USA of March 21st, 1990, Art. IV on intellectual property.

Collective rights of authors administration organization in Poland is ZAIKS. There are no provisions on electronic publishing the in Polish Copyright Act. The contracts between publishers, printers and book wholesalers are fully negotiable and subject to the Civil Code of 1964 provisions.

Non-profit sector entities publishing books has to report to the tax authority and can obtain bank loans as any other entity operating on the market. „The foundation can run the business within its statutory aims”, according to Art. 5 (5) of the Act on Foundations of April 6, 1984 (Dziennik Ustaw 91.46.203) If the foundation runs the business, its property intended to be used for the business purposes, cannot be worth less than 1.000 PLN.” The association can, as provided by Art. 34 of the Association Act of April 7, 1989 (Dziennik Ustaw 89.20.104), „run the business in line with other legal provisions.” Profit gained from such activity should be used for the statutory aims achievement and cannot be distributed among its members. The business can include publishing.

Polish Customs Code of January 9, 1997 is published in Dziennik Ustaw 97.23.117. According to the custom tariff of the Act of the Council of Ministries of December 15, 1998 (Dziennik Ustaw 98.158.1036) as amended the autonomous custom duty on books, newspapers and journals is 25 % of their worth for customs purposes if the country where they are imported from is known to the authority. The custom duty is doubled if the country of the origin is not known. However, Poland is a member of the WTO since 1995 (Dziennik Ustaw 95.98.483) and thanks to it the custom rate on books, journals and newspapers is 0 % in trade among all WTO members (conventional customs duty). Poland is also a Party to the Lake Success Convention of 1950 (Dziennik Ustaw 72.6.33). In addition, books imported as gifts worth less EURO 70 are free from custom duty based on the provisions of the Act on Regulating the Quantity or Quality Norms of Imported Goods that are Exempt from Custom Duties and Restricting the Right to Custom Exemptions on Certain Goods Transported by Persons after Crossing the National Border of 1997 (Dziennik Ustaw 97.142.949).