A-Z of EU membership harmonization: Environment protection and medicines

Poland will have to fully apply EU environmental protection regulations from 2016. As the costs of their enforcement are very high (around euro 40 billion) the government has received the largest number of transition periods with regard to this area. The introduction of a regulation under which each town with more than 2,000 inhabitants is obliged to have a modern sewage treatment plant, will take until 2016 to apply. With regard to treating industrial and poisonous waste, the country has until 2009 to meet all the standards. After joining the EU, Poland will have to comply with EU copyright regulations. The pharmaceutical market will pose some difficulties as two thirds of Polish-made drugs include so-called substitute pharma ceuticals. Patents for medicines in the EU are protected for 25 years. These substitutes will be gradually withdrawn from the market by 2013. The d omestic pharmaceutical market is likely to be taken over by western firms, particularly as it costs around euro 250 million to develop and market a new drug. The observance of copyright of computer software programmes and records copyright is yet another challenge to be faced. Brussels claims that the bazaar at the Stadion Dziesieciolecia is an affront to this law. (Rzeczpospolita, Dec. 14-15, p. A4) A.Z.