Businesspeople get their political points across

Roman Rewald is chairman of the American Chamber of Commerce in Poland and head of the Entrepreneurship Council.

Katarzyna Dębek: What are the main points on the Entrepreneurship Council's list?

Roman Rewald: The Entrepreneurship Council's list is not ready yet. It may be released in October. But the American Chamber of Commerce has already drafted its list of priorities for the new government pointing to the most important problems foreign investors have to deal with in Poland.

What are these priorities?

There are two major priorities. One is related to the transport infrastructure in Poland - not just expressways, which are the most common complaint of foreign investors, but the road network in general, railroads, airports and ports. Each city in Poland should be accessible by road within two hours. It is essential for the transportation of goods and resources. For an American investor every 15 minutes of delay translates into additional costs. An entrepreneur is able to calculate how many złoty and groszy the delay is worth. The other very important investment barrier that needs to be addressed is the issue of enforcement of contracts in Poland. If, as the statistics indicate, solving a business-related dispute in a Polish court takes up to a thousand days then the procedures in business courts should be simplified. The Americans say: "Justice delayed is justice denied." A thousand days of justice delayed is definitely justice denied. It's better to get a bad verdict than none at all because in the case of a bad one you can at least appeal and protect your rights.

What do you think should be done in order to improve the functioning of the judiciary?

We think that the reform of the legal system should be continued and that the education of lawyers, especially judges, should be reformed. Many of them fail to notice that the law and court procedures have dramatically changed within the last six years in Poland. What's more, the introduction of a more oral process in the court system would be beneficial. The judges should be left to do the job of arbiters in the disputes instead of dealing with registers and administrative duties. It could be a good solution to move all the registers from courts to the offices of local administration. Finally, the career of a judge should be a coronation of a legal career, not the beginning of it. In the case of judges, experience is of pivotal importance.

What about red tape and taxes?

Of course, these problems have also been included in our list - it's about the continuation of a reform initiated with the introduction of the Law on Economic Freedom designed to shorten the process of company registration etc. Taxes are a lesser problem.

What we need is a more even field for business. We believe that if you take all the benefits and waivers for taxes away and keep them low and clear then it will be much better for business than lowering them any further. Nineteen percent is a pretty good achievement, in the case of corporate tax, compared to other countries. VAT and PIT are quite a different story. It's more a matter of good PR for Poland - the potential investors will of course compare Polish tax rates with those in the Czech Republic, Slovakia and other countries in the region. We believe the next approach in the case of taxes should be towards simplification, stabilization and better adjudication.

What are other problems that need addressing?

Data processing, telecommunication and broadband access to the internet is what we see as a priority for this country because that's how you measure progress in today's world. Poland is now attracting a lot of outsourcing types of business and again infrastructure facilitating the process of outsourcing from abroad is going to create more jobs and attract investments in Poland.

Are you optimistic about the potential PO/PiS coalition?

Yes, I'm optimistic as both parties support business. We had meetings with the leaders of both parties and liked what we heard in terms of business development - better organization of the state promised by PiS and more freedom in economy advocated by PO sound very promising. Of course details are still to be determined.

Interview by Katarzyna Dębek

The hit list

The American Chamber of Commerce in Poland has identified priorities for the new government

1. Reform the justice system

2. Simplify bureaucracy

3. Introduce low, simple and stable taxes

4. Draw up urban development plans

5. Upgrade and build infrastructure

6. Expedite the privatization of state companies

7. Target corruption

8. Promote Poland via an active foreign policy