Freeing the economy

The Ministry of Economy has presented a number of initiatives designed to improve economic law and eliminate barriers to business. "Our goal is to create a law that will give citizens and entrepreneurs the broadest amount of freedom possible," said Deputy Economy Minister Adam Szejnfeld during a meeting with entrepreneurs at the Polish Chamber of Commerce in mid-December. Limitations to business should remain only if required for national security or international regulations, he added.

The proposed amendment to economic law is the first of three major stages in a plan called Dobre Prawo (Good Law). The Ministry wants to liberalize economic activity and remove acts harmful to the development of entrepreneurship. It also wants to stabilize and concentrate economic law into a "codex of economic freedom."

The execution of the first stage of the project was scheduled to begin in December, when the draft amendment to the Act on Freedom of Economic Activity is presented to the Sejm, Szejnfeld declared.

The second stage of the Dobre Prawo plan will see reforms to the law-making process. The final stage will mainly focus on PR activities, including domestic campaigns on good business practices.

According to Andrzej Sadowski, the vice president of the Adam Smith Research Institute, removing obstacles to entrepreneurship will enable the government to carry out the range of social initiatives it announced in the first few weeks of its rule, including significant pay-raises for doctors and teachers.

"These steps are possible only if the economy is unblocked, otherwise entrepreneurs will receive an even heavier burden," Sadowski said.