In Brief: Miller to resign?; Płażyński and the PO; Miller's telephone billings

The head of the Prime Minister's Office yesterday said that, if the ne cessity arises, for the sake of the EU integration process, Leszek Miller may step down. Miller denied the statement. (Parkiet, p. 1) ... If Maciej Płażyński decided to abandon the Civic Platform (PO) it would not result in a mass exodus of the party deputies, said PO deputy Zyta Gilowska. When asked if he intends to stay in the party permanently, Płażyński replied, "I think there is enough room in politics". (Rzeczpospolita, p. A8) ... Two members of the Rywin Commission, Zbigniew Ziobro from Law and Justice and Józef Szczepańczyk from the Polish Peasants Party, have demanded that the Prime Minister provides access to documents relating to himself, and three senior officials, Lech Nikolski, Marek Wagner and Aleksandra Jakubowska. The information is to include telephone billings, as well as lists of guests received by Miller and the officials in question. (Rzeczpospolita, p. A8) A.Z. In Brief: Trademark annulled; Documentary slander; HIV; Food additives The Patent Office has annulled the registration of the Delicje [biscuit] trademark. The news is likely to cheer more than ten producers of a similar product who, up to now have expected a legal prosecution for violating trademark regulations. (Rzeczpospolita, p. C2) ... Henryk Dyderko and Jacek Gwizdała, director and producer of the controversial documentary "Witajcie w życiu" revealing "the true face of Amway", have been found guilty of s lander. (Rzecpzospolita, p. C1) ... The court of appeal in Rzeszów has decided to overrule a judgement in a lawsuit filed by a couple infected with HIV from a blood donation center. Under the overruled judgement the pl aintiffs were to receive zł. 70,000 compensation. (Rzeczpospolita, p. C1) ... Food additives in diary products should be treated as food sensu stricte and are subject to 20% import duty, the Supreme Administrative Court has ruled. (Rzeczpospolita, p. C2) J.K. Tax News In Brief: More powerful tax police; Tax IT system; Supervisory board wages Yesterday the Sejm approved some of the Finance Minister's new regulations concerning tax office intelligence. Should all his request be met, the tax police will have far greater powers to phone tap and observe individuals. The business community is said to be very alarmed at the sweeping powers being introduced. (Puls Biznesu, April 9) ... Arrears in tax collection would be smaller were it not for lags in implementation of a computer system in tax offices, said a Supreme Board of Inspection (NIK) report. After 12 years only a very basic IT system has been created. (Parkiet, April 9) ... The income of supervisory board members is not strictly defined as their wages, but also costs related to their business trips and therefore are treated as part of their wages. (Rzeczpospolita, April 10) J.K. (Tax News is based on PricewaterhouseCoopers Tax Department web service, www.taxonl ine.pl) Civil Aviation Office needs to improve standards if LOT wants a future According to the audit carried out at the end of January by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) on the Polish Civil Aviation Office (ULC), it turns out that the Polish body is not meeting American safety standards, particularly with regard to employing a low number of inspectors with relevant experience. The preliminary report was presented in mid-March and the joint stand of the American and Polish aviation officials must be prepared by the end of April. According to the letter sent by economic advisor of the American embassy Richard Huff to the Foreign Ministry, it turns out that lack of improvement would cause the safety rating of the Polish aviation sector to be lowered. This would complicate the situation of the national carrier LOT, as it would not be allowed to increase the number of its connections to the U.S. in the future and to make shared flights with American counterparts. (Rzeczpospolita, p. B3) M.M. Schools prove that being a successful stockbroker is child's play The Krzyż Wielkopolski secondary school team "parkiet", has won first place in Schools' Internet Stock Exchange Investment Competition. The team's investments between December 3 and January 17 brought a 38.5% rate of return. The runner up, "Klub- 71", of a secondary school in Kołobrzeg reached ROI of 18.69%. Of all 122 groups who took part in the competition, 78 posted profits of which 24 managed to secure returns of more than 10%, while 54 posted a slightly smaller profit. Only eight teams recorded a loss above 10%. During the competition the WIG20 index rose by 13%. "We wanted to thrash professional brokers, and we did," said one of the schoolkids. (Parkiet, p. 13) J.K.