Poland’s lawmakers on 26 January 2018 voted through a package of regulations to help businesses by cutting red tape and improving regulations for entrepreneurs.
The new regulations, drafted by the Polish government and collectively referred to as a “constitution for business,” aim to simplify procedures for people setting up and running their own businesses.
The new rules include a presumption of entrepreneurial honesty and a principle of friendly interpretation of regulations under which any doubts will be resolved in favour of the entrepreneur.
The package is designed to allow small entrepreneurs to run a business without the need to register it if their monthly income is less than half the national minimum wage. This measure could benefit about 75,000 people, including those who provide services such as private tutoring, according to government officials.
The aim is to reduce the unregistered, tax-evading segment of the economy where people receive undeclared cash payments.
Budding businessmen will be given special start-up incentives by being exempted from paying social security contributions for the first six months. Later, for two years, they will be able to take advantage of more preferential treatment as part of the so-called “small social insurance” programme. Some 200,000 businesspeople will be able to benefit from this new measure every year, according to officials.
A total of 286 MPs voted in favour of the new regulations in the lower house of parliament in Warsaw on 26 January 2018, while 124 opposed and four abstained.
The legislation will now go to the Senate, the upper house of Poland’s parliament, for further debate.
