16.11.2017

Three pillars of creating Polish SME paradise

Poland might become a paradise for small and medium enterprises. Our competitiveness advantage should be based on: simple law and effectively operating institutions, large-scaled demography policy, and wise economic policy. These are the main conclusions from the report of Union of Entrepreneurs and Employers: “Strategy of legal and institutional competitiveness of Poland”, which was presented during the 590 Congress in Rzeszów.

Currently, Poland has a problem with mediocrity. Everything is mediocre: regulations, common market, respecting the entrepreneurs’ rights, and economic policy. We will not catch up with the West without a clear vision, said Cezary Kaźmierczak, President of ZPP, during the 590 Congress in Rzeszów. Poland should attract consumers and entrepreneurs from all over the world with the best and the easiest economic law, clear and not-complicated tax system, effective judicature and education system.

Analyse of the rankings: Doing Business, Paying Taxes, and Global Competitiveness, combined with analyse of 20 the richest countries in the world according the the World Bank, shows that leaders of all of the rankings are almost the same. This means that countries with good business conditions, friendly tax system and modern institutions are also the most wealthy ones. And vice-a-versa, the ones at the lowest ranks are simultaneously the poorest ones.

Jarosław Gowin, Minister of Science and Higher Education who was present at the 590 Congress, admitted that our law is complicated and it often changes. Newly-appearing provisions cause the administrative apparatus to be very complex, which only enhances bureaucracy.

He mentioned the “one-in, two-out” principle existing in the UK. When one regulation is introduced, another one, with a similar scope of influence, is being abolished. “However, when we wanted to implement this principal in Poland, Donald Tusk stopped our works. At that same time Great Britain still realised this principle.”, said vice-Prime Minister, Jarosław Gowin.

In the Doing Business 2017 ranking, in the category of “Starting a Business”, Poland was placed on the 107^th position out of 189. According to analysts of the World Bank, procedure of opening a company in Poland takes 37 days and requires expenses of 12,1% of income per capita. As the report states, excess of regulations is another significant hurdle for dynamic development of our country. In accordance to Grant Thornton, 31.9 thousand of typescript pages of new law were introduced in Poland in 2016.

Professor Robert Gwiazdowski, President of the Council of Warsaw Enterprise Institute, said that the biggest problem of Polish entrepreneurs are the tax law provisions.

We cannot deny the great economic success achieved by Poland after 1989. However, a trap of mediocre development may be especially dangerous for our country. It may lead us to a situation when instead of catching up with the richest ones, we will be becoming poorer, said Cezary Kaźmierczak. Economic law should be as deregulated as possible. We could use the already existing world patterns in this regard. What successfully works in Austria or in the UK may also successfully work in Poland. Maximally simplified economic law requires effective judicature which would ensure quick solving of economic conflicts, he added.

In this respect, ZPP recommends using the formulas proven in the Anglo-Saxon countries and introducing at least real division for minor and big economic cases. Another ideas is to change the tax system radically. The proposition “Remunerations+, Taxes-” prepared by the governing coalition assumes i.a. liquidation of revenue taxes and substituting them with income levies.

Authors of the document also presented their proposition regarding education system. Schools should cooperate with the locally operating entrepreneurs more closely. One of the proposed changes is to reduce the number of regulated professions (there are around 350 in Poland, only Hungary and Czech Republic have more). According to the authors of the paper, graduates of secondary and higher schools should have all of the necessary professional licenses.

“Even the best economic and tax law, or the most favourable conditions for running business won’t make a difference if the country doesn’t have enough citizens (…). In 2015, Poland had one of the lowest birth rates in the whole European Union – 1.32 – whereas the border of replacement of generations is 2.1.” – states the report. Only Portugal was in worse condition with the birth rate of 1.31. To face this problem, Poland ought to operate in three fundamental areas: augmentation in the number of births, attracting the emigrants to come back to the country, legalisation of stay of labour immigrants from countries such as Ukraine, Belarus, or Vietnam.

Finally, to compete with the most important players effectively, Poland need to perform effective economic policy. Basing on experience of countries like South Korea or Luxembourg and choosing a particular field, connected with new technologies would be very helpful in this regard. Such approach should be promoted and supported by all available tools.


Report: Strategy of legal and institutional competitiveness of Poland_pdf

17.11.2017

How and when should the system of waste management in Poland be financed? – about new waste framework directives

Meeting the European goals concerning implementation of new waste framework directives is a huge legislative undertaking. Creating an honest, clear, hermetic and effective system of waste management requires dialogue between the government, local authorities and business. If we want to achieve the recycling goals and change the existing waste management system, this dialogue should start as soon as possible – said the participants of the panel organised by Union of Entrepreneurs and Employers during the 590 Congress in Rzeszów.

At the beginning of 2018, new waste framework directives will be enacted. They will introduce ambitious recycling goals for 2030. Taking the level of underfunding of the system and scale of the improprieties existing in the current waste management system into account, new regulations will be very challenging for local authorities, business and administration. At the same time, the new law assumes implementation of an enlarged responsibility of the producers, which means that the waste management system will be financed more by the entrepreneurs introducing packages into the market. Entrepreneurs are willing to pay more for the packages they introduce, yet they expect an effective and hermetic package waste management system in return.

Participants of the panel wondered how and when should the new regulations be implemented to effectively use the higher financing of the system in order to realise the recycling goals the best; to the market and society benefit.

For the first time after 1989, the right-wing government addresses the topic of approaching environmental issues. We have to remember that we start from a level where gigantic incineration plants are present in each of our big cities. A lot of money has been put into this project. What is a real challenge for the Ministry of Development is to build a circular economy. The first step in this regard is to increase the amount of waste being reused by means of recycling and resource recovery, said Jadwiga Emilewicz, the vice-Minister of Development. In Europe, around 40% of waste is being recovered, in Poland it is around 20 to 25%. Our aim for 2021 is to reach the level of 61% of resource recovery. What is necessary to achieve it is higher consumers’ awareness.

Representatives of entrepreneurs noticed that enlarging the responsibility of producers means a significant rise of the expenses for the industry, which can result in rising prices for the consumers. They demand staggering the liabilities in time and thus beginning the works over implementation of the directives into the Polish law as soon as possible.

Applying such approach would help us avoid the shock and we could verify if the financing is well allocated and brings the anticipated outcomes. We would also have time to introduce corrections if needed. Another thing we would avoid is the cumulative inflation impulse which would strike the weakest social groups the most. Industry will not absorb the sharp augmentation of expenses – it would have to affect the product prices, said Krzysztof Baczyńśki, President of Eko-Pak.

Participants agreed that such profound legislative changes ought not to be introduced in the last moment and in a hurry.

When considering new solutions we must base on existing foundations, which means to leave the waste management under supervision of boroughs. We should also take existing business conditions into account. A lot of them have been shaped for many years and we cannot overlook them when creating new solutions. We should also keep as many of the free-market mechanisms as possible, simultaneously introducing new standards of enlarged producers’ responsibility, said Jakub Tyczkowski, President of Rekopol Organizacja Odzysku Opakowań S.A.

13.11.2017

Inauguration of the new Union of Entrepreneurs and Employers from the Energy Sector

On 13 November, in Warsaw, the Trade Union of ZPP gathering members form the energy sector (ZPP SE), which derives from the Union of Entrepreneurs and Employers (ZPP) started its activity. The founders of the Union are: enterprises from the energy sector and companies providing professional services in this field.

Main conclusions from the report “Road map of Polish electro-energy 2030+” – a scenario of the future of Polish electro-energy sector considering the newest legislations of the European Union – were presented during the inauguration meeting. Participants of the meeting could also get acquainted with the Energy Mix till 2040.

Marcin Roszkowski, the President of the Management Board and PhD Christian Schnell, the vice-President of the Management Board presented their concept of ZPP SE activity helping Poland to go through the key transformation of the energy sector.

Experts of the Union of Entrepreneurs and Employers of the Energy Sector will be issuing numerous reports on new perspectives of the energy sector and will be providing trainings and workshops in this topic. They will also work on creating new legislative environment. Members of the Union are: energy companies, companies dealing with innovative industry in the sectors of: energy, transport and energy-efficient constructing.

“We are a platform of exchange of professional knowledge, vital to create common vision of the future of Polish energy sector. We want to build solid image of the widely-understood energy sector. In Poland and worldwide.” concluded Marcin Roszkowski, the President of ZPP SE.