The Under – Secretary of State in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs is also in the chair of the Interministerial Group for International Sanctions established on the basis of the Prime Minister’s Ordonance No. 117 of 14 October 2003 on establishing the Interministerial Group for International Sanctions.

The implementation of sanctions

In the Republic of Poland there is no single general and comprehensive law regulating the implementation of international sanctions. Sanctions are implemented by means of sector laws (e.g. the Act of 29 November 2000 on the Trading of Goods, Technology and Services of Strategic Importance to the State Security as well as to the Maintenance of International Peace and Security) which create the grounds for the activities undertaken by competent ministers or institutions.

From the 1st  May 2004 restrictive measures which are in competence of the European Communities are implemented by means of the EU Council regulations (the list of the EU sanctions and the relevant documents can be found on the web site: http://ec.europa.eu/comm/external_relations/cfsp/sanctions/index.htm). The restrictive measures issued on the basis of regulations have direct effect and are directly applicable in Member States. That is to say that both the organs of public authority and the private entities are obliged to implement the regulations. Due to the above mentioned fact the EU sanctions referring to the freezing of assets should be implemented directly by obliged institutions (e.g. banks).

In order to facilitate the execution of commitments resulting from regulations, European Commission together with the European Banking Federation, European Savings Banks Group, European Association of Co-operative Banks and European Association of Public Banks established the list of entities covered by the community financial sanctions (list available on page: http://europa.eu.int./comm/external_relations/cfsp/sanctions/list/consol-list.htm).

Contact

General coordination of sanctions-related issues is provided by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Legal and Treaty Department. (phone: 48 22 523 94 24; fax 48 22 523 83 29 e-mail: dpt@msz.gov.pl).