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Act of May 23, 1991, on Employers' Organizations

(Journal of Laws No. 55, item 235, as amended)

Employers’ organizations.
Journal of Laws 2015.2029 of December 3, 2015
Status: In force
Version as of: December 3, 2015
Consolidated text

ACT
of May 23, 1991
on Employers’ Organizations

Chapter 1
General Provisions

Article 1. [Freedom of Association]

  1. Employers shall have the right to establish, without prior authorization, organizations of their own choosing, as well as to join such organizations, subject to compliance with their statutes.
  2. For the purposes of this Act, an employer shall mean an entity referred to in Article 3 of the Labour Code.
  3. (repealed).

Article 2. [Federations and Confederations]
Employers’ organizations shall have the right to establish federations and confederations, as well as to join them, and every organization, federation, and confederation shall have the right to affiliate with international employers’ organizations.

Article 3. [Self-Governance and Independence]
Employers’ organizations, their federations, and confederations shall be self-governing and independent in their statutory activities from government administration bodies, local self-government bodies, and other organizations.

Article 4. [Prohibition of Interference in Trade Union Activities]
Employers’ organizations, their federations, and confederations may not undertake actions aimed at limiting employees’ rights to organize in trade unions, nor actions intended to exercise control over employees’ unions.

Article 5. [Tasks of Employers’ Organizations]
The primary task of employers’ organizations, their federations, and confederations shall be to protect the rights and represent the interests, including economic interests, of their affiliated members in relations with trade unions, organs of state authority and government administration, as well as bodies of local self-government.

Article 6. [Assets of Employers’ Organizations]

  1. The assets of employers’ organizations, their federations, and confederations shall be derived from membership fees, donations, inheritances, bequests, their own activities, and income from the organizations’ property.
  2. Contributions to employers’ organizations referred to in paragraph 1 shall be treated as tax-deductible costs up to the amount specified by a regulation of the Council of Ministers.

Chapter 2
Forming Employers’ Associations

Article 7. [Establishment of an Employers’ Organization]

  1. An employers’ organization shall be established by virtue of a resolution on its establishment, adopted at a founding meeting by at least 10 employers.
  2. Decisions concerning the membership of an employer that is a legal person in an employers’ organization shall be taken by the body authorized to make declarations of will on its behalf.
  3. The founding meeting that adopts the resolution on the establishment of an employers’ organization shall adopt its statute and elect a founding committee consisting of at least 3 persons.

Article 8. [Statute of an Employers’ Organization]

  1. The statute of an employers’ organization should specify in particular:
    1. the name of the organization, its registered seat, and its territorial scope of activity;
    2. the bodies of the organization, the scope of their powers, the procedure for their election and dismissal, and their term of office;
    3. the basic objectives and tasks of the organization, as well as the methods and forms of their implementation;
    4. the manner of acquiring and losing membership;
    5. the rights and obligations of members;
    6. the manner of representing the organization and the persons authorized to incur financial obligations on behalf of the organization;
    7. the rules for amending the statute, dissolving the organization, and the allocation of its assets in the event of liquidation;
    8. the manner of obtaining financial resources and establishing membership fees.
  2. Organizations intending to create territorial organizational units shall specify in their statutes the organizational structure and the rules for establishing such units.

Article 9. [Registration in the National Court Register]

  1. An employers’ organization shall be subject to mandatory registration in the National Court Register.
  2. If the founding committee fails to file an application for registration within 30 days from the date of establishment of the organization, the resolution on the establishment of the organization shall lose its effect.

Article 10. [Legal Personality]
An employers’ organization shall acquire legal personality on the date of its registration.

Article 11. [Amendment of the Statute]

  1. An employers’ organization shall notify the court without delay of any amendment to its statute. The amendment shall enter into force upon the expiry of 14 days from the date of notification, unless the court raises objections as to its compliance with the law.
  2. If the objections referred to in paragraph 1 are raised, the court shall notify the employers’ organization thereof and schedule a hearing to examine them within 30 days from the date on which the organization notified the court of the amendment to the statute.
  3. (repealed).

Article 12. [Removal of an Employers’ Organization from the Register]

  1. The court shall remove an employers’ organization from the National Court Register where:
    1. the body indicated in the statute has adopted a resolution on the dissolution of the organization;
    2. the number of members of the organization remains below 10 employers for a period longer than 3 months.
  2. The circumstances referred to in paragraph 1 shall be established by the court ex officio or upon the application of the employers’ organization.
  3. (repealed).

Article 13. [Proceedings Concerning Registration]

  1. Matters concerning the registration of an employers’ organization shall be examined in accordance with the provisions of the Code of Civil Procedure governing non-contentious proceedings.
  2. The court shall examine the matters referred to in paragraph 1 within 14 days from the date of filing the application.
  3. (repealed).

Article 14. [Application of the Provisions to Federations and Confederations]
The provisions of Articles 7–13 shall apply accordingly to the federations and confederations referred to in Article 2, provided that:

  1. the number of founders of such organizations may not be fewer than three;
  2. (repealed);
  3. the court shall remove such organizations from the National Court Register where the number of members remains below three for a period longer than three months.

Chapter 3
Powers of employers’ organizations

Article 15. [Basic Rights of Employers’ Organizations]
Employers’ organizations, their federations and confederations shall have the right to adopt their statutes and internal regulations, freely elect their representatives, appoint their governing bodies, and determine their programs of action.

Article 16. [Issuing Opinions on Assumptions and Draft Legal Acts]

  1. An employers’ organization that is representative within the meaning of the Act of 24 July 2015 on the Social Dialogue Council and Other Institutions of Social Dialogue (Journal of Laws, item 1240), hereinafter referred to as the “Act on the Social Dialogue Council,” shall have the right to issue opinions on policy assumptions and draft legal acts concerning the rights and interests of employers’ organizations. This shall not apply to the assumptions of the draft state budget or the draft Budget Act, the review of which is governed by separate provisions.
  2. Bodies of state authority and government administration, as well as bodies of local self-government, shall be obliged to ensure that employers’ organizations may exercise the rights referred to in paragraph 1 on equal terms with trade unions.

Article 16¹. [Issuing Opinions on EU Consultation Documents]

  1. An employers’ organization that is representative within the meaning of the Act on the Social Dialogue Council shall have the right to issue opinions on consultation documents of the European Union, in particular white papers, green papers, and communications, as well as on draft legal acts of the European Union in matters covered by the tasks of employers’ organizations.
  2. Bodies of state authority and public administration shall forward the European Union consultation documents and draft legal acts of the European Union referred to in paragraph 1 to the relevant statutory authorities of the organization, specifying the time limit for submitting an opinion.
  3. The European Union consultation documents and draft legal acts referred to in paragraph 1 shall be transmitted by bodies of state authority and public administration to the appropriate electronic address indicated by the competent statutory authority of the organization.

Article 16². [Applications for the Enactment or Amendment of a Legal Act]

  1. An employers’ organization that is representative within the meaning of the Act on the Social Dialogue Council shall have the right to submit applications for the enactment or amendment of a statute or another legal act in matters covered by the tasks of employers’ organizations.
  2. Applications concerning statutes shall be addressed by the organization to Members of Parliament or to bodies having the right of legislative initiative, whereas applications concerning other legal acts shall be addressed to the bodies competent to issue them.
  3. The state authority to which the application has been submitted shall be obliged, within 30 days, to present its position to the employers’ organization and, in the event of a negative position, also provide the reasons therefor.

Article 17. [Collective Bargaining and Collective Labour Agreements]
Employers’ organizations shall participate, on the principles laid down in separate provisions, in collective bargaining, in the conclusion of collective labour agreements, and in other agreements within the scope of their statutory tasks.

Article 18. [Economic Activity and Tax Exemptions]

  1. Income from economic activity carried out by employers’ organizations and by federations and confederations shall serve the implementation of their statutory tasks and may not be distributed among their members.
  2. Employers’ organizations, their federations, and confederations shall benefit from the tax exemptions provided for associations.

Chapter 4
Liability for Violations of the Act

Article 19. [Activities of an Employers’ Organization Contrary to the Act]

  1. Where the registration court finds that a given body of an employers’ organization is conducting activities contrary to the Act, it shall set a time limit of at least 14 days for that body’s activities to be brought into compliance with the applicable law. Proceedings shall be instituted upon the application of the competent regional prosecutor.
  2. If the time limit referred to in paragraph 1 expires without effect, the registration court may:
    1. impose a fine individually on the members of the body of the organization concerned;
    2. set a time limit for the authorities of the organization to conduct new elections to the body of the organization referred to in paragraph 1, subject to suspension of the activities of that body in the event of non-compliance.
  3. If the measures specified in paragraph 2 prove ineffective, the registration court, upon the application of the Minister of Justice, shall order the removal of the employers’ organization from the National Court Register. An appeal shall lie against that ruling.
  4. Article 13 shall apply mutatis mutandis to the matters referred to in paragraphs 1–3.
  5. An organization removed from the National Court Register by a final ruling shall be obliged to cease its activities immediately and, no later than within three months from the date on which that ruling becomes final, carry out its liquidation in the manner provided for in its statute.
  6. The provisions of paragraphs 1–5 shall apply accordingly to the federations and confederations referred to in Article 2.

Chapter 5
Transitional and Final Provisions

Article 20. [Registration Prior to the Entry into Force of the Act]

  1. Organizations associating employers under the previously binding provisions may become, after adapting their statutes to the provisions of this Act and fulfilling the requirements laid down therein, employers’ organizations within the meaning of Article 1(2) or Article 2.
  2. Until a nationwide representation of employers is established under the provisions of this Act, but no later than 30 September 1991, the rights and interests of Polish employers in international relations shall be represented by the Confederation of Polish Employers.

Article 21. [Entry into Force of the Act]
This Act shall enter into force upon the expiry of 30 days from the date of its promulgation.