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The Phase 2 Report on Poland by the OECD Working Group on Bribery evaluates and makes recommendations on Poland’s implementation of the Convention on Combating Bribery of Foreign Public Officials in International Business Transactions and related instruments. While the issue of domestic corruption is at the centre of public attention in Poland, awareness of the offence of bribery of foreign public officials is generally low among both the public and private sector. Poland should work to raise awareness of foreign bribery in both the public administration and the private sector. 

To date, no cases of foreign bribery have been brought before Polish courts, nor have there been any investigations. Therefore, a more proactive approach in detecting, investigating and prosecuting cases of foreign bribery is recommended by the Working Group. The Working Group finds that the Law on Collective Entities contains prerequisites for the establishment of corporate liability for foreign bribery that may be obstacles to pursuing legal persons, e.g. a requirement that an individual be convicted before proceeding against a legal person. The Working Group recommends amendment of the law to eliminate this requirement and welcomed Poland’s declaration to undertake legislative steps, to address this issue.

With respect to the non-tax deductibility of bribes, the Working Group recommends that Poland amend its legislation to clearly confirm that bribes are not tax deductible. The report also highlights concerns about an ‘impunity’ provision in the Polish Penal Code which allows a perpetrator of the foreign bribery offence, subject to certain conditions, to automatically escape punishment by notifying the authorities of the offence. It is recommended that the provision be reviewed to exclude its application to the foreign bribery offence, or significantly limit its scope by imposing further conditions for its application, or in some other appropriate way ensure that the law does not contravene the Convention. Poland should consider strengthening safeguards to ensure that prosecutorial decisions cannot be affected by those considerations set out in Article 5 of the Convention, in order to prevent potential risks of undue influence that may arise from the dual role of the Prosecutor General and Minister of Justice.

The Working Group also highlights positive aspects of Poland’s work to fight foreign bribery. In this regard, it has developed a flexible and responsive system for dealing with mutual legal assistance matters. Poland is strengthening its investigative capacities to combat foreign bribery and other major crimes by creating a new structure of organised crime units within the prosecution authority. The Working Group also found that the Polish export credit institution is actively developing and strengthening its procedures to deter and detect foreign bribery. Similarly, authorities’ ongoing efforts and close co-operation to fine tune the anti-money laundering reporting system provide a good foundation for the detection of the laundering of funds related to foreign bribery. Another promising development has been the creation of several specialised anti-corruption police units in 2004.

The report and the recommendations therein, which reflect findings of experts from Turkey and the United Kingdom, were adopted by the OECD Working Group. Within one year of the Group’s approval of the report, Poland will make an oral follow-up report on its implementation of the recommendations, and will submit a written report within two years. The report is based on the laws, regulations and other materials supplied by Poland, and information obtained by the evaluation team during its five-day on-site visit to Warsaw in May 2006, during which the team met with representatives of the Polish public administration, the private sector, civil society and the media.