What’s new in environmental law?
A lot has happened in the area of environmental law in Poland in the past few months. We have learned the levels of environmental fees for 2026 and the rates for fines for emission of excess noise for 2026. Proposals have been released for a new Act on Packaging and Waste Packaging and an amendment of the provisions on the operations of the Inspectorate for Environmental Protection. And work is now complete at the EU level on provisions for reducing food waste and for handling textile waste.
Fee schedule for 2026
In the Polish legal system, the environment cannot be exploited free of charge. There are, for example, fees for releasing gases and particles into the air. The maximum rate in this respect is set in Art. 290(1)(1) of the Environmental Protection Law, while the specific rates for these fees are set by an executive regulation of the Council of Ministers.
The rules for fee increases, in turn, are governed by Art. 291(1) of the law, which provides that the rates for the fees imposed by Art. 290(1) and set under Art. 290(2) for the prior year are subject to an increase as of the 1st of January of each year, corresponding to the overall average annual index of consumer goods and services announced by the president of Statistics Poland in the official journal Monitor Polski.
In practice, the rates are derived from an annual decree by the minister for climate matters (currently this is the Minister of Climate and Environment). The decree sets the fee rates for the next year, and should be published in the official journal no later than 31 October of the preceding year. The rates for 2026 are stated in the decree of the Minister of Climate and Environment of 6 August 2025.
These regulations governing the fees for exploitation of the environment also apply as relevant to the rates for fines for exceeding permissible noise levels (Art. 312 of the Environmental Protection Law). The rates for these fines for 2026 are stated in the decree of the Minister of Climate and Environment of 19 September 2025.
New packaging act
At the beginning of June 2025, the outline for a new Act on Packaging and Packaging Waste was presented in the list of legislative and policy work of the Council of Ministers. A complete draft of the new act was published on 13 August 2025. The work is currently at the consultation stage. This means that the bill could still change, and later will have to be passed by the parliament and signed by the President.
The aim of the new act is to implement EU regulations (primarily the Packaging and Packaging Waste Regulation (PPWR), which we reported on here when it was drafted and again when it was adopted)—particularly the system of extended producer responsibility (EPR). The proposed changes are essential, as they call for replacing the existing model, which is based on numerous packaging recycling organisations, with the National Fund for Environmental Protection and Water Management (NFOŚiGW), which will be the operator of the system responsible for handling the funds raised from packaging fees. The packaging fee itself will be designed to achieve the requirements of “eco-modulation”—the more ecological the packaging is, the lower the fee will be.
However, in the debate over the bill, many stakeholders have claimed that the proposed solutions raise doubts over their consistency with the Polish Constitution and the requirements of EU law. We will discuss these issues more extensively in separate articles.
Improving the operations of the Inspectorate for Environmental Protection
In late July this year the Council of Ministers published in its list of legislative and policy work the framework for an Act Amending Certain Acts to Improve the Operation of the Inspectorate for Environmental Protection. The plan is to introduce a range of deregulatory solutions.
The key changes include:
- Making the involvement of the province environmental inspector optional, rather than mandatory, in proceedings for issuance of waste collection licences, waste processing licences, and permits for generation of waste including collection or processing of waste
- Allowing tacit resolution of proceedings based on Art. 41a(3) of the Waste Act (oversight of waste processing installations and waste storage facilities)
- Unifying the definition of “accredited laboratory” in the Environmental Protection Law and the Water Law
- Introduction of a new cap on the combined amount of administrative fines for violation of waste regulations—currently it is PLN 150,000.
The bill is expected to be adopted by the Council of Ministers in the fourth quarter of 2025, and then will need to be passed by the parliament and signed by the President.
Amendment of the Waste Directive
The amendment of the Waste Framework Directive (Directive 2008/98/EC on waste) introduced by Directive (EU) 2025/1892 of 10 September 2025 will have a major impact on the food and textile industries. The amendment has been enacted but has not yet entered into force. Poland will have until 17 June 2027 to implement the directive into national law.
Under the new directive, binding targets have been established for reduction of food waste at the national level. By 31 December 2030, member states will have to cut the generation of food waste at the national level by:
- 10% in the food processing and manufacturing industry, and
- 30% per capita jointly in retail and other distribution of food, in restaurants and food services and in households.
The point of reference for achieving these targets will be the quantity of food waste generated as an annual national average between 2021 and 2023.
Meanwhile, extended producer responsibility is the EU’s legislative response to the growing quantities of textile waste. In practice this means that textile manufacturers will be required to cover the costs of collection, sorting and recycling of wastes generated from the products they introduce onto the EU market. Whether the producer operates in EU territory will be irrelevant—what counts is that they make their textile products available on the EU market. Micro-enterprises will have an extra year to achieve compliance with the new regulations.
We will discuss the new obligations under the amended Waste Framework Directive in separate articles.
Summary
Due to the numerous requirements of environmental law, compliance in this area is crucial for businesses to avoid administrative sanctions (such as shutdown orders and fines) as well as criminal ones (e.g. fines, arrest or even imprisonment).
Environmental law is one of the most dynamic legal fields. Many laws are in the works in the EU legislative process in connection with achievement of the targets of the European Green Deal. Others are being drafted by national lawmakers. To avoid negative consequences, it is necessary to track these legal changes so that business operations can be adapted to meet the new obligations.
Karol Maćkowiak, Environment practice, Wardyński & Partners
