SURVEYING AFTER THE AMENDMENT – CONCERNS AND PROBLEMS ASSOCIATED WITH THE AMENDMENT OF THE SURVEYING AND CARTOGRAPHIC ACT

The Amendment to the Surveying and Cartographic Act partially entered into force in July 2014 with the remainder coming into force on 1st January 2015.

The author analysis the changes to the Act and considers their current legal status: “Before the coming into force of the Amendment, survey data was acquired on the basis of a civil law contract, while the Amendment introduced a type of special license for the buyers to use the data – the buyers became licensees. A requirement for a civil contract was changed to an administration process.”

The provisions governing fees before the Amendment were the provisions of the Regulations of the Minister of Infrastructure of 19 February 2004. On charges for surveying and cartographic activities and information provision, as well as for the commissioning of maps and extracts from land registration records, the Amendment of 2014 eliminated the distinction between basic fees and operational charges. There were also changes to the regulations concerning charges.

The author indicates that the biggest weakness of the Amendment is the lack of transitional provisions. Consequently there are no regulations on how to treat the new rules in relation to civil law contracts concluded under the previous regime. It is also noted that the fees paid prior to the Amendment were under a method of calculation which has changed considerably. Some of the administrators of data – regional councils (starostwo powiatowe)- acting on behalf of the Treasury,  have considered civil contracts null and void from the date of entry into force of the Amendment, although the Amendment itself does not give any basis for this policy. Also, the Amendment does not provide for the updating of data and therefore the buyer is not able to receive updates as guaranteed in the their contract. As pointed out by the author – “At the moment, the local authority district offices are refusing to update the data on the basis of agreements for access to data and they are initiating administrative legal proceedings.”

The article discusses the legal gap created because of the absence of transitional provisions in the amended Act, taking into account, in the author’s opinion, the position of the Chief Surveyor, amongst others.

The article ” Surveying after the Amendment – Concerns and problems associated with the Amendment of the Surveying and Cartographic Act ” was published in the latest issue of the bimonthly ” Energetyka cieplna i zawodowa ” (No. 1/2015). We invite you to familiarize yourself with the contents of the article, which is available on our website in PDF form.