News

Congratulations to the winners of the Second National “Energy Law ” Contest, as well as to all the finalists who participated in the second stage of the competition.

Wawrzynowicz & Partners Law Firm, for the second year in a row, took part in the organization of the competition and, as a supporting partner for the event, also funded the cash prizes for all finalists.

For the Grand Final, 5 winners from the first stage of the competition presented a pre-prepared lecture on a subject related to the competition. After which, the audience had the opportunity to ask questions and comment on the presented speeches. A general knowledge quiz then tested the participants’ knowledge of the field of energy law.

The performances of the participants during the Grand final were assessed by, among others, W&W’s Wojciech Bigaj as a member of the competition’s judges panel. The panel’s other members were Witold Szwagrun – Chief Editor of the CIRE.pl portal, Peter Tsiolkovsky – CMS Poland, Agata Jaskulska – ENEA SA, Dr. Radoslaw Szczerbowski – Poznan University of Technology, Dr. Peter Lisson – Faculty of Law and Administration, Poznan Adam Mickiewicz University, and the judging panel’s chair Professor Krystian Ziemski – Ziemski & Partners Law Firm.

The winners of the first stage of the competition taking part in the Grand Final gave presentations respectively on the following topics:

” Protection measures for energy companies investing in” new infrastructure ” at an international level, and applying for an exemption from the obligation to provide certain services”;
“Can support schemes for energy from renewable sources as provided for in the draft RES Act (Sejm Paper No. 2604) be considered as state aid?”;
“Legal conditions for the operation of nuclear power plants?”;
“Can support schemes for energy from renewable sources as provided for in the draft law on renewable energy sources be considered as state aid?”;
” Supplementary energy as a means of preventing energy exclusion – an attempt to assess the Polish legal solutions in the light of the directives of the European Parliament and Council Directive 2009/72 / EC and 2009/73 / EC.”.

The winner of the contest was Marcin Trupkiewicz of the University of Adam Mickiewicz, Poznan. Second place was taken by Wojciech Szopiński of the University of Adam Mickiewicz, Poznan. 3rd, 4th and 5th places were taken respectively by David Kobiałko (University of Warsaw), Klaudia Slezak (University of Opole) and Matthew Huh (Jagiellonian University).

Photos of the Grand Final and more information about the event organized by the European Association of Law Students in Poznan can be found on the Competition website and on the Competition’s Facebook page.

On the occasion of Easter we offer our best wishes for a healthy, peaceful and family holiday as well as the joys of spring and a lot of success.

The team of Wawrzynowicz and Partners

W&W’s Wojciech Bigaj is the author of an article on gas trading obligations which is published in the edited volume “Legal Conditions of Competition in the Gas Market” (ISBN 978-83-255-6723-1), edited by. B. Popowska, prof. E. Kosinski, Dr. P. Lissoni (Poznan University of Adam Mickiewicz), published by CH Beck 2015.

The article describes the effects of the functioning of the trading obligation on competition in the gas market. It also indicates the origin of these obligations, as well as the legal regulation commitments relating specifically to gas (power generators have been under a public trading obligation since 2010).

The author comprehensively describes the range of subjective and objective obligations, and what scope for exemption from the obligations has been provided for by the legislature (eg. Mandatory reserves). An extensive section in the article is also devoted to discussing the issue of exemption from tariff duties which have resulted from the changes.

The article by W&W’s Wojciech Bigaj on gas trading obligations is published in the edited volume “Legal Conditions of Competition in the Gas Market” (ISBN 978-83-255-6723-1), edited by. B. Popowska, prof. E. Kosinski, Dr. P. Lissoni (Poznan University of Adam Mickiewicz), published by CH Beck 2015.

The edited volume is a summary of the discussions held during the National Scientific Conference -“Competition in the Gas Market. Legal Conditions.”,  which was held on the 3rd and 4th March 2013 in the Faculty of Law of Poznan University of Adam Mickiewicz. The event was under the honorary patronage of the Minister of Economy, the Minister of the Treasury, the Ministry of Justice, the President of the Energy Regulatory Office, the President of the OCCP, and others. Wojciech Bigaj was a speaker at the Conference and presented a paper entitled, “The Small Energy Tripack as an instrument for the liberalization of the gas market.”

We are pleased to announce that W&W’s Tomasz Brzezinski gave a speech entitled. “The new responsibilities of energy companies under the regulations of REMIT” at the “Energy Changes 2015”, conference in Warsaw last week.

W&W has once again had the privilege of providing a speaker at an energy conference organized by Adventure Consulting. The “Energy Changes 2015”, conference is the ninth edition of the annual event where the most important industry representatives and lawyers dealing with energy law gather to discuss the most important changes in the legal and regulatory environments for the energy industry.

A full list of speakers and the conference program can is available on the website – http://www.adventure.pl/energia_2015_program.php.

We strongly encourage you to read the article co-authored by Tomasz Brzezinski, on which his speech was based, on the regulations of REMIT . The article appeared in the collective publication ” Zarządzanie energią i teleinformatyka ZET 2015″ ed. H. Kaproń and is available in the “Publications”section of our website.

Tomasz Brzezinski and Anna Mathews of W&W have co-authored an article on the duties imposed by REMIT on energy companies, which appeared in the collective publication ” Zarządzanie energią i teleinformatyka ZET 2015″ (ISBN 978-83-937928-7-0), edited by Prof. . Assoc. Eng. Henry Kaproń (University of Warsaw).

The main objective of REMIT, which entered into force in 2011, is to increase the integrity and transparency of wholesale energy markets, in the interests of end users, through the fostering of open and fair competition. The main duties introduced by REMIT include the obligation to publically publish internal information, the prohibition of insider trading, and the imposition of non-manipulation in wholesale energy markets. Furthermore, the REMIT Implementing Regulation imposes an obligation to report transactions to the regulatory agency –  ACER, and imposes the obligation to provide basic data on the capacity and use of facilities, as well as the obligation for the registration of market participants in the register maintained by the Energy Regulatory Office (URE).

The entire publication is available to download in our “Publications” section.

The article “Surveying after the Amendment – Concerns and problems associated with the Amendment of the Surveying and Cartographic Act” discusses the changes introduced by the Amendment of 2014. The changes in the system of purchaser’s access to surveying data (licenses instead of civil contracts) are examined, as well as the issues relating to fees and the removal of the distinction between basic fees and operational charges. Also included is how the changes affect the situation of energy companies and deals with the distribution of gaseous fuels or energy. 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 publication, which is available on W&W’s website under the Publications section.

Public procurement is an extremely important part of the activities carried out by many enterprises, including those authorities and economic operators in the energy sector. Frequent amendments to the Public Procurement Act, designed to keep up with trends in the public procurement market, have meant that the regulations governing contracts can be complicated and unintelligible to those subject to their requirements.

Our lawyers in W&W, with years of experience, are able to advise clients in a number of proceedings under the Public Procurement Act through each of the stages of the procurement process, including private contracts. We represent authorities and contractors before the National Board of Appeal and in legal proceedings related to the purchasing process. We have carried out an in-depth analysis of the public procurement process and developed a comprehensive system of internal regulations for companies taking part in said process.

We decided that we would like to share the experience and knowledge we have gained in recent years in the field of procurements, as well as describing the problems and obstacles that we have faced in our day to day business, and this has inspired us to create the Zamówienia.org.pl portal

Zamówienia.org.pl includes a blog dedicated to public procurement topics and is aimed at lawyers, practitioners and anyone interested in procurement. What can be inaccessible and complicated legal institutions are described in a transparent and clear manner. Articles published in the Portal are categorised under the following tabs:

News – where you will find the most important information on changes in the regulations governing public procurement procedures,
Procurement in practice – where published articles about the practical use of the provisions of the Public Procurement Act can be found along with comments on the opinion of the President of the Public Procurement Office
Case law – where you will find summaries and comments on the interesting decisions pertaining to the broad subject of procurement by the contracting authorities within the understanding of Public Procurement Law (judgments, orders, and resolutions of the National Board of Appeal, the Supreme Administrative Court, the Supreme Court and other courts).

We strongly encourage you to read the articles already published on the Portal regarding the main changes introduced by the recent amendments to the Public Procurement Act, which are concerned with abnormally low price offers, wage indexation in long-term contracts, and option rights, among others.

Please visit our Portal: zamowienia.org.pl.

W&W is, for the second year in a row, a supporting partner of the national competition devoted to energy law, as organized by the European Association of Law Students at the University of Adam Mickiewicz, Poznan.

This national competition, held under the patronage of the Polish Energy Regulatory Office and the Ministry of the Economy, is aimed at law students, and graduates in other fields, up to 27 years of age, who are interested in energy law, the power industry and energy policy. Participants interested in taking part in the competition must write an essay, with relevant illustrations, and submit it by the 27th February 2015 to the address given by the organizer. The authors of the five best essays, as assessed by the Scientific Council, will take part in the second stage of the competition. The Grand Final will be held on 27th April 2015 in Poznan.

W&W is providing the prize money for the competition.

More information about the contest can be found on the event website: http://prawozenergia.elsa.org.pl/

The article, “Improving Market Contractors” discusses changes to the introduction of clearer rules on bids involving abnormally low prices, the restrictions on the use of the price criterion in the selection of offers, and the creation, in prescribed circumstances, of joint and several liability and third party contractors, and shared resources.

Above all, the article focuses on an analysis of the new requirements introduced by Art. 142, Paragraph 5 of the PPL on adjustments to the remuneration of contractors in contracts concluded for a period longer than 12 months.

“Improving Market Contractors” is published in the latest issue of the bimonthly publication “Energetyka cieplna i zawodowa” (No. 8/2014). The whole article (Polish language version) can be viewed in the publications section of our website.

In the December 2014 Kosciuszko Institute Report “The development of shale gas in Poland and its prospects in the Czech Republic – analysis and recommendations” (ed. I. Albrycht) W&W’s lawyers present the article “The development of shale gas in Poland and its prospects in the Czech Republic – analysis and recommendations”. The authors, Wojciech Bigaj and Anna Mathews, summarise the most important legal requirements regulating shale gas production in the countries concerned.

The key upstream Polish act, the Geological and Mining Law, has recently been amended and has created more favourable conditions for investors to begin the process of hydrocarbons exploration and production in Poland. In contrast, the Czech authorities have taken action on a moratorium prohibiting hydraulic fracturing. The article describes the basic differences in approach to the regulation of one of the most recent issues for European energy.

The article is available for viewing in the publications section of our website: LINK