- Office of Electronic Communications

New Responsibilities for the UKE President in the DSA Oversight System

The UKE President will assume additional responsibilities related to the application and enforcement of DSA regulations. At yesterday’s sitting, the Sejm adopted the Senate’s amendments to the bill Amending the Act on the Provision of Electronic Services and certain other laws. The bill sets forth the rules and procedures for issuing orders to take action against illegal content on the internet, as well as orders to remove restrictions imposed by hosting service providers. In the next step, the bill will be submitted to the President of the Republic of Poland.

The new regulations establish a procedure for the President of UKE to review requests concerning illegal content published on the internet and restrictions imposed by hosting service providers. They also define the powers of the competent authorities and the rules for conducting proceedings in such cases.

New Rules for Responding to Illegal Content

An order to block access to specific illegal content may apply only to the categories of illegal content specified in the Act. The new provisions thus define the scope of content to which the President of UKE may apply this mechanism.

Entities specified in the Act—including, among others, the public prosecutor, the police, the National Revenue Administration, entities entitled under copyright or related rights, and service recipients—will be able to file a motion for an order to block access to specific content.

The Act specifies the requirements for applications, the rules governing the proceedings, the deadlines for their consideration, and the participation of intermediary service providers and service users in the proceedings.

Removal of Restrictions Imposed by a Hosting Provider

The new regulations also provide for the possibility for a service user to petition the President of UKE to issue an order to remove a restriction imposed by a hosting service provider, including one involving the removal of content or the restriction of access to it.

This mechanism may be used if the content is not illegal and the restriction imposed constitutes an excessive interference with freedom of expression or was imposed as a result of a clear error on the part of the provider.

The Act sets forth the rules for conducting proceedings in such cases and the participation of the parties involved. An appeal against the decision may be filed with a general court.

Powers of the President of UKE and the Chair of KRRiT

As a general rule, the President of UKE will be the competent authority for reviewing complaints regarding illegal content. In the case of content appearing on video-sharing platforms, the Chair of the National Broadcasting Council will have jurisdiction.

The Act thus defines the division of powers between the authorities responsible for conducting proceedings and issuing orders regarding illegal content.

Register of Domains Used to Disseminate Illegal Content

Another new responsibility of the UKE President will be to maintain a register of Internet domains used to disseminate illegal content.

In cases specified by law, the entry of a domain into the registry will entail an obligation for telecommunications providers offering Internet access services to block access to websites using that domain.

Telecommunications providers will be required to block access to such websites within 48 hours of the entry being made and to redirect users to the UKE President’s website containing information about the entry. If a domain is removed from the registry, access to the websites will be restored within 48 hours.

Amendments Adopted in the Final Stage of Parliamentary Proceedings

The Senate’s amendments, adopted by the Sejm, provide, among other things, for shorter deadlines for the submission of evidence in proceedings concerning the most serious crimes, in which decisions are subject to immediate enforceability. Internet platform providers will be required to submit evidence within 24 hours instead of the current 14 days. For content creators, this deadline will be shortened from two days to 24 hours.

The list of crimes for which decisions to block access to illegal content will be subject to immediate enforcement has also been expanded.

Next step—the bill will be sent to the President of the Republic of Poland

The Sejm’s adoption of the Senate’s amendments concluded the parliamentary stage of work on the bill. The next step will be to submit the bill to the President of the Republic of Poland.

As a result of the adopted amendments, the vacatio legis period has also been shortened. The bill is set to take effect three months after its promulgation, instead of the originally planned six months.