Currently there are 380 regulated professions in Poland, a record number in the EU – for comparison: Germany 152, France 150, Italy 148, Lithuania 67 Latvia 50, Estonia 47. The Polish Ministry of Justice came up with the idea of deregulating many professions in mid-February 2012. As a result, access to many professions would either be completely liberated or significantly facilitated. There are real estate related professions among the 49 shortlisted; (i) real estate agents, (ii) property managers, and (iii) some geodesists. According to the ministry, the change should contribute to (i) an increase in the employment rate, especially among young people entering the labour market, (ii) a decrease in prices and an increase in the quality of service offered by deregulated professions, (iii) curbing bureaucracy, and (iv) a decrease in the costs of employing services of deregulated professions, which are vital for small and medium enterprises.
Real estate agents
Currently, persons who would like to work as real estate agents need to comply with many requirements. They need to (i) complete undergraduate studies, (ii) complete specialist postgraduate studies, (iii) complete an apprenticeship of at least 200 working hours lasting 6 months, (iv) obtain a license granted on the basis of educational and apprenticeship criteria, (v) have full legal capacity, (vi) have a clean criminal record with regard to some offences, and (vii) take out civil liability insurance. To compare, this profession is not regulated e.g. in the Czech Republic, Germany, UK, Lithuania, or Spain at all. The ministry has indicated, for instance, that the obligatory apprenticeship is actually a fulltime job, where the apprentices actually pay a licensed agent for the alleged training instead of being remunerated for their work. Therefore, the ministry is proposing to limit those requirements just to (i) having full legal capacity, having a clean criminal record with regard to some offences, and (iii) taking out civil liability insurance. It is also proposing to rescind the professional liability of agents towards the professional responsibility commission in favour of just civil liability towards clients. Real estate agents would still need to register and would be obliged to provide clients with their civil liability insurance IDs.
Property managers
Currently, persons who would like to work as property managers are subjected to exactly the same level of scrutiny as candidates for real estate agents – except the subject of studies and of apprenticeship differs. This profession is not regulated in the Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, Ireland, Italy, Lithuania – in Hungary even civil liability insurance is not obligatory. Therefore, the ministry is proposing to limit the requirements to the same extent as in case of real estate agents.
Geodesists
Currently, persons who would like to perform any geodetic profession – currently there are 7 – need to (i) pass a state exam, (ii) complete either academic geodetic studies or higher secondary geodetically-profiled school, (iii) complete respectively a 3- or 6-year apprenticeship, (iv) have full legal capacity, and (v) have a clean criminal record with regard to some offences. The ministry is proposing that in case of 3 specialisations the requirements should limited to just (i) education, (ii) full legal capacity, and (iii) clean criminal record. Those are (i) basic geodetic surveying, (ii) map editing, and (iii) photogrammetry and teledetection. Geodesists performing the liberalised professions would still need to register.
Legislative works
The formal legislative proposal with regard to the first 49 professions was revealed on 6 March 2012. It will go through public hearings, further government consultations and legislative procedure in parliament. However, given the determination of the government and no resistance from the parliamentary opposition the proposal is very likely to be adopted as prepared by the ministry of justice.
This article was written for Law-Now, CMS Cameron McKenna's free online information service. To register for Law-Now, please go to www.law-now.com/law-now/mondaq
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The original publication date for this article was 29/03/2012.
