AMENDMENT TO POLISH REGULATIONS – EASIER RULES TO FACILITATE THE CULTIVATION OF HEMP AND POPPY SEEDS
May 7, 2022 marked the introduction of the amendment to the Polish Act on Counteracting Drug Addiction. The amendments to the Polish regulations make it possible to cultivate non-fiber hemp, carried out in research institutes, in order to obtain the raw material intended for the preparation of drugs. The act also transfers the obligation to monitor the cultivation of poppy and fibrous hemp from local government authorities to the National Center for Agricultural Support.
The cultivation of hemp and poppy seeds in Poland is a controlled sector. The current legal status contains regulations according to which the producer and the buyer of poppy or hemp annually submitted an application, together with all the documentation, to the relevant authorities (mayors, city presidents) or voivodeship marshals for a decision authorizing the cultivation or purchase of poppy or fiber hemp. The new solutions abolish these requirements. To be able to grow hemp or poppy, one will only need to submit an application to the National Center for Agricultural Support. Additionally, on the basis of the current regulations, the voivodship parliament is responsible for determining the area of poppy and hemp. This solution had a limiting effect on the cultivation area and the development opportunities of the national bioeconomy. The new regulations abolish this obligation. In addition, the catalog of destination and purposes for which poppy or industrial hemp can be used is to be expanded.
The new act transfers the obligation to monitor the cultivation of poppy and fibrous hemp from commune heads (mayors, city presidents) competent for the location of the cultivation to the National Center for Agricultural Support. It is proposed that purchase monitoring should also be carried out by the National Center for Agricultural Support (currently the monitoring of purchase is carried out by marshal offices). Entities that will grow poppy or industrial hemp will be entered in the register kept by the director of the appropriate local branch of the National Center for Agricultural Support. In addition, the act will include a provision obliging the National Center for Agricultural Support to carry out inspections of poppy or hemp producers and buyers, control of information contained in applications and control of poppy and fiber hemp cultivation.
The new regulations stipulate that checks must be performed on at least 10 percent of poppy producers and 10 percent of hemp producers in a given harvest year.
The cultivation of poppy and hemp can be carried out for the following purposes: energy, veterinary, fodder, composite materials, reclamation, beekeeping, fertilizing, as natural plant protection products. In addition, the project proposes that poppy and industrial hemp could also be grown for own needs, scientific and research purposes, and for the cultivation of new varieties of poppy and fiber hemp.
- Publication date: May 11, 2026 Modern medical devices used in plastic surgery and aesthetic medicine now operate within an exceptionally complex regulatory environment. The issue no longer concerns only product safety itself, but above all the boundary between permissible information, advertising, and the legal architecture of digital communication platforms used by manufacturers in the life […]
- Publication date: May 05, 2026 The first act of Polish-British military cooperation, preceding Poland’s accession to the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, was the Agreement on Military Cooperation between the Ministry of National Defence of the Republic of Poland and the Ministry of Defence of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, signed on […]
- Publication date: May 05, 2026 With the development of technology, in the age of digital innovation, increasing emphasis is being placed on the so-called token model, which provides a portion of employee compensation. This model involves companies paying a specific portion of an employee’s earnings in the form of utility tokens, which are digital units […]
- Publication date: April 14, 2026 The Strategic Technologies Platform for Europe (hereinafter referred to as STEP) is a European Union initiative established to, among other things, “ensure the sovereignty and security of the Union, reduce the Union’s strategic dependencies in strategic sectors, and strengthen the Union’s competitiveness by increasing its resilience and productivity.”[1] STEP was […]
- Publication date: April 14, 2026 Concluding international trade agreements is becoming increasingly easier and risk-free. International trade underpins the global economy more than ever before, due to globalization and the increasing unification of legal provisions governing this matter, along with the expansion of international agreements and intergovernmental cooperation. However, international law does not always address […]
- Publication date: April 14, 2026 A letter of credit is a financial instrument. It constitutes a form of domestic or international settlement conducted through a bank. It is a written commitment by the bank to pay a specified amount for documents submitted within a specified timeframe, as specified in the letter of credit. It protects […]
- Publication date: March 25, 2026 Poland has for years represented one of the most restrictive approaches in Europe. That is precisely why the recent judgment of the Court of Justice of the European Union in Commission v Poland, delivered on 19 June 2025 in Case C-200/24, is so important. It does not only affect one […]
- Publication date: March 25, 2026 On March 26, 2026, our law firm, KG Legal Kiełtyka Gładkowski, will participate in the annual Job Fair organized by the Jagiellonian University. The event will take place from 10:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. at the Jagiellonian University Auditorium Maximum at 33 Krupnicza Street. The Jagiellonian University Job Fair is […]
- Publication date: March 25, 2026 On 25 March 2026, the latest edition of the Legal 500 EMEA ranking – one of the most prestigious legal directories worldwide – was officially published. We are pleased to announce that KG Legal Kiełtyka Gładkowski has once again been recognized in the ranking – continuously since 2019 – further […]
- Publication date: March 25, 2026 On 17 March 2026, a conference entitled “Cross-regulatory interplay and cooperation in the EU: a data protection perspective” took place in Brussels (Borschette Center). The event focused on regulatory cooperation in the European Union from a data protection perspective and gathered representatives of EU institutions, regulatory authorities, academia, and practitioners […]
