RESTRICTED
WORLD TRADE S/NGMTS/W/2/Add.10
31January 1995
ORGANIZATION(95-0210)
Negotiating Group onMaritime Transport Services Original: English
COMMUNICATION FROM POLAND
Response toQuestionnaire onMaritime Transport Services
ThefollowingcommunicationiscirculatedattherequestofPolandtoMembersoftheNegotiating
Group onMaritime Transport Services.
_______________
I. Market structure
Vessels
1. Year-end 1993
STRUCTURE OFNATIONALLY-OWNED OROPERATED FLEET
Types ofvessels1Number ofvessels Deadweight tonnage
National flag2Foreign flag National flag2Foreign flag
Oiltankers 5 176,252
Liquified gascarriers
Chemical tankers
Combination carriers
Ore/bulk carriers 89 2,657,657
General cargo } 80 748,432
Container ships }
Refrigerated carriers
Specialized cargo
Ro-ro
Ferries andpassenger 10 18,684
Other 11 25,539
Allvessels 195 3,626,564
1Vessels of1,000 grtandabove, excluding fishing andother non-commercial vessels.
2Where applicable, separate datashould beprovided onvessels andtonnage registered under second orinternational registers.S/NGMTS/W/2/Add.10
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Trade
2.and3. Year-end 1993
Quantity
(tons)Value
000,000 zloty '000dollars
Allexports 59,615,015 257,568,384 14,143,101
Export bysea 25,822,287 47,520,935 2,607,522
%share 43% 18% 18%
Allimports 46,104,722 340,183,139 18,834,447
Import bysea 14,074,990 42,199,212 2,354,923
%share 30.5% 12.5% 12.5%
4. Novalue dataavailable.
Interms ofquantity: 20percent.
5. Novalue dataavailable.
Interms ofquantity: 57percent.
Organization ofcargo
6. Novalue dataavailable.
Quantity oftotalinternational tradecarried bylinershipping is:6,508,000 tons, bydrybulk
shipping: 16,554,000, byliquid bulkshipping: 807tons.
7. Nosuchdataavailable.
8. Notapplicable. Poland isnotaParty totheUnited Nations Convention ontheCode ofConduct
forLiner Conferences.
9. Nosuchdataavailable.
Bilateral agreements concluded byPoland donotcontain cargo reservation clauses.
10. Novalue dataavailable.
Interms ofquantity: 34percent.
11. Nosuchdataavailable.
Ports andauxiliary services
12. Total national porttraffic forinternational cargoes: 50,495,000 tons. Share which is
containerized: 2percent.
13. Maritime Agency andFreight Forwarding Services.S/NGMTS/W/2/Add.10
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14. Foreign suppliers arepresent intheinland movement bytruck (road transport).
General observations
Thechanges taking place inthePolish economic system andwhich areaimed atthetransition
towards amarket economy started on1January 1990. Themostimportant lawsadopted inthepast
fiveyears havedealtwith: state-owned enterprises, theirfinancial accountability, privatization ofstate-
owned enterprises, including trade, jointventures withforeign participation andanti-monopoly law.
Asaresult thecentrally-planned andadministered system inwhich theshipping industry inPoland
operated hasalready been considerably altered. On1January 1990 foreign exchange rules were
liberalizedandsincethenthePolishcurrencyisconvertibleintoforeigncurrenciesontheinternalmarket.
There arenorestrictions inthetransfer offoreign exchange abroad inbusiness transactions.
TheState monopoly onforeign trade wasabolished. Incertain trades, forexample alcohol,
tobacco, licensing isrequired. Anyproperly registered company maynowengage inforeign trade.
Asafirststepinmany cases, state-owned enterprises aretransformed intojoint-stock companies
(commercialization). Thiswaytheybecome independent fromthecentral administration interms of
operational activities andtherepresentatives ofthestateperform onlystockholding functions.
II. Regulatory structure
1. TheMinistry ofTransport andMaritime Economy, Maritime Authorities (Gdan´sk,Szczecin),
Harbour Authorities (Gdan´sk,Gdynia, Koobrzeg, Szczecin, Swinoujs ´cie).
2-7. Regulatory measures oftheState areformulated inthePolish Maritime Code; theyreferto
bulkandlinershipping.
Market access
8. No.
Legislative andadministrative restrictions withregard totheaccess tothenational shipping
market donotexist. Since theliberalization ofthemoney market andforeign exchange in1990, Polish
shippers haveafreechoice ofcarriers, national orforeign, intheirshipments. Thetransport ofPolish
foreign trade maybetherefore carried outinacompetitive environment.
9. Anewlawonjointventures entered intoforce in1991. Itsimplifies theprocedure andenables
theentrance andactivity offoreign companies inthePolish market. Foreign persons andcompanies
mayparticipate injointstock companies incorporated inPoland inallsectors oftheeconomy. For
certain activities permission isrequired; thisisthecaseforseaportmanagement.
10. Onlylimitexists insea-ports, where apermission isrequired (thecondition toestablish ajoint
venture company isthepermission oftheMinistry ofPrivatization iftheactivity oftheenterprise
concerns among others themanagement ofsea-ports).
11. According tothePolish Maritime Code, Article 14,aPolish vessel isavessel which isowned
by:
(1) Abody corporate having itsseatinPoland;
(2) TheState Treasury;S/NGMTS/W/2/Add.10
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(3) APolish citizen resident inPoland.
APolish vessel isalsoavessel which isowned atleastasto50percentbybodies orpersons
mentioned above provided thatheroperator isresident orhastheseatofhisheadoffice orabranch
office inPoland.
According toArticle 15,aPolish vessel isbound toflythePolish flag. Also, Article 17says
thataPolish vessel issubject totheobligation ofbeing entered inthePolish register offships. The
register ofships iskeptbythemarine chamber which iscompetent tothevessel 'shome port.
National treatment
12. Such measures donotexist.
Access toanduseofportfacilities
13-15. Theservices mentioned areavailable totheusers atthePolish portsexcept collection ofgarbage
andwaste disposal which areavailable onlyinsome ports.
Thisproblem isdiscussed byIMO andHelsinki Commission (bytheexecutive organ of
Convention ontheProtection oftheMarine Environment oftheBaltic SeaArea). Theaction isbeing
taken toaccelerate theimplementation ofruleswhich concern garbage collection andsewage system.
16-18. Services inPolish ports areoffered toforeign andnational users onnon-discriminatory basis.
19. Tobeadvised.
Most-favoured-nation treatment
20-21. There arenomeasures which could provide cargo-sharing withparticular countries, including
bilateral agreement.
22. Poland isnotaParty totheCode ofConduct forLiner Conferences.
23-24. There arenosuchmeasures.
25. Poland mayretaliate inacaseoftaxonfreight incomes imposed byaforeign partner.
26. Notapplicable.
Government procurement
27-28. Tobeadvised.
Only recently aLawwaspassed byParliament onGovernment procurement, which doesnot
contain however provisions onmaritime transport.
Competition Law
29. There aretwocompetition andantitrust lawspassed byParliament inPoland:
- Anti-monopoly Law(24February 1990);S/NGMTS/W/2/Add.10
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- LawonCombating Unfair Competition (16April 1993).
Thelastoneprovides (Article 15)thatprices aimed atthemaintenance ofthedominant position
areforbidden.
Shipping conferences
30. ThePolish Government isnotinvolved inmatters concerning shipping conferences, aslong
astheydonotperform monopoly functions.
31. There isnorequirement tofileconference agreements inPoland.
32. There isnorequirement tofiletariffs applied byconferences inPoland.
33-34. Notapplicable.
Shipper/carrier relations
35-36. Relationship between shippers andcarriers inPoland isbased onordinary commercial law
(Commercial Code) andhabitual practices.
Recommendations regarding theapplication ofpractices inthemaritime traffic areformulated
bythePolish Economic Chamber (formerly Polish Chamber ofForeign Trade). There isnoshipper
councils inPoland.