Abstract
Abstract State authorities have taken a variety of measures aimed at combating the COVID-19 pandemic. One group of those measures constitutes restrictions on the freedom of economic activity. In the paper the author analyses the provisions establishing prohibitions on performing specific economic activities introduced in Poland in the period from 14 March 2020 to 31 May 2021 in order to verify whether they have sufficient legal bases. For that purpose it was necessary to establish the constitutional conditions for introducing restrictions on the freedom of economic activity. Subsequently the author verified what legal bases for the implementation of the restrictions were indicated in the legal acts introducing those restrictions and how those prohibitions have been defined. The main research method used for the purpose of the paper is the dogmatic method of analysing the provisions contained in the legal acts.
Highlights
The detection of the first case of coronavirus SARS-CoV-2 in Poland was reported by the Polish Health Minister during a press conference on 4 March 2020 (The Ministry of Health, 2020)
This paper is devoted to the analysis of one group of measures taken by Polish state authorities in order to combat the COVID-19 pandemic, i.e. the prohibitions on performing specific economic activities implemented from 14 March 2020 to 31 May 2021
Economic activities implemented by the Polish government from 14 March 2020 to 31 May 2021 have sufficient legal bases. Answering this question would not be possible without prior establishing of the constitutional conditions for introducing restrictions on the freedom of economic activity, as well as prior verification of which legal bases for the implementation of the restrictions were indicated in the legal acts introducing those restrictions as well as how those prohibitions have been defined
Summary
The detection of the first case of coronavirus SARS-CoV-2 in Poland was reported by the Polish Health Minister during a press conference on 4 March 2020 (The Ministry of Health, 2020). The main reservations regarding the constitutionality of those prohibitions are related to the fact that the statute fails to independently define the basic elements of restrictions and the authorisations contained in the Articles 46 and 46a of the Act of 5 December 2008 on preventing and combating infections and infectious diseases in humans do not fulfill the requirements stipulated in Article 92 paragraph 1 of the Constitution of the Republic of Poland As it was accurately indicated in the judgment of Provincial Administrative Court in Opole of 27 October 2020 “[w]hen limiting constitutional rights and freedoms under Article 31 paragraph 3 of the Constitution of the Republic of Poland, the completeness and the degree of detail of the statutory regulation must be significantly increased. The view presented in the last judgement raises serious reservations because the sole fact that the prohibitions were substantively justified cannot lead to the conclusion that the manner of their introduction is irrelevant
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