Securing conferences, events, ceremonies and other events, including in the context of terrorist threats. A statutory perspective

Abstract

In the current legal status, during the organisation in Poland of conferences, events, ceremonies or other events, significant due to their scale or rank, especially those of international character, security activities are carried out on the basis of general provisions - primarily pragmatic acts of services and other institutions carrying out these activities or episodic acts. Polish legislation, however, has not introduced regulations permanently defining detailed principles of conduct and the subject and object scope of responsibility for the preparation and security of such events, unless they are qualified as mass events. This article is an attempt to provide a comprehensive overview of the specific legal instruments used in the case of securing this type of events. Based on the analysis carried out, de lege ferenda conclusions have been formulated, including the introduction of a new legal institution permanently into the Polish legal order, referred to for the purposes of this article as a ‘special event’. As a result of granting a given event or celebration the status of a special event, it would be possible to apply legal instruments hitherto found only in episodic acts, but which are of significant importance from the perspective of ensuring a security standard adequate to the threat.