Prosecution Service Act (Journal of Laws of 2016, section 177)

The main change is the reunification of the Offices of the Minister of Justice and Prosecutor General. In the light of the new law, the prosecution will be entirely supervised by the Ministry of Justice. Furthermore, it widens the competences of the Prosecutor General. For example, the Prosecutor General will be able to appoint or dismiss a head of the prosecution unit on the basis of a discretionary decision without the necessity of carrying out a transparent and open recruitment process. Furthermore, the Prosecutor General will be able to issue decisions regarding specific investigations. The Prosecutor General will also have the power to release to the media the information from any investigation. Prosecutor General does not have obligation to present annual summaries of its work before the Parliament.

Draft Prosecution Service Act (Sejm Paper No. 162 i 163)

  • Opinion
    Opinion of the Helsinski Foundation for Human Rights
    Merging the positions of the Prosecutor General and the Minister of Justice is inappropriate. There are concerns over possible abuse of power. The extended powers of the Prosecutor General, including intervention in criminal cases handled by rank-and-file prosecutors, creates a serious threat to the independence of case prosecutors. The Bill does not offer any effective protection mechanism against supervisor pressure on prosecutors.