Instruments of international law binding on Poland

Article 87(1) of the Constitution of the Republic of Poland mentions among the sources of universally binding law, inter alia, ratified international conventions/agreements. These conventions/agreements form a part of the domestic legal order and have precedence over national laws in the event of a potential collision with these laws, if they have been ratified upon consent expressed in the Act of Parliament (Article 91(1) and (2) of the Constitution of the Republic of Poland).
Since 1 May 2004, i.e. from the moment of Poland’s accession to the European Union, the EU legal acts, and first of all treaties, regulations and directives, have become national legal standards. Pursuant to Article 91(3) of the Constitution of the Republic of Poland they have precedence over the national legislation if the latter governs a given issue in a different way than the EU legislation.
Provisions of EU treaties and regulations become ipso jure a part of the legal order of the Member States, including Poland. Regulations are directly applicable without the need for ratification. Directives, on the other hand, should be transposed into national law over a period of one to three years.
Nationals of the Member States of the European Union (EU) or the European Free Trade Association (EFTA) may move freely within these communities and take up employment in their Member States. An individual who has lived and worked in several EU or EFTA countries has been covered by several different national social security systems.

Issues related to being covered by several different national social security systems in EU or EFTA Member States are regulated by the social security coordination, which is based on the following principles:

• equal treatment,
• free movement of persons,
• unity of applicable legislation,
• retention of acquired rights,
• aggregation of periods.

The principle of equality of treatment guarantees nationals of EU or EFTA Member States working in other Member States of those communities the same rights to benefits as nationals have; it also imposes on them the same obligations to which nationals of the country in which they work are subject. This principle excludes any discrimination in granting the right to benefits on the basis of nationality.
The principle of free movement of persons allows citizens of EU or EFTA Member States to move freely within these communities for the purpose of work or business. Such a person is subject to social insurance in his or her country of employment or self-employment; he or she is also entitled to the same social insurance benefits as nationals of that country.
The principle of unity of the applicable legislation means that a person who takes up employment or runs business in another EU or EFTA Member State is subject to social insurance in one state only, i.e. the one where he or she performs work.
The principle of acquired rights retention guarantees that the rights to social insurance benefits are retained when moving to another EU or EFTA Member State.
The principle of aggregation of insurance periods allows to take into account periods of insurance in another EU or EFTA Member State when determining entitlement to social security benefits. This principle applies in situations where the insured person does not have a sufficiently long period of insurance or residence in one country.
Issues related to social security coverage in different states and the rights to benefits under different systems are regulated in detail by the European Union legislation.

Legal acts of the European Union regulate the coordination of the following social security benefits:

• old-age pensions and pre-retirement benefits,
• disability pensions,
• sickness and maternity benefits,
• family benefits,
• health benefits,
• unemployment benefits,
• death-related benefits.

The basic EU legal acts in the social security sphere include the European Union treaties and the following instruments issued on their basis:

• Regulation (EC) No. 883/2004 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 29 April 2004 on the coordination of social security systems,
• Regulation (EC) No. 987/2009 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 16 September 2009 laying down the procedure for implementing Regulation (EC) No. 883/2004 on the coordination of social security systems,
• Regulation (EU) No. 1231/2010 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 24 November 2010 extending Regulation (EC) No 883/2004 and Regulation (EC) No. 987/2009 to nationals of third countries who are not already covered by these Regulations solely on the ground of their nationality,
• Council Directive (EEC) No. 7/79 of 19 December 1978 on the progressive implementation of the principle of equal treatment for men and women in matters of social security,
• Directive 24/2011/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council of 9 March 2011 on the application of patients’ rights in cross-border healthcare.

Besides, the following regulations still remain in force:

• Regulation (EEC) No. 1408/71 of the Council of 14 June 1971 on the application of social security schemes to employed persons and their families moving within the Community,
• Regulation (EEC) No. 574/72 of the Council of 21 March 1972 fixing the procedure for implementing Regulation (EEC) No. 1408/71 on the application of social security schemes to employed persons and their families moving within the Community.

They allow for:

• implementation of Council Regulation (EC) No. 859/2003 of 14 May 2003 extending the provisions of Regulation (EEC) No. 1408/71 and Regulation (EEC) No. 574/72 to nationals of third countries who are not already covered by those provisions solely on the ground of their nationality – provisions of this Regulation apply solely to nationals of third countries who are legally resident in the territory of the United Kingdom or to nationals of third countries who have completed insurance periods in the United Kingdom and are resident in the territory of other Member State;
• determination of the applicable legislation for a period prior to the date of entry into force of Regulations (EC) No. 883/2004 and No. 987/2009, namely 1 May 2010.

Besides, as a result of the withdrawal of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland from the European Union, in relations between the Member States of the European Union (including Poland) and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland the following apply:

• Agreement on the withdrawal of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland from the European Union and the European Atomic Energy Community (the agreement entered into force on 1 February 2020),
• Agreement on Trade and Cooperation between the European Union and the European Atomic Energy Community, of the one part, and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, of the other part (the agreement is effective from 1 January 2021).

Since Poland’s accession to the European Union, the EU Regulations on the coordination of the social security systems have superseded bilateral international conventions/agreements on social security that had earlier bound Poland with the Member States. However, some specific regulations of the agreements between Poland and Austria and between Poland and Germany, beneficial to Polish citizens, still apply:

• Article 33(3) of the Convention between the Republic of Poland and the Republic of Austria on social security, made in Warsaw on 7 September 1998 (reckoning insurance periods completed before 27 November 1961); application of this provision is limited to persons covered by this convention,
• Agreement between the Polish People’s Republic and the Federal Republic of Germany on old-age pensions and accident insurance, signed in Warsaw on 9 October 1975, within the scope covered by Article 27 (2)–(4) of the Agreement of 8 December 1990 between the Republic of Poland and the Federal Republic of Germany on social security (maintenance – based on the Agreement of 1975 – of a legal status for persons who have been residents of Germany or Poland before 1 January 1991 and who still reside there),
• Article 27(5) and Article 28(2) of the Agreement between the Polish People’s Republic and the Federal Republic of Germany on social security made in Warsaw on 8 December 1990 (maintenance of pension rights paid out pursuant to the Agreement of 1957 concluded between Poland and the former German Democratic Republic; reckoning insurance periods completed by Polish employees pursuant to the Agreement of 1988 concluded between the former German Democratic Republic and Poland),
• Agreement between the Republic of Poland and the Republic of Germany on export of specific benefits for entitled persons who reside in the territory of the Republic of Poland, signed in Warsaw on 5 December 2014; it concerns persons persecuted by the National Socialist regime and members of their families who, due to their place of residence in the territory of the Republic of Poland, have not received benefits for periods of employment in a ghetto under German pension regulations (the agreement entered into force on 1 June 2015).

Poland is bound by the following bilateral social security agreements with non-EU countries:

• Agreement of 16 January 1958 between the Government of the Polish People’s Republic and the Government of the Federal People’s Republic of Yugoslavia on social insurance (the agreement is effective with regard to Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro and Serbia),
• Agreement between the Republic of Poland and the Republic of Macedonia on social insurance, signed in Warsaw on 6 April 2006, and the Administrative Arrangement for the implementation of the Agreement, signed on 27 June 2007 (the Agreement is effective from 1 July 2007),
• Agreement on social security between the Republic of Poland and the United States of America, signed in Warsaw on 2 April 2008, and Administrative Arrangement on its application, signed on the same day (the agreement is effective from 1 March 2009),
• Agreement on social security between the Republic of Poland and Canada signed in Warsaw on 2 April 2008, and the Administrative Arrangement on its application, signed in Warsaw on the same day (the agreement is effective from 1 October 2009),
• Agreement on social security between the Republic of Poland and the Republic of Korea [South Korea], signed in Warsaw on 25 February 2009, and the Administrative Arrangement for the implementation of the Agreement, signed in Warsaw on the same day (the agreement is effective from 1 March 2010),
• Agreement between the Republic of Poland and Australia on social security, signed in Warsaw on 7 October 2009, and the Administrative Arrangement for the implementation of the Agreement, signed on the same day (the agreement is effective from 1 October 2010),
• Agreement between the Republic of Poland and Ukraine on social security, signed in Warsaw on 18 May 2012, and the Administrative Arrangement for the implementation of the Agreement, signed on the same day (the agreement is effective from 1 January 2014),
• Agreement between the Republic of Poland and the Republic of Moldova on social insurance, signed in Warsaw on 9 September 2013, and the Administrative Arrangement for the implementation of the Agreement, signed on the same day (the agreement is effective from 1 December 2014),
• Agreement on social security between the Government of the Republic of Poland and the Government of Quebec [Province of Canada], signed in Quebec on 3 June 2015, and the Administrative Arrangement for the implementation of the Agreement, signed on the same day (the agreement is effective from 1 September 2018),
• Agreement between the Republic of Poland and the Republic of Mongolia on social security, signed in Warsaw on 24 January 2018, and the Administrative Arrangement for the implementation of the Agreement, signed on the same day (the agreement entered into force on 1 July 2019),
• Agreement between the Republic of Poland and the State of Israel on social security, signed in Warsaw on 22 November 2016, and the Administrative Arrangement for the implementation of the Agreement, signed on the same day (the agreement entered into force on 1 May 2021),
• Agreement between the Republic of Poland and the Republic of Turkey on social security, signed in Warsaw on 17 October 2017, and the Administrative Arrangement for the implementation of the Agreement, signed on the same day (the agreement entered into force on 1 June 2021),
• Agreement between the Republic of Poland and the Republic of Belarus on social security, signed in Warsaw on 13 February 2019, and the Administrative Arrangement for the implementation of the Agreement, signed on 2 June 2020 (the agreement entered into force on 1 April 2022),

Poland is also bound by the recommendations of the International Labour Organisation, the provisions of the European Social Charter and international conventions. One of the most important is the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities that was ratified by Poland on 6 September 2012 and entered into force on 25 October 2012.