In today's article from the series "Tuesday Mornings for Construction Professionals," we would like to introduce you to the basic concepts introduced by the so-called Shelter Act, i.e., the Act of December 5, 2024, on Population Protection and Civil Defense (hereinafter "Shelter Act"). The draft act was developed by the Ministry of Interior and Administration, passed by the Sejm, and then signed by the President on December 17, 2024. It entered into force on January 1, 2025, with some provisions taking effect on January 1, 2026.
The Act introduces, among other things, a program for recording, constructing, and maintaining collective protection facilities used for civilian purposes. It implements appropriate safeguards in the event of natural disasters, terrorist acts, or acts of war. In Chapter 9 of the Act, titled "Collective Protection Facilities," the legislator defines terms such as: protective structure, shelter, concealment, and temporary shelter. The meaning of these terms is provided below.
“Protective structure” – a building or part thereof recognised as a protective structure on the basis of: (i) designation by the relevant civil protection authority, (ii) an agreement between the relevant civil protection authority and the owner or manager of the building, or (iii) a decision of the relevant civil protection authority, in accordance with the provisions of the Shelter Act.
The following statuses are distinguished among protective structures:
- "Shelter" a building or part of a building a closed and airtight structure , equipped with filtering and ventilation devices or regenerative absorbers, recognized as a protective structure
- "Concealment" a building or part of a building with a non-hermetic recognized as a protective .
- “Place of temporary shelter” – these are collective protection facilities that are buildings adapted to temporarily shelter people .
Collective protection facilities are to be overseen by so-called "civil protection authorities" – including the mayor (or city president), the district head, the voivode, the minister responsible for internal affairs, the voivodeship marshal, and the minister in charge of a government administration department. Their tasks include planning the number of collective protection facilities in a given area, based on the population density in that area.
"Collective protection facilities" should meet technical and location requirements specified in building regulations. As announced, these requirements will soon be specified in a regulation issued by the Minister of Internal Affairs.
Importantly, recognition as a protective structure may be made both in consultation with the owner or manager of the property by concluding an agreement on recognising the building as a protective structure, as well as without his consent.
In the latter case, recognition of a building as a protective structure is achieved through an administrative decision. The authority issuing such a decision is obligated to consider the provisions of local spatial development plans or development decisions, as well as the interests of the owner or manager of the building affected by the decision. Such a decision may be issued upon request or ex officio, and may be appealed to a second-instance body.
It is worth remembering that in cases where the Shelter Act imposes obligations on owners, in the case of land granted for perpetual usufruct, the obligated person will be the perpetual user of the land.
In the next article, we will focus on the impact of the Shelter Act on the real estate market. The crucial date here will be January 1, 2026, after which all investors will be required to comply with the new regulations and consider the need to locate protective structures or temporary shelters in newly constructed developments.
At the same time, we'd like to apologize for errors that crept into last week's table. We'd like to thank our vigilant readers for pointing them out.
This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute legal advice.
Legal status as of January 13, 2025
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