As promised last week, in today's article from the series "Tuesday Mornings for the Construction Industry," we would like to present further planned changes to the Spatial Planning and Development Act (" UPZP "), including one act that has already been submitted for the President's signature and a draft act that is already being processed.
Act of 26 September 2025
The Act was submitted for signature by the President on 29 September 2025. It is of a transitional nature and clarifies the issuance of decisions on development conditions and the location of public purpose investments during the period of implementation of general plans.
First and foremost, it clearly states that issuing a development decision upon application submitted from July 1, 2026, will only be possible if a general development plan . If the investment site lies within the boundaries of multiple municipalities, the general development plan must apply to all of them. This is a key element of the reform: without a general development plan, a municipality will not be able to issue new development decisions .
Secondly, the Act regulates that even after the expiry of the binding study, in matters concerning the location of public purpose investments initiated before the entry into force of the general plan, the existing provisions of Article 54 of the Public Spatial Development Act .
The Act is to enter into force 14 days after its publication in the Journal of Laws.
Further planned changes to the Public Procurement Law
Initially, the bill submitted in July 2025 proposed a single change: granting the municipal council the authority to establish the principles for concluding urban planning agreements when adopting integrated investment plans (IIPs). These principles would be adopted in the form of resolutions constituting local law. However, during the legislative process, the bill was significantly expanded and now includes proposals for a number of additional changes, the most important of which are worth discussing.
To expedite the procedures for adopting general plans, a change to the current procedure has been proposed. Instead of "approval" of the draft general plan, a "review" procedure . The draft specifies the bodies that will be required to issue an opinion. The commune head, mayor, or city president will be required to set a deadline for its submission, no shorter than 21 days from the date of notification .
A new definition of a supplementary investment has also been proposed . It will be: (i) an investment that serves the performance of a municipality's own tasks – e.g., the construction of public roads, utilities, educational, healthcare, care, sports, or green areas; (ii) a commercial or service investment, provided it serves the main investment. This definition is crucial for the application of the provisions on the Integrated Development Plan (ZPI), as it affects the functional and territorial scope of such plans.
Among the more significant changes, it's worth mentioning those related to integrated investment plans . First, the project stipulates that if a supplementary investment is already covered by an existing local plan, it does not need to be included in a new Integrated Investment Plan. Second, the Integrated Investment Plan will be able to address only some of the provisions of the existing local plan , allowing for a more flexible response to investment needs.
In the relationship between the investor and the municipality, the draft introduces the possibility for the investor to sign an agreement with the municipality to cover the costs of the proceedings, . Additionally, the draft includes a new provision in Article 37ed, under which the investor will be able to commit to providing services to a public entity (e.g., a municipality or municipal company), with reference to the principles of public-private partnership.
The aforementioned solution, according to which the municipal council may adopt a resolution specifying the principles for concluding urban planning agreements , varying them depending on the type of investment, has also been retained. This solution aims to enhance the transparency and predictability of cooperation between the investor and the local government.
Among other interesting solutions, a new provision is worth noting, which obliges administrative courts to hear appeals against resolutions on ZPI within two months . A solution would also be introduced to invalidate general plans only in part. This way, the voivode's supervisory decisions would not invalidate the entire adopted general plan, but only selected provisions.
The Act is expected to enter into force 14 days after its publication in the Journal of Laws. On September 25, 2025, the Sejm held its second reading. Amendments were tabled at that time, and the bill was referred to the Deregulation Committee and the Local Government and Regional Policy Committee . The final version of the Act will be announced once these proceedings are completed.
Due to difficulties in agreeing on the above-mentioned draft, on September 30, 2025, a private member's bill amending the Public Spatial Development Plan (UPZP) was submitted to the Sejm. This bill largely incorporates the provisions of the draft currently under consideration. Among the significant differences, I would like to highlight the proposed transitional provisions aimed at streamlining the situation of municipalities that have already begun work on their general plans.
This simplification introduces a presumption that requests for approval submitted before the amendment enters into force will be treated as requests for opinions, and refusals to provide approval will be treated as negative opinions. Administrative and court proceedings pending regarding refusals to provide approval will be dismissed by operation of law.
From the investors' perspective, Article 9 of this bill may be important, as it suspends the running of certain administrative deadlines, including those related to the adoption of general plans and decisions on development conditions, until the end of 2026, and is to start running only from 1 January 2027. This means that the authorities will not be bound by the deadline for issuing development decisions, so the waiting time may be significantly longer, not only for organisational reasons.
Moreover, the government has already announced another amendment to the Spatial Planning and Development Act – draft UD316 ( link to the Chancellery of the Prime Minister ). Adoption of this draft by the Council of Ministers is planned for the fourth quarter of 2025.
In summary , the approaching full implementation date of the spatial planning reform (July 1, 2026) raises many practical uncertainties and challenges with its implementation. Hence, the proposed changes will hopefully facilitate the functioning of municipalities and investors within the new spatial planning system.
This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute legal advice.
Legal status as of October 6, 2025
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