Author: Kancelaria

📢 Vienna Life acquires 48.82% of shares in Phinance S.A.! 📊🤝

We are proud to announce that GKW advised individual shareholders and the Management Board of Phinance S.A. on the sale of 48.82% of shares to Vienna Life TU na Życie S.A. Vienna Insurance Group, the fourth largest Life Insurance company in Poland.

Our team included:

• Marek Kempiński – leader/partner
• Michał Szram
• Jan Skoniecki

The transaction was challenging, but thanks to close cooperation with the Management Board and individual shareholders, it was successfully completed. The shared vision of cooperation between Vienna Life, the Management Board, and individual shareholders within Phinance S.A. opens up new opportunities for further development. The finalization of the agreement still requires the approval of the Office of Competition and Consumer Protection.

📣 In October 2024, the Council of Ministers adopted Poland’s Migration Strategy for 2025–2030, declaring its intention to tighten the conditions for access to the domestic labour market. In parallel, the Ministry of Family, Labour and Social Policy is preparing a new Act on the Conditions for Permissible Employment of Foreign Nationals in the Territory of the Republic of Poland, which is theoretically expected to enter into force on 1 January 2025.

📣 KEY ASSUMPTIONS

The Act is intended to replace the provisions of the Act on Employment Promotion governing the rules for entrusting work to foreign nationals, including the issuance of work permits, seasonal work permits, and entrusting work on the basis of declarations.

The principal assumptions of the draft Act include several significant changes:

• mandatory employment contract – foreign nationals may be employed exclusively on the basis of an employment contract, which is intended to eliminate the use of civil law contracts, such as contracts of mandate;
• restrictions on outsourcing – the new regulations aim to limit the possibility of employing foreign nationals within the framework of outsourced services;
• work permit quotas – the Council of Ministers will be authorised to introduce annual quotas for work permits, which may affect the cost of employing foreign nationals;
• digitalisation of procedures – processes related to obtaining work permits and other formalities will be automated and conducted electronically.

The draft also provides for the simplification of certain stages of the procedure for entrusting work to foreign nationals. Undoubtedly, the elimination of the labour market test and the digitalisation of proceedings constitute steps in the right direction. However, the restriction of permissible forms of employment exclusively to employment contracts raises concerns. In other respects, the solutions proposed in the draft are similar to those currently in force under the Act on Employment Promotion.

📣 PLANNED DATE OF ENTRY INTO FORCE

The Act is intended to enter into force on 1 January 2025. Legislative work remains at the ministerial stage, and the draft has not yet been submitted to the Sejm. Once the Act enters into force, ongoing administrative proceedings will continue to be governed by the existing regulations until their conclusion. Furthermore, transitional provisions envisage the application of the new rules to work permits and declarations on entrusting work to a foreign national.

In my assessment, foreign nationals currently employed on the basis of civil law contracts will be able to continue performing work under such contracts until the expiry of work permits issued pursuant to the Act on Employment Promotion.

📣 OUR RECOMMENDATION

The costs borne by employers who engage foreign nationals under civil law contracts will not increase until the expiry of the currently valid work permits. Employers relying on this form of cooperation, or those working with temporary employment agencies, should assess the financial implications and potential viability of employing foreign nationals in the future under employment contracts. It may be advisable to submit applications for work permits before the end of 2024 so that the existing regulations continue to apply.

Legislative work on the draft Act is ongoing. The final shape of the regulation may change at any stage. We continue to monitor the process.

📣 It has been a year since bus and tram drivers in public transportation were granted the protection reserved for public officials. On June 9, 2023, an amendment to the Act on Public Collective Transportation and the Act on Rail Transportation was enacted, aimed at increasing the sense of security among public transportation and railway employees.

📣 The new regulations grant bus and tram drivers the status of public officials while performing their duties, in accordance with the principles set out in the Criminal Code. This means that their physical integrity and personal dignity are now protected by law in a special way. Physical attacks and insults against drivers are prosecuted by public prosecution, which transfers the burden of prosecuting and charging perpetrators to the police and the prosecutor’s office, relieving drivers of the need to pursue their rights on their own.

Are the drivers experiencing any changes?

📣 Initial statistics and analyses show that these changes are already having a positive effect—the number of physical and verbal attacks by passengers or bystanders has decreased significantly. The increased sense of security improves working conditions and boosts the confidence of public transport employees. Their new status enables them to enforce regulations more effectively and respond to emergency situations.

📣 In addition, granting public official status makes the profession of driver more responsible and important to the public. It also builds greater trust among passengers and improves communication and cooperation between drivers and passengers.

📣 Improving safety and working conditions can also help retain current employees and attract new people to the public transport industry.

This is a milestone in raising safety and security standards for public transport workers.

What is going to change?

🌍 Cities with more than 100,000 inhabitants and cities belonging to the Upper Silesian-Zagłębie Metropolitan Area will be required to invest exclusively in zero-emission buses and trolleybuses (electric or hydrogen) for the purpose of providing public transport services. Transport contracts may only be concluded with entities that own such vehicles.

🌍 Local government units with fewer than 50,000 inhabitants will be exempt from the obligation to use electric or gas-powered vehicles to perform public tasks.

Why are these changes so important?

🌍 Data from the year 2022 shows that as many as 24% of the 74 municipalities did not perform any public tasks using a fleet of vehicles at the level required by law, while only 6 entities performed more than 7 public tasks in this way. In addition, it should be noted that 85% of counties and 56% of provinces do not perform any public tasks using a fleet of vehicles at the level required by law. The COVID pandemic and Russia’s aggression against Ukraine have made it difficult for local governments to obtain funds for the development of an eco-friendly fleet.

🌍 The aim of the changes is to reduce CO2 emissions, improve air quality, and improve public health. The new regulations will reduce emissions of PM, nitrogen oxides, and noise pollution, which will improve the health of residents and slow down climate change.

🌍 These measures are a step towards implementing the National Recovery Plan (KPO) adopted by the Council of Ministers in April 2021.

GKW advised Sanofi Group in Poland – one of the leaders in the pharmaceutical market in Poland and worldwide – on merging of Sanofi Aventis and Sanofi Pasteur.

The merging of two Sanofi Group entities marks another step forward in optimizing group’s operations and adopting modern standards of work within Sanofi.