Poland

Basic facts on marine waters

• Territorial Sea (12 nm zone): 8 783 km²
• Exclusive Economic Zone: 19 736 km²

Strategic documents related to MSP

• Polityka morska Rzeczypospolitej Polskiej do roku 2020(z perspektywą do 2030 roku)
• Zintegrowana polityka morska Unii Europejskiej

Technical resources related to MSP

• Maritime administration spatial information system
• Study of conditions of spatial development of Polish sea areas
• BaltSeaPlan Findings
• Transboundary management of transitional waters – Code of conduct and good practice examples
• The overarching strategy of spatial development of Poland
• German-Polish Spatial Planning Portal
• Interministerial Group on Maritime Policy
• MSP of Polish Sea Areas: Maritime spatial plan for the inland maritime waters, territorial sea and exclusive economic zone in 1:200 000 scale [Draft version v3 (08.08.2019)]

Relevant MSP projects

• Pan Baltic Scope
• Baltic SCOPE
• eMSP NBSR
• SEAPLANSPACE
• Pilot maritime spatial plan for the Western part of the Gulf of Gdańsk
• Pilot maritime spatial plan for Pomeranian Bight/Arkona Basin

Current main uses:

The main legal act is “The Act on Sea Areas of Poland and Maritime Administration of March 21st 1991” (Ustawa z dnia 21 marca 1991 r. o obszarach morskich Rzeczypospolitej Polskiej i administracji morskiej) . In order to implement Directive 2014/89/EU, the Polish Parliament has adopted changes on The Act on Sea Areas of Poland and Maritime Administration of March 21st 1991, on 4th September 2015, regarding inter alia, MSP procedure in Poland. Regulations concerning maritime spatial planning are placed in Chapter 9: “Maritime spatial planning in maritime internal waters, territorial sea and exclusive economic zone”. This chapter describes the whole procedure, basis and principles of developing maritime spatial plans in Poland.

A maritime spatial plan is adopted by ordinance by the Council of Ministers. The drafts of the plans are prepared by the territorially competent Directors of Maritime Offices.

The supporting law is “Ministerial ordinance on required scope of MSPs in their textual and graphic parts” (Rozporządzenie Ministra Gospodarki Morskiej i Żeglugi Śródlądowej oraz Ministra Infrastruktury i Budownictwa z dnia 17 maja 2017 r. w sprawie wymaganego zakresu planów zagospodarowania przestrzennego morskich wód wewnętrznych, morza terytorialnego i wyłącznej strefy ekonomicznej) available in Polish at: http://prawo.sejm.gov.pl/isap.nsf/DocDetails.xsp?id=WDU20170001025

The ordinance specifies:

• MSP terminology,
• Scope of the plans and necessary links between different planning regimes (NATURA 2000, terrestrial plans),
• Objects to be planned,
• Textual and graphics requirements

Ministry of Infrastructure

Kamil Rybka – Chief Expert

Last updated: June 2022

Disclaimer: The illustrative map of this national profile does not imply the expression of any opinion whatsoever on the part of UNESCO concerning the legal status of any country, territory, city or area or of its authorities, or concerning the delimitation of its frontiers or boundaries. Links to other sites are provided for information only.