Limitations on the Duration of Economic Activity Control

Abstract

The subject of the study is the analysis of the regulation contained in the Act of 6 March 2018 – Entrepreneurs’ Law (consolidated text, Journal of Laws 2024, item 236, as amended) specifying the permissible duration of the inspection of the entrepreneur’s economic activity by a given inspection authority in one calendar year in terms of doubts arising both in the doctrine and in the practice of applying this regulation regarding, among others, the possibility of relating the adopted regulation to control activities carried out by individual authorities, the method of determining the duration of the inspection in comparison with its permissible duration, the use of numerous exceptions to the adopted principles of conducting inspections, or the assessment of the effects of conducting inspections in violation of these principles. The considerations are based on the proposal to approach control as covering a certain period of time, the legal and factual situation in which the entrepreneur finds himself in connection with the initiation of control over him, which may significantly disrupt his normal functioning, which is the starting point for the interpretation of the provisions that determine the permissible duration of inspections, as well as the formulation of proposals for legislative changes that could contribute to a more effective implementation of the legislator’s goal of limiting the number, intensity and method of conducting economic activity inspections by public authorities.