Poland 2.3
Aug 19

Poland 2.3

  • August 19, 2019

The right to protect the intellectual and material benefits accruing from scientific, literary and artistic production is guaranteed by the Act of 4 February 1994 on copyright and related rights. The excise of these rights are entrusted to the collective management organisations, which in turn are regulated by the Act of 15 June 2018 on collective management of copyright and related rights. According to the information provided by the central government, currently there are 12 collective management organisations in Poland authorized by the Minister of Culture:

A team of Creative Economy Research Centre of SWPS University led by prof. Dorota Ilczuk has been studying the situation of artists in Poland since 2012. These studies were aimed at diagnosing the specificity of the artists’ labor market, analysing the professional situation of artists in Poland, exploring international experiences both in monitoring and analysing this area, and various forms of support provided to artists. It also was the first successful attempts in the history of post-war Poland to estimate the number of professionally active artists in Poland. Without knowing the size of the artistic milieu, it was impossible to calculate the costs of the planned support system for artists, and thus to introduce systemic changes in the cultural policy in Poland.

The research project was continued in subsequent years. In 2024, a second large-scale study entitled “Policzone i Policzeni 2024! Artyści, twórcy i wykonawcy w Polsce” (“Counted 2024! Artists, Creators and Performers in Poland”) provided updated data on the size, socio-economic situation and professional conditions of artists and creators in Poland. There are around 62 thousand people working in the following industries: music, architecture, visual arts, theatre, film, literature, dance, folk art, and interdisciplinary arts. The study confirmed the persistence of irregular income patterns, unstable employment conditions and limited access to social security mechanisms within the artistic sector. The updated research also reflected changes resulting from the post-pandemic cultural labour market and the growing diversification of artistic professions.

This state of affairs has been ignored in the public debate for many years, despite the artistic community’s attempt to draw attention to it (with for example the artists’ protest ‘A Day Without Art’ in 2012). In 2017, at the National Conference for Culture (OKK), the debate about artist’s support began. The OKK Group of Experts was formed and they started to work on an Act on the Rights of the Professional Artist.

After 2023 elections, the government returned to legislative work on the social protection of artists and creators. However, the concept of the planned legislation has significantly changed in comparison with earlier proposals concerning the “status of the professional artist”. The new draft Act on Professional Artists, presented in 2026, focuses primarily on social and health insurance mechanisms rather than on establishing a broad artists support scheme The proposed system introduces a formal status of a professional artist and provides temporary subsidies to social and health insurance contributions for artists with low and irregular income. According to the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage, the support mechanism is intended to supplement artists’ contributions up to the minimum threshold required for social insurance coverage in the national Social Insurance Institution (ZUS) system. The subsidy mechanism is addressed mainly to artists whose income remains below a specified percentage of the minimum wage and is intended to reduce structural barriers in access to pension, health and sickness insurance.

Digital policy and developments

According to the Report on Digitisation of Polish Cultural Resources (prepared for the Congress of Polish Culture 2009), the digital resources of state archives are calculated at approximately 3 million scans; libraries at 300 thousand library units (ca. 1915-1917 million scans); and museums at about 300 thousand reproductions.

After 2023, digital cultural policy increasingly focused on copyright regulation, online distribution of cultural content and the impact of artificial intelligence on the cultural and creative sectors. In 2025, provisions implementing the EU Directive on Copyright in the Digital Single Market (DSM Directive) entered into force in Poland, including mechanisms concerning internet royalties for creators and publishers. The reform aimed to strengthen the bargaining position of creators and media entities in relation to digital platforms and online content distributors.

At the same time, the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage restored the Copyright Law Forum as a platform for dialogue between public authorities, creators, collective management organisations and digital market actors. The Ministry also reactivated a specialised team for combating infringements of copyright and related rights. These activities increasingly address challenges connected with generative artificial intelligence, unauthorised online distribution of cultural content and the protection of creators’ income in the digital environment.

An important development in Polish digital and copyright policy was the long-awaited reform of the reprographic fee system (“blank media levy”). In 2025 and 2026, the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage initiated and finalised the process of updating the list of devices covered by reprographic fees for the first time in more than fifteen years. The reform replaced outdated devices such as VHS recorders, cassette tapes and fax machines with contemporary digital devices actually used for storing and copying cultural content, including smartphones, tablets, laptops and smart televisions. According to the Ministry and organisations representing creators, the reform was intended to adapt Polish copyright law to contemporary technological realities and strengthen compensation mechanisms for creators, performers and producers in connection with private copying. The updated system is also expected to increase revenues distributed through collective management organisations and improve the economic protection of creators in the digital environment.