Space Law in Poland: The 2026 Space Activities Act, POLSA Authorisation and Liability

For years Poland had a growing space industry, a national space agency and a seat in ESA, but no law governing who may launch or operate a satellite. That changed this year, just as the EU negotiates its own Space Act.

This guide explains space law in Poland as of 10 November 2026, based on the text published in the Journal of Laws (Dz.U. 2026 poz. 465). The translations are mine, and article numbers are from the Act.

How the Act was passed

The Government’s bill (print 2078) reached the Sejm on 10 December 2025. According to the Sejm’s record of the legislative process, the Sejm passed it on 13 February 2026 by 235 votes to 0, with 199 abstentions. The Senate took its position on 4 March, President Karol Nawrocki signed the Act on 24 March, and it was published on 3 April 2026. Under Article 74 it entered into force 14 days later, on 18 April 2026.

What counts as space activity and who is covered

Article 8 defines space activity as launching a space object, operating or controlling it in outer space, or removing it, including by deorbiting. Amateur radio satellites are excluded.

Article 2 defines outer space as the space more than 100 km above mean sea level. Few national laws fix a number, and our explainer on where space begins explains why that choice is still contested internationally.

The Act applies to space activity carried out on Polish territory or from ships and aircraft registered in Poland (Article 3), and also to activity by an operator from the territory of a foreign State or from an area outside any State’s sovereignty (Article 4). On my reading, a Polish company launching on a foreign rocket or controlling a satellite from abroad still needs Polish authorisation.

Authorisation is available to legal persons and organisational units with legal capacity (Article 10). Defence Ministry units need none, and the Defence Minister oversees them (Article 7).

Getting an authorisation from POLSA

Under Article 11 the President of POLSA grants authorisations by administrative decision, for at least the duration of the planned activity. One authorisation can cover several space objects and any of five scopes: launching a launch vehicle, launching another space object, operating it, controlling it and removing it.

Article 12 sets three conditions: the activity must be carried out as Article 9 requires, the applicant must have staff with the necessary expertise, and it must have the financial capacity to operate without disruption. Article 9 requires that the activity not threaten security and defence, minimise risk to people and property, prevent space debris and meet technical standards on matters such as structural strength, propulsion, power and communications, for which POLSA publishes a list of recommended standards.

The application must describe the mission, including debris mitigation, collision avoidance, any radioactive material and the plan for passivation or deorbiting, with a risk assessment for damage on the ground, to aircraft and to other space objects, and a copy of the radio licence or frequency assignment.

The fee is 150 per cent of the national average wage, cut to one third for universities and research institutions (Article 26). POLSA must decide within six months of a complete application (Article 16). The authorisation fixes the sum insured and may impose special conditions, including to protect areas of cultural, natural or scientific value in space (Article 17).

The security filter

This is what most distinguishes the Act from the French and British models. Under Article 14, before granting an authorisation POLSA must seek opinions from the Minister of National Defence on security and defence, from the interior minister on civil protection and crisis management, from the transport minister on airspace safety where Polish airspace is used, and from the Head of the Internal Security Agency (ABW) on internal security. Each has one month, extendable to two. Silence counts as a positive opinion.

Under Article 18, however, POLSA must refuse if any of them gives a negative opinion. Under Article 20 POLSA must also revoke an authorisation, with immediate effect, if the operator loses the reliability needed to rule out a threat to security and defence. Under Article 21 it must suspend an authorisation at the Defence Minister’s request if the activity interferes with the operations of the Polish Armed Forces, including in self-defence against armed attack, and the problem cannot be removed in another way.

Defence contractors get a faster track: where the activity is tied to a contract with a defence unit, the opinions are not sought, and at the Defence Minister’s request POLSA must decide within a period the Minister sets, of at least 30 days.

In May 2026, Creotech Instruments reported that POLSA had granted it decision no. 01/2026 in connection with the Mikroglob satellite Earth observation system it is building under a contract with the Armament Agency. Its scope is confidential on security grounds.

Transfers to foreign buyers

An authorisation can be transferred with POLSA’s approval if the transferee meets the Article 12 conditions and no consulted authority objects (Article 22). Article 23 adds a condition that will matter in any sale to a foreign group: where the transferee is a foreign person, the transfer requires an international agreement in force between Poland and the transferee’s State that regulates liability for damage caused by the space object.

So a Polish authorisation can pass to a foreign buyer only if Poland has a liability agreement with the buyer’s State. Like the French rule in our guide to space law in France, it gives the State a say in mergers involving satellites in orbit.

Liability and insurance

Under Article 27 the operator, and anyone acting without authorisation, is liable for damage caused by the space object, jointly with any named partner. Other contractors are liable only for wilful misconduct or gross negligence.

Article 28 makes liability for damage on the surface of the Earth and to aircraft in flight strict, applying even where the damage results from force majeure, and it cannot be excluded or limited. Elsewhere, including in orbit, liability follows the ordinary rules of the Civil Code (Article 29). That mirrors the split in the Liability Convention between absolute liability on Earth and fault-based liability in space.

Article 30 governs the State’s recourse. If Poland pays compensation for damage caused by a space object, the State Treasury can recover from the operator up to the sum insured, to the extent the insurer has not paid directly. Recourse is unlimited where the operator acted wilfully or with gross negligence, or where the activity was unauthorised. For scientific and educational missions, which need no insurance, the State has no recourse at all (Article 30(4)). People harmed in Poland by another launching State’s space object can claim from the Treasury what Poland recovers from that State.

Articles 31 to 34 require operators to insure their liability for damage caused by the space object, with cover that also protects the State Treasury. The sum insured per event is no more than the złoty equivalent of €60 million, converted at the first National Bank of Poland euro rate of the year the policy is concluded. Scientific and educational missions and defence units are exempt.

The cap is easy to misread. It limits only the State’s recourse claim, for example after Poland pays another State under the Liability Convention. It does not limit what a victim can claim directly from the operator in a Polish court, and unlike France, which guarantees operators above a ceiling of €50 million to €70 million, Poland offers no State guarantee above the insured sum. In my view that is the gap Polish operators and their insurers should look at most closely.

Registration, inspections and penalties

POLSA keeps a public National Register of Space Objects. Operators must notify a launch or the start of operations within seven days (Article 46), and the information goes to the UN Secretary-General under the Registration Convention (Article 49).

POLSA can inspect operators, require a remedial programme and, if breaches are not fixed, revoke the authorisation and order the operator to reduce the risk of damage, including by deorbiting the object where necessary and possible, enforceable by substitute performance (Article 43).

Unauthorised space activity is punishable by a fine of up to 500 times the national average wage (Article 61). Operating in breach of an authorisation or the Act can bring up to 100 times the average wage, and failure to remove breaches up to 30 times (Article 62). Anyone who finds suspected space debris in Poland must report it to the police (Article 57).

Poland, the Artemis Accords and the EU Space Act

Poland signed the Artemis Accords on 26 October 2021 in Dubai, according to NASA. It has no space resources law.

The bigger question is Brussels. The Commission’s proposed EU Space Act would set common authorisation, safety and resilience rules across the Union, and our report on the Irish Presidency’s compromise text shows how much is still open. Poland’s Act leaves defence activity outside civil licensing and gives security agencies a binding veto, which may make it harder to fit neatly with a harmonised EU regime.

What I would watch

The first is POLSA’s list of recommended technical standards and any regulations on the Register. For most applicants they will matter more than the statute.

The second is how the security veto works in practice. With Creotech’s decision kept confidential, there is no public record yet of how long opinions take or whether any civil application has been refused.

The third is the EU Space Act. If it is adopted, Poland will need to decide which parts of this regime survive as national rules, and the binding security opinions are the part I expect it to defend hardest.

Anuj KumarEditor-in-Chief

Anuj Kumar is the founder of Legal Desire Media and publishes Fashion Law Journal and Space Law Journal.

Space Law Journal is a joint initiative of Legal Desire Media and Odyogeek. Spotted something we got wrong, or want to respond? Write to space@legaldesire.com.