Poland - Environmental and Social Safeguards : Use of Country System

The main objective of the assessment is
to determine how Poland's environmental and social
safeguard systems can be used in place of the corresponding
Bank safeguards, at sector, sub-national, or country level,
and how it will apply to current and future Bank-financed
operations in Poland. This assessment will be done through a
safeguard diagnostic review which involves: (i) an
equivalence analysis, to determine if the Poland legal and
regulatory systems are equivalent to the corresponding World
Bank's safeguards; and (ii) an acceptability
assessment, to assess Poland's level of institutional
capacity, procedures, and performance to implement its own
safeguard systems, and identify gap filling measures as
appropriate. Moreover, given the European Union's
(EU's) convergence policy and requirements of the EU
acquis communautaire which apply to all member states, the
assessment is also expected to provide further insight and
guidance on extending the use of country systems to other
countries with active World Bank investment portfolios. The
report is organized in three parts. Part one presents the
objectives of the assessment, background information on the
World Bank's policy on the use of environmental and
social safeguard country systems, as well as Poland's
legal and regulatory framework for environmental management
and protection which includes obligations under the EU
acquis communautaire, and the methodology used. Part two
focuses on the findings of the equivalence analysis, and
part three presents the findings from the acceptability
assessment. The concluding section summarizes the main
recommendations and next steps.