Buildings over 50 meters to be reported. New obligation came into force

• The amended Aviation Law came into force. The aim of the changes was to introduce the obligation to report to the Ministry of National Defense buildings with a height of 50 to 100 m.
• Thanks to this, the Ministry of National Defense will obtain information on objects that are not in the register but pose a real threat to air traffic safety.
• The obligation to inform the Ministry of National Defense will be imposed, among others, on the owner of the property, the perpetual user or a person who has limited property rights to the property.

The amended Aviation Law has come into force. The regulations have been in force since 9 April . Previously, intensive work was underway in parliament on this matter.

The amended act introduces the obligation to report to the Ministry of National Defence construction objects with a height of 50 to 100 m that have not been entered into the register of aviation obstacles but may pose a threat to military aviation. This also applies to temporary objects with a height of 50 to 100 m above ground level.

The Act states:

Construction objects, including temporary construction objects, with a height of 50 m or more but less than 100 m above the level of the surrounding terrain or water, located in the territory of the Republic of Poland and within the exclusive economic zone of the Republic of Poland, are subject to notification to the Minister of National Defence, unless they have been entered into the register of aviation obstacles.

The next provision reads: "The notification shall be made no later than 2 months before the date on which the building reaches a height of 50 m above the surrounding ground or water level."

This obligation does not apply to objects that have been entered into the register of aviation obstacles.

Thanks to this, the Ministry of National Defense will obtain information on construction objects that are not in the register but pose a real threat to the safety of air traffic of military aircraft.

The structure must be reported no later than two months before it reaches a height of 50 m.

This deadline will allow the Ministry of National Defense to assess the impact of the reported object on air operations conducted or planned by the Armed Forces of the Republic of Poland.

In the current legal situation, there is no basis for imposing on any entity the obligation to report an object that is not an aviation obstacle within the meaning of the Act, but constitutes a real threat to the safety of air traffic of military aircraft. The lack of regulations in this area has a negative impact on the safety of military air traffic, therefore it is necessary to introduce the proposed changes

- it was written in the justification.

The obligation to inform the Ministry of National Defense has been imposed on, among others:

• property owner,
• perpetual user,
• a person who is entitled to limited property rights to real estate.

The regulations will not affect the issuance of building permits for such facilities , because the project assumes the imposition of an information obligation only. The database of facilities with a height of 50 to 100 m will be public, which means that other services will also be able to use it

- said Deputy Minister of Infrastructure Maciej Lasek.

He also informed that the number of reported objects:

• in 2021 it was 435,
• in 2022 there were 596 of them,
• in 2023 - 437.

He pointed out that the obligation to report these facilities existed from 2003 to 2020 , which means that even after the obligation expired, the entities responsible for it continued to submit reports.

This obligation has quite permanently fitted into all the procedures that existed in this area. We are only restoring it, in fact we do not think that it would be a big burden

- stated Maciej Lasek.

According to the Ministry of Infrastructure responsible for the draft amendment to the act, the lack of regulations in this area created a legal loophole that threatened the safety of air traffic of military facilities.

Deputy Minister of Infrastructure Maciej Lasek informed during the first reading in the Sejm in January this year that obtaining information by the Minister of National Defence about the facilities concerned by the project is necessary from the point of view of implementing the provisions of international agreements concluded by Poland and due to the requirements specified in the aviation training programmes for individual types of military aircraft.