Welcome to the first edition of MSLGROUP’s War-saw Insight. We present this to you with the idea that the knowledge and insights about the legis-lative, regulatory, and leadership changes in the Polish government and European Union are worth knowing. This newsletter is not meant to be ex-haustive. Instead, it seeks to provide summary and updates affecting the market and thus, your busi-ness. We generate this information via our daily work at MSLGROUP and feel that such information has a value to our clients and the market overall.

In this first edition, we will cover changes in the Energy, Finance, and Upcoming European elec-tions. Tensions between Russia and Ukraine have recently dominated media debates all over the Europe. However, public administrations have still carried on with their work. The government con-tinues its regulation (and sometimes deregulation) of the economy, the parliament amends laws, and institutions change their chairmen.

Taking this into account we consider dynamically changing business environment, information and knowledge as a key to efficiency and success in business. For MSLGROUP, understanding the mar-kets within which we operate is a guiding princi-ple. Therefore we believe that our Warsaw Insight will deliver you a valuable source of knowledge, information, and news.

We present to you the inaugural Warsaw Insight with hope that it meets your expectations. If you have any suggestions we are, as always, ready to speak with you.

Upcoming European elections and mounting ten-sions between Russia and Ukraine have recently dominated media debates all over the Europe. However, public administrations have still car-ried on with their work. The government contin-ues its regulation (and sometimes deregulation) of the economy, the parliament amends laws, and institutions change their chairmen.

The Public Affairs and Lobbying branch of MSL-GROUP Poland constantly monitors legislative and staffing changes in order to serve its customers in the best possible way. We have decided to widely distribute part of our knowledge to give everyone interested an insight on the PA situation in Po-land. This report will be published monthly and we hope you find this information useful to your activities related to Poland.

If you need more information regarding our ser-vices, we would be more than happy to talk to you.

Lukasz Jachowicz, Head of Public Affairs MSLGROUP Polandlukasz.jachowicz@mslgroup.com

ul. Domaniewska 4202-672 Warszawa

T: +48 22 278 38 00F: +48 22 278 38 74

Marek Sawicki replaced Stanisław Kalemba as Min-ister of Agriculture. Sawicki was Minister of Agri-culture from 2007-2012.

March 17

Ryszard Petru, PwC Partner and Polish economist. One of the founders of the pension system in Po-land, gave up leadership of the supervisory board of PKP SA. He held that position for a little over a month. The reasons for his resignation are not known. Petru led the board of directors since Feb-ruary 13.

On March 6 Board of Bank Gospodarstwa Krajowe-go (BGK) appointed Radosław Stępień as the first Vice-President of BGK. On March 17, he replaced Jaroslaw Bełdowski. Until June 26, 2013, he was a member of the supervisory board of Polish Real Estate Holding and from September 7 was acting CEO.

The supervisory board of Polish Real Estate Hold-ing appointed Artur Lebiedziński to the position of Chairman of the Board. Stasiak was a board mem-ber for Finance since January 2012. March 4

President Bronisław Komorowski named Piotr Wi-esiołek as Vice President of the Polish National Bank. He was appointed for another term. His banking career began in 1992 as a securities an-alyst. In 1992-1996 he worked at the NBP, dealing with the analysis of profitability and management of securities portfolios in the department of for-eign operations.

At the request of the CEO of the National Bank of Poland, President Bronisław Komorowski named Paweł Samecki as a member of the Management Board of NBP. Samecki recently served as Director of the Foreign Department of NBP. His duties be-gan on March 3.

President of the Office of Electronic Communica-tions (UKE) Magdalena Gaj is a Polish candidate for the post of Deputy Secretary-General of the International Telecommunication Union.

Adam Jasser is the new head of the Of-fice of Competition and Competitor (Urząd Ochrony Konkurencji i Konsumenta). Pre-viously was the Undersecretary of State, then Secretary of State in the Chancellery of the Prime Minister from 2010 to 2013.February 10 by Małgorzata Krasno-dębska-Tomkiel, who led the Office for near-ly six years. He was the program director and a member of the Board of demosEuropa - Centre for Europe-an Strategy and also worked many years at Reuters.

The Council of Ministers will address the law on renewable energy sources on April 8.

The Deputy Prime Minister announced that coor-dination and monitoring of the National Reform Programme for the implementation of the “Eu-rope 2020” strategy involves representatives of government institutions, local governments and the parliament, business communities, culture, and social sites. March 24. Meeting of the Minister of Economy, deputy Prime Minister Janusz Piech-ociński, with the delegation of the European Par-liament.

Extraordinary Commission for Energy and the En-vironment, Natural Resources and Forestry, set up a sub-committee to consider the government regulation amending the Act - Environmental Pro-tection Law. Chairman of the Subcommittee is Ta-deusz Arkit (PO). The project aims to implement EU law. It concerns consolidation of existing Com-munity legislation on industrial emissions in order to improve the system of prevention of pollution caused by industrial activities. March 19.

Economy Committee conducted a first reading of the government bill amending the Law on Invest-ment in terms of re-gasification terminals for LNG in Świnoujście. After the first reading, the Com-mission appointed a sub-committee to process the draft. Deputy Chair of the Subcommittee is Miro-slaw Nykiel (PO). March 18.

Law amending The Energy Law and Other Laws was passed. The Act aims to extend support system for the production of electricity and heat in cogene-ration until 30 June, 2019. Moreover, the Act ex-tends the deadline for submission of a certificate of origin from cogeneration or pay a replacement fee by 30 June each year. This Act shall enter into force 14 days from the date of the announcement. March 14.

Economy Committee considered the report on the extraordinary governmental bill amending the Law on Components and Liquid Biofuels. The project aims to implement into national law the provisions of the European Parliament and Council

Directive 2009/28/EC of 23 April 2009 on the pro-motion of energy from renewable sources, in par-ticular, to implement the provisions addressing the use of bio-components and liquid biofuels in transport. March 11.

The Council of Ministers approved regulations de-fining principles of exploration and exploitation of hydrocarbons, i.e. natural gas, including shale gas and shale oil. The regulation sets out the condi-tions of taxation. March 11.

Ministerial regulation on the complaint of tele-communications services has been published in the Journal of Laws. It will enter into force on June 8. The new regulation will allow answers to complaints in electronic form. The customer will decide what form of contact is selected. March 7.

The legislative plans of the Ministry of Administra-tion and Digitization in 2014:- Increase organizational flexibility in local gov-ernments and facilitate financial incentives for voluntary cooperation of local governments.- Investing in broadband networks and develop-ment of e-services for citizens and businesses.- Developing a Centralized System of Access to Public Information.- Removal of legal barriers to the development of e-services through of computerization (enters into force May 11).- Unification of logins and passwords to e-services (ePUAP).

ul. Domaniewska 4202-672 Warszawa

T: +48 22 278 38 00F: +48 22 278 38 74

Polish and Italian ministries of defense signed an agreement that will allow the Polish Armed Forces to gain access to the Italian satellite system, COS-MO SkyMed. March 25.

During a meeting of the Sejm (Lower House of Par-liament), the deputies passed an amendment on universal duty to defend the Republic and the Act on Soldiers’ Salary. The amendments introduce a number of provisions favorable to the soldiers of the National Armed Forces. The draft envisag-es the possibility of annexing written contracts and changing their content without the need to conclude a new contract and the requirement for re-evaluation the candidate. March 14.

National Defense Committee considered the proj-ect which aims to implement EU law. It concerns the rights and obligations of the parties and the rules of concluding agreements in connection with the execution of orders for the production of or trade in arms, munitions and war material. March 12.

The Council of Ministers adopted the assumptions to the Tax Law. The proposed amendments relate to, among other regulations, inclusion of the gen-eral power of attorney in tax procedures, comput-erization of check accounting records, modern-ization of the official documents service, a clause against tax avoidance, jurisdictional flexibility, and the possibility of tax payment on behalf of the taxpayer. March 18.

Estimates of the execution of the state bud-get in 2013: the state budget in the amount of PLN 279,151.2 mln, the expenditure of the state budget in the amount of PLN 321,342.9 mln, the deficit of the state budget in the amount of PLN 42,191.7 mln. March 19.

The Council of Ministers adopted a draft law on CIT and PIT. The proposed amendments relate to, income taxation of foreign controlled companies, benefit exclusion from the dividends payment ex-emption and other income (revenue) from a share in legal persons’ profits (participatory loans), tax collection simplification, and new tax exemptions. March 18.

The Minister of Finance submitted assumptions on Alternative Investment Fund Managers. The new regulations are to implement into Polish law the EU Directive 2011/61/EU on Alternative Invest-ment Fund Managers (AIFM) and other Community regulations. The objectives are the provision of services across the European Union - after obtain-ing a permit in Poland, alternative financing for SMEs, can expand their investments on the domes-tic capital market by introducing a product with European standards. March 25.

The meeting of Coreper I (Committee of Perma-nent Representatives dealing with social and eco-nomic issues) obtained initial agreement of the Council and the European Parliament on a draft directive on reporting non-financial information and information about diversity policy by certain large companies and groups of companies. Poland has achieved the intended purpose, i.e., reduc-tion in the scope of entities covered by mandatory reporting on non-financial information. February 26.

April 1st, the start of the 4-month period when you will be able to report a desire to con-tinue saving in private pension funds (OFE).PMI for industry will be announced on the 1st of April.

Up to April 5th, parties must collect 1,000 signatures to register for the election commit-tees for European elections.

Next session of Senate will be held on the 9th of April.Decision on interest rates will be announced on the 9th of April.

The next plenary session of the European Parliament will be held on April 14.

Next session of Sejm (Lower House of Parliament) will be held 23-24 April, 2014.

European Parliament elections will take place on May 25th, 2014.

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April is the month of the 15th anniversary of Sojusz Lewicy Demokratycznej (Democratic Left Alliance).

MSLGROUP is one of the oldest public relations agencies on the Polish market. Every day, our team provides companies, organizations and institutions with advice regarding their rep-utation and image. We are close to business and we perfectly know present communication challenges. Our rich output and highest quality of services won us Impactor 2010 and 2011 awards for the Agency of the Year.

We are part of the Publicis Groupe – third largest global marketing communication network offering services in the fields of public relations, public affairs, Internet and social media communication, corporate communication and event marketing. MSLGROUP has offices in over 80 countries, including partner agencies. It works on the territory of America, Central and Eastern Europe, Africa and Asia. MSLGROUP consists of market leading corporate and fi-nancial communications agencies including Kekst & Company, JKL, QORVIS, CNC and Publicis Consultants, as well as digital marketing experts and design agency, SAS.

We perceive public affairs activities as a complex communication challenge. We know that nowadays decisions are made not only in the privacy of ministerial offices, and their final shape is largely shaped by, for example, grassroots civil initiatives or social media.For each client we develop a comprehensive tailored strategy, adapted to his needs, expec-tations and capacities. Among others, our activities include lobbing, media relations and activities in electronic media. Their purpose is to shape public opinion, attract attention to a specific issue, promote certain law regulations, build reputation and solve crisis situations.

High ethical standards underlie all our activities. We are entered as a professional body en-gaged in lobbying activities in the register of the Ministry of Interior and Administration. We act accordingly to the Code of Good Practices of the Polish Public Relations Consultancies Association (ZFPRR).In the frame of the Public Affairs we offer the following services:• Analysis of the environment in which our clients operate,• Identification of stakeholders and creation of a map of influence,• Polish and EU legislative process monitoring,

Copyright (c) by MSLGROUP Poland Sp. z o.o. 2014

Permission to use, copy, or distribute this report is hereby granted without fee, provided that the copyright notice appears in all copies.

The report is originally distributed by MSLGROUP Poland - to be added to the distribution list, please send a request to lukasz.jachowicz@mslgroup.com.

CONTACT:

CEO Corporate & Financial CommunicationsPaweł TomczukTel. +48 600 489 609e: pawel.tomczuk@mslgroup.com

Head of Public AffairsŁukasz JachowiczTel. +48 601 416 560e: lukasz.jachowicz@mslgroup.com

Governmental Affairs Practice LeaderMałgorzata DworzynskaTel. +48 605 296 457e: malgorzata.dworzynska@mslgroup.com