The law provides for the possibility to withdraw material reception conditions if an asylum seeker grossly violates the rules in the reception centre or acts violently towards employees of the centre or other third-country nationals staying there. Material reception conditions can be re-granted to the same extent as previously (upon an asylum seeker’s request), but if the violation occurs again, it can be re-granted only in the form of a payment of half of the regular financial allowance provided to asylum seekers (Articles 76 and 78 Law on Protection).
Although the abovementioned rules are contradictory to the CJEU’s preliminary ruling in the case of Haqbin,[1] they remain in force.[2] However, since the judgment was issued, no asylum seeker has been deprived of reception conditions on this basis.[3] In February 2024, the draft amendment of the Law on Protection that aims at implementing the Haqbin judgment in Poland was published. According to the draft, Articles 76 and 78 of the Law on Protection should be repealed. As of 10 June 2024, the draft law was not yet been adopted.[4]
Financial allowance can be reduced to half also in case of a refusal to undergo medical examinations or necessary sanitary treatment of asylum seekers themselves and their clothes (Article 81(3) Law on Protection). This rule was not applied in 2023. [5]
Moreover, in case an asylum seeker stays outside the reception centre for a period exceeding two days, material reception conditions should be withheld by law until the moment of his/her return.[6]
[1] CJEU (Grand Chamber), case C-233/18 Haqbin, Judgment of 12 November 2019.
[2] M. Łysienia, ‘Pozbawienie pomocy socjalnej w postępowaniu uchodźczym: Haqbin a prawo polskie’, 12 April 2021, Laboratorium Migracji Blog, available in Polish at: https://bit.ly/3CckXiQ.
[3] Information provided by the Office for Foreigners since 2020, most recently in February 2024.
[4] Article 6 of the draft law of 8 May 2024, available in Polish here.
[5] Information provided by the Office for Foreigners, 16 February 2024.
[6] Article 77 Law on Protection.