What does the regulation regulate?
The Regulation of the Minister of Defence lays down the rules for the granting of permits to photograph military units and critical infrastructure facilities, as well as the manner in which they are identified. Since Thursday, taking pictures of specified objects without consent will be treated as a violation for which a fine or detention may be threatened. The enforcement of akin prohibitions has so far been hampered by the deficiency of appropriate indications.
The Regulation was published on 3 April in the authoritative diary of the Laws and is dated 27 March 2025. It concerns the mode and dates of issuing permits for photographing, filming or another forms of capturing the image of objects, persons and movables listed in Article 616a(1) of the Homeland Defence Act, as amended on 17 August 2023.
The fresh government provides the legal basis for the intervention of civilian and military services vis-à-vis persons documenting non-authorised facilities of peculiar importance for the safety and defence of the country, as well as facilities subject to national defence and critical infrastructure.
The ban includes all forms of image recording – both photographing and filming – whether from the ground or from the air. The rules apply to entities, specified as bodies, institutions, formations, entrepreneurs or organisational units, which are in charge of the objects concerned.
General Cukula defends the regulations
General Chief of Staff, General Wiesław Kukuła, explained the appropriateness of the provisions, explaining:
This is simply a very crucial substance for us soldiers, due to the fact that we have changed the situation into a safety domain, besides in the territory of the Republic of Poland.
As he adds, the introduction of fresh rules is justified by an expanding threat from abroad intelligence services. The detainees frequently had photos and information on critical infrastructure and location of military units. The military, noticing the expanding scale of specified actions, asked the legislator to impose a ban. Identified agents were frequently associated with Russian or Belarusian intelligence.
Earlier, for respective years, we had a situation where it was legally allowed. This is simply a tool directed against abroad services and supporting the creation of a certain culture of work for our safety.
Ridiculous and abusive
However, experts point out that specified a regulation not only contains many understatements but besides can lead to many utmost situations.
For example, a self-government or entrepreneur may consider the building crucial for security, and after the approval of the MON it may be included in the list of protected objects even if its relevance for safety appears to be controversial. At that time, taking out a telephone in his vicinity can be considered an effort to photograph, which threatens to be fined, arrested for up to 30 days, or even lost the device. It is worth mentioning that the fresh regulations give the services the right to control our cameras.
The Geekweek Interia besides points out that current regulations do not take into account the fact that many objects are registered by car cameras. In accordance with the Regulation, drivers should disable them while passing alongside strategical facilities. The question is whether the police will control the records from the devices and punish specified recordings. It follows from the Regulation that each driver will so gotta memorize where the strategical objects are located in order to turn off the camera at the right time.
Under the Regulation, even taking household photographs without noticing that there is simply a military object in the background may be a reason for punishment. It can be assumed that in most cases there will only be instruction, but you cannot be certain in all specified situations.
Objects subject to the ban are to be marked with the symbol of the shooting ban, but these markings may be poorly visible, small readable or easy overlooked – and this is another problem.
A law that doesn't change much?
Experts point out that at the current level of technology, bans won't halt even little experienced spies. Discrete image recording is easy present thanks to modern devices, e.g. glasses with recording function.
It is besides questionable to enforce a ban on 25,000 facilities, especially in the context of services specified as Google Maps. Although mass removal of photographs is not anticipated, the company announces compliance with regulations, which may mean blurrying protected objects.
