Recognition of qualification in regulated professions, comprised within the area of land surveying and cartography, renders a part of the general system for recognition of education and professional qualifications of EU member states’ citizens, mandatory for Poland since 1 May 2004.

Principles of recognition of professional qualifications within the territory of the Republic of Poland are regulated by the legal provisions of 18 March 2008, on the principles of recognition of professional qualifications acquired in the European Union member states (Official Journal No. 63, item 394, as amended) and executive acts issued on its basis.

The body competent for recognition of qualifications for performance of regulated professions in the field of land surveying and cartography is the Surveyor General of Poland, pursuant to the regulation of the Minister of Internal Affairs and Administrations of 2 March 2010 on authorising bodies for recognition of qualifications in regulated professions (Official Journal No. 45, item 268, as amended).

Application for recognition of qualifications

Application for recognition of qualifications for performance of a regulated profession is submitted in a form as an attachment to the regulation of the Minister of Science and Higher Education of 9 October 2008 on the specification of application drafts for commencement of proceedings on recognition of professional qualifications (Official Journal No. 187, item 1151, as amended). This application must be submitted in Polish. Within the course of proceedings for recognition of qualifications, the documents must be submitted in Polish, or in the mother tongue together with a translation into Polish prepared by a sworn translator. The translation into Polish is not required in case of documents that confirm the following information: the first name, the last name, the place and date of birth of the applicant, citizenship, and name of the country of the applicant.

The application for commencement of proceedings on recognition of qualifications for performance of a regulated profession.

In order to submit the application to the Head Office of Land Surveying and Cartography in an electronic form, it is necessary to acquire a free user account on the ePUAP platform. Manners of delivering electronic documentation to the Head Office of Land Surveying and Cartography:

1. Submission of the document through attaching a filled in application to the service form entitled “Complaints, applications, inquiries to the office”

2. Submission of the documents to the headquarters of the Head Office of Land Surveying and Cartography (ul. Wspólna 2, 00-926 Warsaw), between 8.15 a.m. and 4.15 p.m. (Suite 3099) on the following data carriers:

Floppy disk 1.44 MB

USB memory stick

CD - R/RW disc

DVD disc

The replaced data carriers need to able to record the Official Confirmation of Receipt. The electronic documents need to be signed with a valid, qualified digital signature in the Xades-Bes format.

1. Acceptable formats of the attachments are as follows:

DOC, RTF

XLS

CSV

TXT

GIF, TIFF, BMP, JPG

PDF

ZIP

2. Size of all attachments to one application form (an electronic documents) cannot exceed 10 MB, size of a single attachment cannot exceed 3.5 MB.

3. Documents or carriers with malicious software will be automatically rejected and will not be taken into consideration.

Adaptational internship/test of abilities

The Surveyor General of Poland may decide to recognise qualifications only if the application attends the adaptational internship or sits for a test of abilities, when:

The period of education or training that took place in the applicant’s country is shorter by at least a year from the period of education or training required by law, or

 There is a significant difference in education or training, or

The scope of the profession exercised in the applicant’s country differs considerably from the scope in the Republic of Poland, and the difference is related to the specific education or training in the Republic of Poland.

An adaptational internship cannot exceed three years.

The applicant bears the costs of attending the adaptational internship or performing the test of abilities.

The Surveyor General of Poland, during the proceedings on recognition of qualifications, verifies whether the knowledge and abilities acquired by the application during acquisition of professional experience may equalize, wholly or partially, the considerable differences in education or training.

The necessity to attend the internship or take the test of abilities is decided by the Surveyor General of Poland through a decision. Within this decision the period of the adaptational internship is decided together with its programme. The applicant, having received the decision, selects between an adaptational internship and a test of abilities, and informs the Surveyor General of Poland about their choice.

The adaptational internship and the test of abilities are both carried out in Polish.

Details of attending the adaptational internship and taking the test of abilities are regulated by provisions of the regulation by the Minister of Internal Affairs and Administration of 13 November 2008 on adaptational internships and the test of abilities within the course of proceedings on recognition of qualifications for performance of regulated professions in the field of land surveying and cartography (Official Journal No. 219, item 1406).

The qualification requirements for persons applying for recognition of qualifications for performance of particular regulated professions occurring in the field of land surveying and cartography are related to education and occupational practice. In case of professions mentioned in Art. 43(1, 2, 3, 4, 5) of the Act of 17 May 1989 - Land Surveying and Cartography Law (Official Journal item 520), education within the field of technical sciences is required, the programme of which ensures acquisition of knowledge and abilities in the field of land surveying and cartography, and in case for the professions mentioned in Art. 43 (6 and 7) of the Act mentioned above, education within the field of technical science or natural sciences is required, the programme of which ensures acquisition of knowledge and abilities from the scope of, respectively: cartography - in case of the scope 6, photogrammetry and remote sensing - in case of the scope 7. Qualification requirements related to the professional practice are specified by Attachment No. 2 to the regulation of the Minister of Administration and Digitalisation of 31 January 2014 on professional qualifications in the scope of land surveying and cartography (Official Journal item 176).

The list of auxiliary literature helpful in complementing knowledge necessary to meet the qualification requirements are published in the Public Information Bulletin, on the subject website of the Head Office of Land Surveying and Cartography:

The list of legal acts that pose a source of questions during the written and oral exams

Examples of examination questions occurring in the tests of abilities for persons applying for recognition of qualifications for performance of particular regulated professions, occurring in the field of land surveying and cartography are published in the Bulletin of Public Information on the subject website of the Head Office of Land Surveying and Cartography:

Content of written questions from 2014

Completion of the proceedings

Upon completion of the proceedings, the Surveyor General of Poland issues a decision on recognition of qualifications and enters the details of the given person whose qualifications for performance of the regulated professions in the field of land surveying and cartography have been recognised into the central register of persons holding professional qualifications.

This person, whose qualifications for performance of a regulated profession have been recognised, uses the title determined for the given regulated profession in the Republic of Poland, or its abbreviation.

Legal basis

The Act of 18 March 2008 on principles of recognition of professional qualifications acquired in European Union member states (Official Journal No. 63, item 394, as amended),

The Act of 17 May 1989 - Land Surveying and Cartography Law (Official Journal item 520).,

Regulation of the Minister of Science and Higher Education of 9 October 2008 on specification of drafts of applications for commencement of proceedings on recognition of professional qualifications (Official Journal No. 187, item 1151, as amended),

Regulation by the Minister of Internal Affairs and Administration of 13 November 2008 on adaptational internships and tests of abilities within the course of proceedings on recognition of qualifications for performance of regulated professions in the field of land surveying and cartography (Official Journal No. 219, item 1406).

Regulation of the Minister of Internal Affairs and Administrations of 2 March 2010 on authorising bodies for recognition of qualifications in regulated professions (Official Journal No. 45, item 268, as amended),

Regulation of the Prime Minister of 30 July 2013 on the determination of regulated professions for which proceedings on recognition of qualifications may be commenced (Official Journal, item 1049, as amended),

Regulation of the Minister of Administration and Digitalisation of 31 January 2014 on professional qualifications in the field of land surveying and cartography (Official Journal, item 176).

Detailed information and explanations:

The Division of Qualifications and Professional Trainings of the Department of Supervision, Control and Organisation of the Land Surveying and Cartography Service of the Head Office of Land Surveying and Cartography, tel.: 22 56 31 313, e-mail: gugik@gugik.gov.pl