Consultation results concerning draft crowdfunding bill

On October 11, 2021, a consultation report on the draft law on crowdfunding for business ventures (crowdfunding law) was published on the website of the Government Legislation Center. The purpose of the proposed law is to ensure the application of EU Regulation 2020/1503 (ECSPR). For more information on the introduced crowdfunding regulations, please visit our New Law page.Nowe Prawo. 

Over 150 comments on the bill from both public entities and private stakeholders were considered during the legislative process. Together with the report, an updated draft of the crowdfunding bill (Draft 29.09.2021) was released, including several significant changes from the original Draft 28.04.2021. The aforesaid changes include:  

• Postponement of the introduction of the ban on public offering and promotion of taking up or acquiring shares in a limited liability company (sp. z o.o.) by 2 years (until 10.11.2023). During this period, existing crowdfunding platform operators intermediating in raising funds by offering shares in limited liability companies may operate under the current rules.  
• Clarification – as part of the amendment to Article 5(2) of the Banking Law expanding the catalog of banking activities to include crowdfunding services – i.e. a bank intending to provide crowdfunding services should hold a separate (from the banking license) license from the crowdfunding provider.  
• Amendment the Act on handling complaints by financial market entities and on the Financial Ombudsman (URF) by expanding the catalog of financial market entities to include crowdfunding service providers and extending legal protection to their clients (investors and project owners) in connection with the complaints they submit.

Additionally, the Project Proponent maintained the position that the crowdfunding service provider will not have the status of an obliged institution under AML/CFT regulations. It will be assessed in a European Commission report whether the crowdfunding platform operators should be subjected to AML/CFT provisions after 2 years of the ECSP Regulation.   

Stakeholders may comment on the updated crowdfunding bill until 22.10.2021. 

The scheduled effective date of the crowdfunding law is 10.11.2021, the date from which the provisions of the ECSP Regulation will apply. Taking into account that the bill has not yet been sent to the Parliament (Sejm), and the average time for work on a bill in the Parliament is about several dozen days, the date assumed by the Project Proponent for the bill to come into force is unrealistic.

Legislative progress may be followed on the RCL website.

Documents to be downloaded: 

• Crowdfunding – Updated Bill 29.09.2021  
• Crowdfunding  – Report on consultation on the draft bill   
• Crowdfunding – call for comments