Poland is seen in the eyes of foreign investors as a safe haven in times of economic insecurity, given the character of economic and political stability, even in a context such as the recent one of debt crisis and recession. The strengths are to be found in well-qualified and competent human capital and in the very dimension of an internal market, with which Poland was able to strengthen its international position, especially at the continental level. The consumer market (38 million) is one of the largest in Europe: in this sense, the geographical position of the country plays a strong role, where the main communication routes between East and West intersect, with significant competitive advantages in logistics, being able to reach over 500 million consumers. The main trading partners are Germany, Russia, China, France, United Kingdom, Italy, Hungary, Ukraine and Spain.
The country's development strategy owes much to solid economic and institutional foundations. The global economic crisis has not affected Poland, that is the only country in Europe to have avoided a recession, without forgetting that, precisely at a time when public debt is a problem for many countries, Poland's debt-to-GDP ratio is significantly below average (57%). In this sense, the assessment of the investment climate for foreign entrepreneurs is getting better every year. Among the most important challenges to face for the country in the near future are the adoption of the single European currency and, should we proceed in this direction, the satisfaction of the parameters to be able to enter the Eurozone.
For its part the country offers a wide range of investment incentives. Investors are invited to place their projects in 14 Special Economic Zones (SEZs), i.e. zones where economic activity can be carried out under favorable conditions through tax exemptions and employment incentives. In this sense, government grants are provided on the basis of Investment Support Program for the years 2011-2020, adopted by the Cabinet on July 5, 2011. The support is provided in the form of a subsidy on the basis of an agreement concluded between the Minister of Economy and the investor, establishing the conditions for the contribution, paid in proportion to the degree of compliance with the investor's commitments. For his part the amount of the grant for new investment depends, among other things, on the number of new jobs created and the investment expenditure per employee.
In case of production projects, thereò it concerns the number of new jobs created, the percentage of workers with higher education, location, investment costs, sector, attractiveness of products on international markets; in the case of service projects, on the other hand, the complexity of the processes provided by the company is also considered. In any case, the operator of the programme, which has the authority to grant state aid, is the Ministry of Economy. There Polish Information & Foreign Investment Agency (Polska Agencja Informacji i Inwestycji Zagranicznych SA – PAIiIZ) is responsible for the preparation and provision of the Interministerial Committee for Foreign Investments with the dossier of investment projects and for the preparation of all documents required to carry out the entire financial support procedure. State aid granted in this context falls into the category of ad hoc aid for regional purposes and, therefore, must be notified to the European Commission before being granted.
Le Special Economic Zones (Special Economic Zones) are parts of the Polish territory that are administered separately, able to meet the needs of enterprises through preferential conditions. The SEZ is first and foremost a tax-exempt location, where an entrepreneur is able to do business on a purpose-built and managed site without paying income tax (CIT – by legal entities or PIT – on natural persons). In a SEZ the entrepreneur can obtain privileges such as tax exemptions, a logistics site at a competitive price, free assistance in fulfilling the formalities, exemption from property tax.
The income tax exemption granted in the SEZ is regarded as a publicly funded regional aid, with the aim of accelerating the development of less developed regions of the EU and thus supporting new investment and the creation of new jobs (calculated on the average employment in the enterprise during the 12 months preceding the day on which the acceptance of the investment grant was granted). Permission to operate in an SEZ is granted by the SEZ council and the level of regional aid made available to the entrepreneur depends on the location of the investment, the capital invested, the cost of hiring a new workforce, the size of the business. The right to tax exemptions for a new investment in an SEZ can be granted to an entrepreneur provided that:
– there is no transfer of any kind of ownership of fixed assets for a period of 5 years. The period of time is reduced to 3 years in the case of small and medium-sized businesses;
– the activity is carried out for a period of not less than five years, three years in the case of SMEs;
– new jobs are maintained for no less than 5 years, 3 years in the case of SMEs.
Expenditure covered by regional aid in a SEZ, i.e. the costs which form the basis for calculating the maximum amount to be exempted, can be declared as the cost of new investment or as the labor cost of newly recruited workers. There is also the possibility of using both forms of aid at the same time, provided that the combined amount of aid does not exceed the maximum allowed for a given investment.
In Poland we then find the so-called industrial and technological poles, places characterized by the possibility of rapid development, thanks to the concentration of companies in a given sector and scientific and research support structures. The services offered can be used by both Polish and foreign companies. Although there are many points in common between them (objectives, forms of functioning, organization…), each industrial pole has its own individual character deriving from social, cultural and economic factors closely connected with the geographical region, without of course forgetting the structures, materials and human resources available. In this sense we cannot speak of a single winning model since specific projects reflect the different local environments and cultural factors that can be an obstacle to doing business.
Nonetheless, a technology pole should be seen as a common technical infrastructure, created with the aim of attracting an important influx of knowledge and technologies for scientific institutions and businesses, attracting investments and thus creating new jobs. Entrepreneurs using new technologies are offered services in the form of consultancy in the formation and development of an enterprise, technology transfer and R&D, creation of favorable conditions for doing business. Without forgetting the orientation of investments towards the development of the intellectual potential of employees, a trump card confirmed by Krakow's second place in the ranking of the most interesting places in emerging sectors such as BPO investments (Business Process Outsourcing).
