In mid-April 2026, the Sejm passed the Act on the National Register of Marked Dogs and Cats – KROPiK. The underlying objective is sound: mandatory animal microchipping and a centralised database. However, behind the noble aim lie serious legal deficiencies.

Do Rzeczy published an article entitled “KROPiK Criticised in the Senate: Serious Constitutional Flaws”, featuring commentary from the Managing Partner of Jabłoński Koźmiński & Partners, Dr Krzysztof Koźmiński, Associate Professor at the University of Warsaw. In our expert’s view, the Act is defective as a matter of legislative drafting – and on multiple levels simultaneously. It attracted over 30 critical observations. Our expert identifies four key shortcomings:

• Breach of constitutional principles — the Act conflicts with several fundamental principles of the Polish Constitution.
• Incompatibility with EU law — on 28 April, the European Parliament adopted a regulation directly applicable in Poland; in its current form, the Act may be incompatible with that regulation and expose Poland to liability before international bodies.
• Defective legislative procedure — the regulatory impact assessment raises serious concerns: the data used are selective, incomplete, and unreliable.
• Unrealistic calculations — the financial estimates and underlying assumptions bear no relation to market realities.

And one further point: the costs will be borne by pet owners. In a country where well-functioning databases have existed for 25 years and provide their services free of charge, questions about the rationale and proportionality of this regulation are entirely justified.

The link to the article is available here.