Investors pleased with Poland – Economic Survey 2012

95% of foreign investors in Poland would choose the location of investment again – these are the results of the Economic Survey 2012 of the German‐Polish Chamber of Industry and Commerce carried out in cooperation with Swisschamber Poland and five other bilateral chambers in Poland: British, Irish, Canadian, Portuguese and Scandinavian, operating within the International Group of Chambers of commerce (IGCC).
As the results have shown, for another year in a row, Poland was ahead of other countries it is competing with for investments in this region of Europe, which was reflected in the number of points awarded to it by investors for a total of 22 factors driving the inflow of foreign capital (4.64 points out of 6 points maximum). Four top‐scoring factors of Poland’s attractiveness were its EU membership, and three HR factors, including qualifications, motivation and performance of Polish workers.
Complete results of the Survey:

Results of IGCC Survey 2012

Press publications:

Więcej nowych centrów w Polsce Reczpospolita 30.03.2012

Zagraniczni inwestorzy chwalą pracowników w Polsce Dziennik Gazeta Prawna 30.03.2012

Aleksandra Minkowicz-Flanek heads the Labour and Employment Team at Salans

Aleksandra Minkowicz-Flanek has joined Salans law firm. She is a qualified legal adviser in Poland (2007) and has been specialising for over 10 years in labour and employment law as well as in corporate law.

Aleksandra is endorsed as an employment law expert in Poland in the PLC Which lawyer? published by Practical Law Company. She has broad experience in individual and collective labour law issues, employment restructuring, collective dismissals, remuneration in the banking sector and employment-related aspects of corporate transactions. She negotiates with employee representatives, drafts transactional documentation and advises on cross-border employment relations.

She has authored numerous press articles and speaks at conferences on a regular basis. She also runs training courses on employment-related issues. At Salans Aleksandra Minkowicz-Flanek heads the fivestrong Labour and Employment Team.

Second edition of Swisschamber Card

On 1 March 2012 the second edition of the Polish-Swiss Chamber of Commerce discount card – Swisschamber Card has started. The Partners of the program are our member companies – Hotel Express International, Interhome, Nespresso, Swiss and Swissmed. Especially for the second edition of Swisschamber Card the companies have prepared special offers. Swiss provides already a 20% discount and Swissmed invites you to benefit from the services of newly opened hospital in Warsaw.

Detailed information on the Card can be found on our website under Swisschamber Card. We are very pleased to publish there also references of Card users.

Withholding tax on licence fees gained in Poland by Swiss entities

We are pleased to inform you that the Ministry of Finance has officially confirmed the information on the lack of such a tax published in our brochure ”Tax alert” of April 2011.

This is the current situation:

– this year, as it was the case up till now, licence fees will be taxable only in the country in which the fee holder lives or has its seat (see the letter of the Ministry of Finance )
– whereas, the withholding tax, except for situations in which the payment of the fee is done between affiliated entities, will be in force from 1st July 2013 (see attached below the article from Rzeczpospolita).

We informed you about the questions around the withholding tax imposed on dividends and interests at the end of last year in our Newsletter no 52 and the above quoted tax alert.

HICRON earned the status of Microsoft Silver Partner

Demonstration of adequate level of knowledge of technological consultants on Microsoft’s products and their certificationwas one of the requirements that HICRONhad to meet in order to become one of Microsoft’s partners in the area of Software Development. High sales of HICRON’s own solutions based on Microsoft software also had a favourable influenceon achieving the status of Microsoft Silver Partner.

Among HICRON’s products developed on the basis of Microsoft technology are HICRON POS (Point of Sale) that can be used to manage sales in points of sale and HICRONDMS Cockpit (Document Management System), used in order to create and manage folder structures within theSAP system. Said solutions were implemented by HICRONconsultants e.g. in companies Piekarnia Pod Telegrafem (HICRON POS) andAndritz (HICRONDMS Cockpit).

Belonging to the group of Microsoft Silver Partnersgives us a range of new opportunities. Firstly, we received access to a wide range of Microsoft products used for the purposes of training, tests andsimulation. Secondly, we were given the possibility to use Microsoft help in creation of own solutions, e.g. at design and implementation stages. Thirdly, we gained access to the most up-to-date knowledge onMicrosoft products during trainings and technological meetings organised for the closed group of Microsoftpartners– says Andrzej Gontarz, ITDepartment Manager at HICRONcoordinating processes connected with Microsoft certification.

Benefits of partnership with Microsoft in the area of Software Development are passed on to HICRON’s customers by reducing implementation times, reducing costs of maintenance of solutions and providing guarantee of highest quality of support confirmed by Microsoft.

When supplying software solutions to our customers we try as best as we can to play the role of not only a trusted advisor but also of an integratorwho understands end-to-end complexity of often heterogenic ITenvironments of our customers. In supplied solutions we try to use the best standard components coming from renowned suppliers, including SAP and Microsoft, integrating them knowledgeably and developingthem in the desired scope. And all this to make them as mature, complete and at the same time as optimised as possible from the point of view of the customer with respect to costs, executedprocesses and functionality.

Right direction of our activitiesis confirmed first of all by the opinion of our customers who entrust us more and more frequently with execution of comprehensive software undertakings extending beyond typical boundaries ofERPor CRM systems. Strengthening cooperation with our biggest partner – company SAP, and certification with other software manufacturers, e.g. Microsoft, is extremely important, especially in the context of confirmation of our qualifications – says RemigiuszEfinowicz, Member of the Board ofHICRON.

End of a dispute over the contract to build Opole Power Plant

The KIO’s decision meant success for the awarding body – PGE Górnictwo i Energetyka Konwencjonalna – and of the entire PGE group. It brings to an end a 2-year process for selecting the construction tender winner and paves the way for this PLN 11.5 billion investment getting underway. Timely delivery in 2017 will help ensure future energy security for Poland.

The motion for the appeal to be rejected was submitted on behalf of the awarding body at a KIO meeting by Aldona Kowalczyk of Salans. The public procurement team headed by Aldona Kowalczyk produced documents proving that the appeal against the tender outcome was filed by an Alstom company other than that which participated in the proceedings.

This is yet another key investment which will get underway without much delay due to professional support for the awarding body in appeal proceedings. The same Salans team represented the City of Warsaw, among others, in a tender for the construction of Most Północny (North Bridge) which ended with the selection of the best offer.

Christmas is coming…

Christmas is coming, which is why Lindt has prepared a very special offer. See the details in the attached pdf.

Swiss Pavillion at Energetab Fair 2011 in Bielsko-Biala

The Swiss Pavilion is a joint initiative of the Polish-Swiss Chamber of Commerce and the Swiss Business Hub Poland c/o Embassy of Switzerland, which is organized for the second time at ENERGETAB fair. The Pavilion includes exhibitions of the following companies: Alpiq, Delta, Enersys (Oerlikon), Fracht, Georg UTZ oraz Pfiffner. Our member companies Sabur and Wamtechnik also joined the initiative.

Watch a short film from the Energetab 2011.