As of 2026, the rules under which authorities and inspectorates may inspect a sole proprietorship (jednoosobowa działalność gospodarcza, JDG) in Poland are changing. This is the result of the so-called first deregulation package — a law meant to relieve entrepreneurs of excessive and overly long inspections. Some provisions have already been in force since mid-2025, while others, concerning risk categorization, took effect on 1 January 2026. It's worth knowing what has changed, because most sole proprietorships in Poland are, by definition, micro-entrepreneurs — and it is precisely this group that the changes affect the most.
Where these changes come from
The new rules were introduced by the Act of 21 May 2025 amending certain acts to deregulate economic and administrative law and improve the principles of drafting economic legislation (Journal of Laws, Dz.U. 2025, item 769), known as the first deregulation package. The act amends provisions of the Entrepreneurs' Law (Prawo przedsiębiorców) of 6 March 2018 concerning business inspections — primarily Article 55 and the newly added Article 55a. Some of the regulations, including the shortened inspection time limit, took effect on 13 July 2025. The provisions on periodic risk analysis and entrepreneur categorization entered into force on 1 January 2026.
Shorter inspection time for micro-entrepreneurs
The most noticeable change is the shortening of the maximum total duration of all inspections of a micro-entrepreneur within a single calendar year — from 12 to 6 working days. The limits for other entrepreneurs remain unchanged: a small entrepreneur — 18 working days, a medium entrepreneur — 24 working days, and all other entrepreneurs — 48 working days per year. Working days count toward the limit from the day the inspection starts to the day it ends, regardless of whether inspectors were physically present at the business every day, and regardless of the form of the inspection — including remote inspections.
Lawmakers provided for the possibility of extending an inspection of a micro-entrepreneur, but only in a strictly defined situation: if, after the inspection activities at the company's premises or place of business are completed, only activities related to gathering and analyzing documents remain, these may continue at the inspecting authority's office or remotely — without requiring the entrepreneur's consent. Such an extension, however, may not cause the total to exceed twice the base limit, i.e. 12 working days.
Risk categories and less frequent planned inspections
Since 1 January 2026, an additional mechanism limiting the frequency of planned inspections has been in force, introduced by Article 55a of the Entrepreneurs' Law. Inspecting authorities are required to periodically analyze the probability of a legal violation by entrepreneurs in a given industry or group and, on that basis, assign them one of three risk categories: low, medium, or high. This category determines how often a planned inspection may be carried out at an entrepreneur's business: for low risk — no more than once every 5 years, for medium risk — no more than once every 3 years. For the high-risk category, the act sets no upper limit — planned inspections may be carried out as often as needed to ensure effective application of the relevant provisions.
The inspecting authority must publish the rules for assigning entrepreneurs to individual risk categories on its subject page in the Public Information Bulletin (Biuletyn Informacji Publicznej, BIP), within 3 months of adopting each subsequent periodic analysis. This means an entrepreneur can, in theory, check what criteria a given authority uses when selecting businesses in their industry for planned inspections.
More information in the inspection notice
The amendment also changes the scope of information that a notice of intent to initiate an inspection must contain. In addition to the previously required elements, the inspecting authority must now provide a preliminary list of documents and information related to the scope of the inspection that it intends to obtain during the inspection, and, in the case of planned inspections, also information about the entrepreneur's assigned risk category. This makes it easier to prepare for an inspection in advance, rather than gathering documents only once the inspectors arrive.
What this means in practice for a sole proprietorship
The vast majority of people running a sole proprietorship in Poland fall under the definition of a micro-entrepreneur — that is, a business employing on average fewer than 10 people annually and achieving annual net turnover or balance-sheet assets not exceeding 2 million euros. For this group, the changes mean a genuinely shorter duration for any inspection and, thanks to risk categorization, potentially less frequent planned inspections for businesses with a lower risk of violations. This does not, however, remove any obligations toward inspectors: entrepreneurs must still keep an inspection log (książka kontroli), provide documents at the request of the authorized authority, and cooperate during inspection activities. What changes is the time frame and frequency, not the scope of the parties' rights and obligations.