The deadline for trading based on patent that expires on December 31, 2018 could be extended until December 31, 2019, in accordance with an amendment to Article 4 of the Law on the Entrepreneur’s Patent that was approved by the Cabinet, IPN reports.
The Ministry of Economy and Infrastructure explained such a move is needed given the slow transition to independent activity or other legal forms of entrepreneurship.
On the other hand, the patent limits the consumer’s right as this cannot exercise the right to replace the purchased goods if they turned out to be of a poor quality. In order to develop economic activities and to improve control over the mentioned risks, the legal framework was modified in January 2017 by introducing a new legal form of entrepreneurship - independent activity. This form enables to start a business in a simplified way.
The authorities established that only 1,500 trading private individuals migrated from patent to independent activity during January 2017 – September 2018. Over 9,100 patents for retail trade were still valid this September.
The Ministry of Economy and Infrastructure in 2019 intends to implement a series of measures to encourage the switchover to independent activity.
