2025-04-19 16:00
publication
2025-04-19 16:00
The Regional Accounting Chamber (RIO) in Krakow initiated proceedings regarding the annulment of the resolution of the Zakopane City Council about the local fee – President Rio Jolanta Nowakowska informed PAP. In response, the mayor refers to an older resolution and orders the collection of a fee for tourists in the amount of PLN 2 per night.
“At the meeting on April 9, 2025, the College of the Regional Accounting Chamber in Krakow adopted a resolution, pursuant to which he decided to initiate the proceedings for annulment of the resolution of the Zakopane City Council of March 27 on the local fee and to suspend the implementation of the indicated resolution,” said the president of Krakowska Rio.
The City Hall of Zakopane announced that The local fee charged from tourists by hoteliers and owners of tourist facilities will be charged again, despite the fact that on April 1, the Supreme Administrative Court dismissed the city's cassation and upheld the previous judgment annulling the previous resolution (from 2015 – PAP) in this matter, thus prohibiting the collection of a local fee.
In the resolution of the Zakopane City Council of March 27, which can be questioned by Rio, the fee rate was set at PLN 1.90 for each day started at the Tatra Mountains. The document was published on March 28 in the Official Journal of the Lesser Poland Voivodeship, and its entry into force is scheduled for April 12.
The mayor of Zakopane about the decision of Rio learned from PAP on Tuesday and decided to return to an even earlier resolution, from 2013, under which the fee was PLN 2. As he argued, this resolution has not yet been repealed by the court.
“In connection with the repeal of the resolution of 2015 by the Supreme Administrative Court, we return to the earlier resolution of 2013. From today the fee is PLN 2. This is a legal issue, but the most important information for tourists and entrepreneurs is the current amount of the fee,” the deputy mayor of Zakopane Bartłomiej Bryjak told PAP.
The situation raises great anxiety of the tourism industry. Karol Wagner from the Tatra Chamber of Commerce emphasized that legal ambiguities and the lack of clear communication with the City Hall expose entrepreneurs to the loss of guests' confidence.
“Chaos in connection with the local fee in Zakopane is alarming for hoteliers. The most important value for us is the comfort and safety of our guests. Therefore, there is no question that we are misleading tourists or expose ourselves to accusations of an attempt to fraud or extort these uniformly small money, but measurable money for the city office. Thus, there is no information on the line of the city office And the legal opinions that the city has seems to be unjustified.
The local fee applies to people staying in Zakopane above the day for tourist, recreation or training purposes. The justification of the resolution emphasized that Zakopane meets landscape and climate qualities entitling to its collection.
On April 1, the Supreme Administrative Court dismissed Zakopane's cassation complaint and upheld the judgment of the Provincial Administrative Court in Krakow, which considered an earlier resolution on a local fee as invalid. The complaint was lodged by prof. ASP Bogdan Achimescu, supported by the Clientearth Foundation – Lawyers for the Earth. As argued, Zakopane does not meet the air quality standards necessary to charge this type of fee. The dispute concerns, among others interpretation of environmental data covering all of Lesser Poland, and not only the city of the city under the Tatra Mountains.
Pursuant to the Regulation of the Council of Ministers of 2007, local or climate fee can only be charged by cities that meet specific criteria – including air pollution standards as well as climate and landscape values.
Szymon Bafia (PAP)
SZB/ MMU/ JS/
