On 21 March 2025, the Polish government adopted a draft amendment to the co-called Distance Act, submitted by the Minister of Climate and Environment (draft UD89). Subsequently, on 24 March 2025, the draft amendment was forwarded to the lower house of parliament, the Sejm.

The key change is the reduction of the distance of wind turbines from the nearest buildings, which in the draft amendment is 500 meters, while the current required distance is 700 meters. The changes introduced in the draft amendment are also intended to standardise the planning process in municipalities where wind turbines will be built. The provisions defining the requirements for the local spatial and development plans (“Zoning Plans”, Polish: MPZP) for wind power plants are to be transferred to the Polish Act of 27 March 2003 on spatial planning and development ("Spatial Planning Act"). In addition, the draft amendment regulates the location of wind power plants using an Integrated Investment Plan (Polish: ZPI).

While the draft amendment is still at the stage of the legislative procedure, which will certainly take several more months, there are some doubts among investors as to whether they can already take steps to initiate planning procedures (e.g., in order to amend Zoning Plans which are already in effect, by “adding” a few more turbines with a distance from residential buildings under the new rules - i.e., 500 meters), taking into account the provisions of the draft amendment, aiming to have these planning procedures completed as soon as the amended Distance Act is enacted and the proposed revisions take effect.

The answers to these questions and doubts can be found in the transitional provisions contained in the draft amendment

First of all, article 14(2) of the draft amendment specifies that the provisions of the Distance Act and the Spatial Planning Act as they were in effect before the date of entry into force of the amended Distance Act, shall apply to draft Zoning Plans prepared or amended on the basis of a resolution on commencement (Polish: uchwała o przystąpieniu) adopted before the date of entry into force of the amended Distance Act, with the exception of the provisions introducing a buffer from national roads, the functioning of which was made conditional upon the announcement of the date of public review (Polish: wyłożenie od publicznego wglądu) and the announcement of the commencement of public consultations. It should be noted that the resolution on commencement is the first, preliminary stage of the planning procedure regarding the adoption of Zoning Plans.

An analogous provision for Integrated Investment Plans is contained in Article 14(3) of the draft amendment. The provisions of the Distance Act and the Spatial Planning Act, as they have been in effect to date, shall apply to draft Integrated Investment Plans prepared upon application submitted before the date of entry into force of the amended Distance Act, with the exception of the provisions introducing a buffer from national roads, the functioning of which has been made conditional upon the announcement of the commencement of public consultations. The aforementioned application for adoption by the municipal council of an Integrated Investment Plan, together with a draft of such a plan, is prepared by the investor and submitted to the head of the municipality (mayor or city president) as the first stage of the planning procedure for the adoption of such a plan.

Overall, taking into account the transitional provisions outlined above, unfortunately it will not be the best solution to start the planning procedure to enact or amend a Zoning Plan for wind turbines before the amended Distance Act comes into force, as the very start of the planning procedure will result in the application of the current provisions and rules of the Distance Act, which stipulate a distance of 700m between wind turbines and residential buildings. Therefore, what remains is to wait for the revised Distance Act to come into force or to proceed under the current rules.