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Submit a complaint or a proposal

Information on submitting a complaint or a proposal is provided below.

Complaints submitted to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs may concern violations of the submitting persons’ interests due to negligence or undue performance of delegated tasks in public administration by Polish missions abroad or their employees, or by the MFA’s units in Poland or their employees.

Proposals submitted to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs may concern cases of improving the organization and operation of the Ministry’s units, making their work more effective, as well as preventing irregularities.

At the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, complaints and proposals are received and handled in line with Order no. 1 of the Minister of Foreign Affairs of 24 January 2018 concerning the receipt and handling of petitions, complaints and proposals at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the units subordinate to the Minister of Foreign Affairs (Journal of Laws of the Minister of Foreign Affairs, item 6). The Order was issued pursuant to the following regulations:

  • Division VIII of the Act of 14 June 1960 – Code of Administrative Proceedings (Journal of Laws of 2017, item 1257, uniform text),
  • Regulation by the Council of Ministers of 8 January 2002 on the organisation of the receipt and examination of complaints and proposals (Journal of Laws no. 5, item 46).

Means of submitting complaints and proposals

As laid down in Article 63(2) of the Act of 14 June 1960 – Code of Administrative Proceedings (Journal of Laws of 2017, item 1257, uniform text) and § 8(1) of the Regulation by the Council of Ministers of 8 January 2002 on the organisation of the receipt and examination of complaints and proposals (Journal of Laws no. 5, item 46), it is obligatory to provide the submitting person’s address (town, postcode, street name, house and apartment number).

As laid down in the Regulation by the Council of Ministers of 8 January 2002 on the organisation of the receipt and examination of complaints and proposals:

§ 8(1) Complaints and proposals that do not contain the submitting person’s first name and surname (business name) shall remain unconsidered.

§ 8(2) If the subject of a complaint or a proposal cannot be established on the basis of the contents of the complaint or the proposal, the submitting party shall be summoned to submit an explanation or supplement within seven days of the day of receipt of the summons and shall be instructed that the failure to remedy the defects will cause the complaint or the proposal to remain unconsidered.

Complaints and proposals may be submitted:

1. By mail to the following address:

Bureau of Control and Audit
Ministry of Foreign Affairs
Al. J. Ch. Szucha 23
00-580 Warsaw, Poland

2. By e-mail to the following address: petycje.skargi.wnioski@msz.gov.pl

The complaints and proposals sent by e-mail should contain the submitting party’s first name, surname and address.

3. Orally for the record

The interested parties visiting the Ministry of Foreign Affairs with regard to complaints and proposals are received:

  • on Mondays from 4:00 p.m. to 6:00 p.m.,
  • Tuesdays through Thursdays from 2:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m.,

upon prior appointment made by phone (+ 48 22 523 9446) or via email at petycje.skargi.wnioski@msz.gov.pl.

NOTE: Out of regard for the visitor admission rules in force at the MFA, please contact us at least four days prior to your planned visit if you are interested in personally submitting a complaint for the record.

5. By a letter submitted in person at the MFA Correspondence Register located at entrance A, 23 Szucha Avenue, open Monday through Friday from 8:15 a.m. to 4:15 p.m.

At foreign missions, the persons receiving visitors about complaints and proposals are heads of mission or mission employees named by mission heads.

6. Via the ePUAP platform

Contents of a complaint

Apart from the submitting person’s particulars and address, a complaint should contain a detailed factual description of the circumstances of the event it concerns, including:

  • information about the foreign mission or MFA unit whose conduct is complained about (embassy, consulate general, Polish institute, bureau or department at the MFA),
  • information regarding the particulars and position of the employee who is found by the submitting person to have violated the applicable provisions, procedures and rules,
  • explanation as to which provisions, procedures or rules have been violated,
  • information about the time of the reported event,
  • appendices likely to corroborate the situation described in the complaint (copies of emails or letters sent to units of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, copies of replies received from units of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, copies of documents etc.),
  • if a complaint is submitted in another person’s interest, that person’s consent is a prerequisite for the submission of the letter in question; the consent may have any form, as long as the person’s intent is expressed clearly and unambiguously (the most preferable option would be a written authorisation signed by that person and authorising the submitting person to act on his or her behalf).

Time limits

Article 237(1) of the Code of Administrative Proceedings (Journal of Laws of 2017, item 1257, uniform text):

The authority having competence to handle the complaint shall do so without undue delay, no later than within one month.

Reconsideration of visa decisions

Please be informed that, in accordance with the Act on foreigners of 12 December 2013 (Journal of Laws of 2017, item 2206, as amended), specifying the terms and conditions of entry and stay in the territory of the Republic of Poland of foreigners and the competence of authorities in these matters, the decision on either issuing or refusing to issue a visa to a foreigner abroad falls exclusively with the competent consul. 

It follows from the above that the consul is the only authorised body to make decisions on visas for foreigners staying abroad, and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs cannot revoke, amend or order reconsideration of a consul’s decision on visa.

The decision taken by the consul shall be subject to a request for reconsideration by that authority. The application for reconsideration should be filed with the authority which issued the decision within 14 days of receiving the decision to refuse a Schengen or a national visa (legal grounds: Articles 75 and 76 of the Act of 12 December 2013 on foreigners (Journal of Laws of 2017, item 2206, as amended)).

Complaints about foreign authorities

Please be informed that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Poland does not examine complaints about foreign authorities.

The provisions and procedures regarding the receipt of complaints and proposals laid down in the Code of Administrative Proceedings apply solely to Polish authorities. The said provisions cannot be applied to complaints about foreign authorities directed at the Minister of Foreign Affairs or the heads of Polish diplomatic and consular missions, and to requests for intervention with foreign authorities or bodies filed by Polish nationals harmed as the result of the said authorities’ or bodies’ actions or inaction.

In this kind of cases, it is impossible to apply the same procedures as in the case of complaints and proposals since Polish authorities do not supervise the authorities of the receiving state and are not in a position to order foreign state authorities or bodies to take specific actions or assume responsibility for their actions or failure to take such actions.

Moreover, neither Polish MFA nor consular posts have any control over the timeframe in which specific cases are being considered by foreign state authorities.

Information clause on the processing of personal data

This information ensures compliance with the obligation laid down in Article 13 of the Regulation (EU) 2016/679 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 27 April 2016 on the protection of natural persons with regard to the processing of personal data and on the free movement of such data, and repealing Directive 95/46/EC, hereinafter referred to as the “GDPR.”

  1. Within the meaning of Article 4(7) of the GDPR, the controller of the personal data is the Minister of Foreign Affairs seated in Poland, Warsaw, Al. J. Ch. Szucha 23.
  2. The Data Protection Officer (DPO) has been appointed at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs headquarters and in its diplomatic missions abroad.

DPO contact details

Registered address: Al. J. Ch. Szucha 23, 00-580 Warsaw

e-mail address: iod@msz.gov.pl

  1. The categories of processed data:
  1. Name and surname,
  2. Address (city/town, postcode, street, house no., apt. no.),
  3. E-mail address – should a petition, complaint, or proposal be sent electronically
  4. Additional data included in the petition, complaint, or proposal.
  5. The data is processed under Article 6(1)(c) of the GDPR in connection with the provisions of Division VIII of the Act of 14 June 1960 – Code of Administrative Proceedings (uniform text – Journal of Laws of 2017, item 1257) (hereinafter referred to as CAP), the Act of 11 July 2014 on petitions (uniform text – Journal of Laws of 2018, item 870), and executive regulations of the CAP, in order to meet the legal obligation imposed on the controller of the personal data when processing a petition, complaint, or proposal.
  6. Your personal data will be processed until the purpose of processing specified in item 4 is met, and then retained for archiving purposes, pursuant to the provisions of the Act of 14 July 1983 on the National Archive Resources and Archives (Journal of Laws of 2018, item 217) and the regulations in force at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs issued on its basis.
  7. The data are protected under the GDPR provisions and cannot be made available to third parties unauthorised to access these data. They will not be transferred to a third country or an international organisation. The data must be made available only to the entities authorised by law. Also they can be transferred to another public authority to have the case processed in line with its competence.
  8. Only the authorised employees of the MFA have access to the data.
  9. The data subject has the right to control the processing of personal data, as specified in Articles 15-16, Article 17(1)(a) and (d), and Articles 18-19 of the GDPR, in particular the right to access and rectify their personal data, and the right to remove them or restrict their processing.
  10. The personal data will not be processed in an automated manner and will not be subject to profiling.
  11. The data subject has the right to lodge a complaint with the supervisory authority at the address: President of the Personal Data Protection Office, ul. Stawki 2, 00-193 Warsaw
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