American Investor June 2011

American

InvestorJUNE 2011

Vol. XXI, No. 6 • ISSN 1506-3240

© American Chamber of Commerce in Poland 2011 www.amcham.pl

A long row to hoe……before Poland sees a boomin indigenous shale gas

Focus:Kroll Ontrack

AmCham AcademyCoca-Cola

Experts:Łaszczuk & Partners

Salans

Photo pages: Meeting at Woodward Governor • AmCham Monthly Meeting •Business Mixer at Pink Flamingo

Monthly Meeting:Wojciech Wiewiórowski

MONTHLY MEETING

Learning from each other Narrowing the differences in data protectionbetween the EU and the US will be good for business on both sides ofthe pond, p. 16

FOCUS

AmCham Academy AmCham will support training programs to enhancepractical work skills of selected staff from member companies, p. 18

Supporting IT and justice Tomasz Szczerbina from AmCham Krakówtalks with Marek Suczyk, managing director of the Polish subsidiary ofKroll Ontrack, a data retrieval and computer forensic specialist, about thecompany’s accomplishments and challenges, p. 19

Quenching people’s thirst As Coca-Cola celebrates its 125th anniver-sary, American Investor's Tom Ćwiok talks with Paul Woodward, Opera-tions Director for Coca-Cola Northern Central Europe (Poland, Czech Re-public, Slovakia and the Baltics) about the company’s success in Polandand worldwide, p. 20

EXPERTS

Less bureaucracy Cases should now be handled more smoothly by ad-ministrative authorities, p. 22

Seek and ye shall mine Mining companies have an incentive to exploreshale gas and tight deposits when their right to extract what they find islegally protected, p. 23

EVENTS

Getting personal with data protection czar, p. 25Walking the talk with Woodward Governor, p. 26Pink Flamingo welcomes AmCham, p. 27

DEPARTMENTS

From the Editor, p. 2, Newsline, p. 5, Agenda, p. 9, Guide to AmChamCommittees, p. 11, Content summaries in Polish, p. 28.

JUNE 2011 AMERICAN INVESTOR 1

what’s on

www.amcham.plYour online guide to AmCham activities

…before Polandsees a boom inindigenous shalegas, page 12.

Other useful sites

U.S. Chamber of Commerce

http://www.uschamber.comAmerican Chamber of Commerce

to the European Union

http://www.amchameu.beAmChams in Europe

http://www.amchamseurope.com

COVER STORY:American

InvestorJUNE 2011 Vol. XXI, No. 6

Calendar

By clicking on red links in the Calen-

dar you may visit photo coverage ofour past events. Blue links will takeyou to the announcements of upcom-ing events.

Download this magazine!

American Investor is available in full asa pdf for download from the www.am-cham.pl website. Go to "About Us" inthe horizontal menu, and chooseAmerican Investor Magazine fromthe pop-up menu. You can downloadpast issues of American Investor dat-ing back to October 2010.

Policy Watch

Intelligence: For AmCham positionpapers, policy statements, official let-ters to government ministers and re-search papers, visit the Advocacy linkon the horizontal menu to downloadthe latest AmCham position papers.

Regions

AmCham may be closer than youthink. Apart from Warsaw, AmChamhas two regional branches which areactive all year long and offer many ex-citing opportunities to interface with regional business leaders and politi-cians. To find out more about our ac-tivities in Kraków and the region ofsouthern Poland, and Wrocław, go toRegions in the horizontal menu bar,and pick your region of interest.

Events

AmCham Monthly Meetings are one ofthe flagship events organized by thechamber. While American Investor cov-ers each Monthly Meeting exten-sively, including full-page pictorials,you can search through picturearchives of past events that includenever previously printed material. Justgo to Events and Activities, pickMonthly Meetings and scroll down forlinks to archived events.

AmCham online

The Fourth of July celebration hosted each year by AmCham has become a tradition among American business and the Warsawcommunity.* On Saturday, July 2, 2011, the American Chamber of Commerce in Poland will once again host this hugely suc-cessful party for key officials from member firms and the international business community. The event will be held again at thebeautiful Królikarnia Palace and the surrounding Arkadia park.

Expected attendance: 600+ (100 kids)Target: Senior Management of over 300 member firmsTime: 6:00–10:00 P.M.+Format/Activities: Party with live music, fireworks, children’s play area, raffles of valuable prizes (airline tickets, hotel

vouchers) with proceeds going to the AmCham Orphanage Assistance program.

Sponsorship Options:PLATINUM (PLN 30,000)

GOLD (PLN 20,000)SILVER (PLN 10,000)COPPER (PLN 5,000)

It is not our intention to exclude or discourage any Member firms from participating in the event in the form of in-kind sponsor-ship. Please contact us if you have a specific idea such as food donations, medical care, the children’s corner, etc. We have alwaysheld raffles and competitions, as they are extremely popular with both adults and children.

For more information please contact:Anita Kowalska, Events Manager

tel: +48 [email protected]

* According to AmCham’s 2011 Membership Survey, our 4th of July Picnic is the event most appreciated by members.

The American Chamber of Commerce in Poland

4th of July PicnicSponsorship Outline

A long rowto hoe…

2 AMERICAN INVESTOR JUNE 2011

BOARD OFDIRECTORS

The American Chamber of Commerce in Poland

SPONSORS

Joseph Wancer – DeloitteChairman

Judith Y. Gliniecki – Wierzbowski EvershedsVice Chair

richard lada – TelestoVice Chairman

peter kaY – KPMG PolskaSecretary

stan popoW – FinacorpTreasurer

Tony HoushAPCO Worldwide

Paul FogoMiller Canfield

Piotr JuchaMcDonald’s

Thomas KolajaAlvarez and Marsal

Robert L. KońskiKulczyk Investments

John LynchLynka

Mac RaczkiewiczEx officio

Roman RewaldWeil, Gotshal & Manges

Anna SienkoIBM

AmCham Auditor:

Good reasons to work together

In May I had the pleasure of rubbing shoulders with the leaders of the gas

industry at the Shale Gas Conference in Warsaw, which was attended not

only by representatives of leading US oil and gas companies, but also by

Richard Morningstar, US Department of State Special Envoy for Energy in Eu-

rope and Asia, with the rank of ambassador, US Ambassador to Poland Lee

Feinstein, and Polish Minister of Foreign Affairs Radosław Sikorski, and other

government officials.

It was the second conference on shale gas here organized so far by the US

and Poland. The first one took place a year ago, and I was there too.

I must say that a lot has changed in one year. First of all, the participants at

the first conference were cautious about estimating the potential of Poland’s

indigenous shale gas resources. There were many “ifs” and “don’t knows.”

Secondly, as a media person, the subject matter of the conference was

new to me and a vast group of Polish journalists. We all had to learn the differ-

ences between shale gas and conventional gas when it comes to geology.

The technology was also new: horizontal drilling and hydro-cracking were

concepts we had to learn about then. Not this year.

A year on, shale gas in Poland is no longer a new thing. Although we still

have to wait for the results of geological studies to tell us the real amount of

shale gas in Poland, one could sense a growing confidence among gas pro-

fessionals at the conference about what may lie ahead for the industry.

Of course, as with any industrial phenomenon, the development of the

shale gas industry in Poland will take proper handling of many issues. As Vice

Minister of Treasury Mikołaj Budzanowski said at the conference, it will require

solving social aspects (local communities and their genuine fear of having

their habitats destroyed), as well as economic (billions of zloty that is needed

to invest in gas pipeline infrastructure), legal (laws addressing special issues

connected with shale gas exploration will have to be adopted), and political

(Poland cannot be the only country in the EU supporting shale gas explo-

ration and lay the foundations for it for the whole EU).

But along with having an indigenous source of relatively environment-

friendly energy, what Poland will definitely see as a result of the shale boom

will be a free market for natural gas, something that will benefit the private

sector and the whole economy.

Poland, it seems, is well-positioned to take advantage of shale gas. As

Budzanowski stressed at the conference, Poland has been a gas nation for

decades. He observed that Polish companies produce 4.5 billion cubic me-

Tomasz Ćwiok

YOUR AMCHAM FROM THE EDITOR

MEMBERS

ters of natural gas from domestic resources yearly, which meets nearly a third of the country’s demand for gas. So far they

have drilled 7,000 wells, out of which 1,700 are in business. With this, the Polish gas industry has accumulated a relatively

large experience in how to deal with at least some of the issues mentioned at the conference as critical for successful shale

gas development in Poland.

In fact, Polish professionals, working side-by-side their colleagues from the US, may significantly contribute to a successful

kick-start of the shale gas industry, as soon as we know the numbers—documented rather than estimated—about shale gas

deposits.

But even if the documented resources turn out to be only a fraction of what is currently estimated by the US Energy Infor-

mation Administration (5.8 trillion cubic feet), shale gas will be an important energy source for decades to come and surely

will be a game-changer for the energy sector in Poland and Europe. The change will no doubt be for the better, including a

more competitive and less carbon-intensive economy.

With this it is fair to say that never before in peacetime have Poland and the US had more reasons to partner and cooperate

than now.


American

Investor

© American Chamber of Commerce in Poland 2011. All rights reserved.

American Investor is the official publication of the Ameri-can Chamber of Commerce in Poland. It is a voice for for-eign investors and the business community in Poland.The magazine strives to keep our members and otherreaders up to date by following chamber news and report-ing on the leading trends in business and policy.

letters to the editor should be e-mailed [email protected]

AMCHAM STAFFDorota DabrowskiExecutive [email protected]

Marzena DrelaDeputy [email protected]

Anita KowalskaEvents & Media [email protected]

Robert KruszynaOffice [email protected]

Barbara Pocialik-MalinowskaMembership and Committees [email protected]

Marta PawlakResearch and Policy [email protected]

Robert ChomikProject [email protected]

AmCham in KrakówMonika [email protected]

AmCham in WrocławJoanna [email protected]

Published by the American Chamber of Commerce in Poland

YOUR AMCHAM


EDITOR-IN-CHIEF, ART & DTP

tomasz Ć[email protected]

EDITOR-AT-LARGEchristopher [email protected]

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NewslineNews from AmCham and its members

AmCham Chairman honoredAmCham Chairman Joseph Wancer has beenawarded the Order of Polonia Restituta, the sec-ond-highest distinction in Poland given to civil-ians, for his contribution to the creation of amodern banking sector in Poland.

Wancer was also invited to serve on the nom-inating committee for the new series of thePresidential Economic Award, to be given inJune this year. The committee has 20 membersrepresenting Polish universities, media, the Na-tional Bank of Poland, and the Poznań Interna-tional Fair. Wancer is the only member repre-senting a foreign business organization.

In April, Wancer was also awarded an hon-orary distinction from the Polish Bank Associa-tion for his achievement in the banking sector inthe two last decades.

After a successful career with Citibank inNew York and internationally, Wancer estab-lished Citibank’s operations in Poland in theearly 1990s. From 2001 he headed Bank BPH,now Poland’s 9th-largest bank. Wancer retiredin July 2010 after 43 years of banking service.

AmCham Kraków In May, the heads of AmCham member compa-nies from Southern Poland met with MałopolskaGovernor Stanisław Kracik at the plant of en-ergy control provider Woodward GovernorPoland in Niepołomice.

In his previous job as Mayor of Niepołomice,Kracik was instrumental in attracting numerousinvestors to create an investment zone in thesmall commune outside Kraków. The AmChamevent was an opportunity to discuss some cur-rent problems and challenges.

The number of American and other foreign in-vestors operating in the zone in Niepołomicesurprised even John Lynch, AmCham BoardMember and president of Lynka, and US ConsulGeneral to Kraków Allen Greenberg.

Managing Director Dominik Kania led a tourof the Woodward factory. The plant, combiningan engineering section (designing electronics,cabinets and mechanical engineering for indus-trial and aircraft turbines) with operations (as-sembly and tests of electronic products, cabinetassembly and wiring), is a good example of cut-ting-edge technology making its way to Poland.

AmCham Policy Watch As a follow-up to the April Monthly BreakfastMeeting with Małgorzata Krasnodębska-

Tomkiel, President of the Office of Competitionand Consumer Protection, AmCham submitteda position paper to Krasnodębska-Tomkiel un-derlining that companies applying for mergerapproval should be informed about problemsand issues with competition aspects of themerger identified by the office. AmCham alsoadvocated publishing a best practice guide tomerger-related competition issues, includingguidelines on how the participants should com-municate with the regulator, particularly with re-spect to addressing concerns and questionsraised by the office during the process ofmerger review.

Baker & McKenzie The international team of law firm Baker &McKenzie advised on bookbuilding and simul-taneous listing of shares on the Warsaw andLjubljana stock exchanges issued by NovaKBM, the second-largest financial group inSlovenia.

Warsaw partner Jakub Celiński, whoheaded the local team, said the transactionunderlined the growing importance of theWarsaw Stock Exchange as a financial hub forCentral & Eastern Europe. He said that Baker& McKenzie had already advised 6 out of 7Ukrainian companies listing their shares onthe WSE, as well as companies from theCzech Republic and Lithuania.

CiscoSystem integrator Cisco and the University ofTechnology and Life Sciences in Bydgoszczhave finished the modernization of the com-puter network on the university campus. Thenetwork, which utilizes the Cisco BorderlessNetworks architecture, supports wireless In-ternet access for 9,000 university studentsand 1,000 teachers.

CB Richard Ellis Manuel Lamosa de Melo has won the CBRichard Ellis International Urban Photogra-

CB Richard EllisPrzemysław Felicki hasjoined the Capital MarketsTeam of CB Richard Ellis asan associate director, basedin Warsaw. In his new role Fe-licki will focus on sales andacquisitions of retail, logisticsand office properties. He willalso be responsible for cus-tomer management and co-ordination of commercial duediligence projects. Felicki is a licensed appraiser anda member of the Royal Institution of Chartered Sur-veyors, with over 8 years’ experience in investment andvaluation.

Michał Stanisławski has beenpromoted to a consultant onthe Capital Markets Team. Hewill be involved in investmenttransactions and also respon-sible for market and financialappraisals, transaction man-agement in both sell- and buy-side instructions, and securingnew clients. Stanisławskijoined CB Richard Ellis in 2008.A graduate of Abertay University in Scotland, he is cur-rently studying at the Warsaw School of Economics.

Members on the move

Representatives from 12 foreign chambers of commerce, including Am-Cham, met with Polish President Bronisław Komorowski in late April toexchange ideas on legal and practical issues that affect the business envi-ronment for foreign companies in Poland. Speaking for AmCham, Chair-man Joseph Wancer addressed issues regarding public procurement andthe need to safeguard equal treatment of all investors in public tenders, nomatter whether they come from Poland, the European Union or outside theEU. Joining Wancer at the meeting were AmCham Board Members PaulFogo, Tony Housh, Rick Lada, Roman Rewald, and Anna Sienko.

JUNE 2011 AMERICAN INVESTOR 76 AMERICAN INVESTOR JUNE 2011

pher of the Year competition for his portrayalof a Tunisian market stall (pictured). The com-petition, which was open to amateur and pro-fessional photographers across Europe, theMiddle East and Africa, is the largest of itskind in the world, attracting a record of morethan 10,000 entries. Contestants also votedon their favorite landmarks. The world’s tallestbuilding, the Burj Khalifa in Dubai, rankedfirst, ahead of the Coliseum, the ChryslerBuilding and Angkor Wat.

In other news, CBRE has been appointedby HB Reavis Group as the exclusive agentfor its first Warsaw project, KonstruktorskaBusiness Center. The project will offer 48,000sq m of Class A office and retail space uponcompletion in 1Q 2013.

CB Richard Ellis Group has been named tothe Fortune 500 list of the largest US-basedcompanies for the fourth straight year. CB REis the only commercial real estate servicesfirm ever to be included in the Fortune 500. Atnumber 440 this year, the group handleddeals worth USD 128 billion in 2010.

Cushman & WakefieldAccording to real estate company Cushman &Wakefield, more than EUR 3.5 billion of invest-ment product is being offered for sale in thecore CE markets of the Czech Republic, Hun-gary, Poland and Slovakia, up marginally fromthe previous quarter.

Sellers are split equally between developersseeking to exit and investors wishing to tradeon, although the latter are starting to take ad-vantage of the improving market, with in-creased investor interest and improving pric-ing driven largely by yield compression.

The retail sector accounts for almost half ofthe volume, at EUR 1.7 billion, with at leastfour shopping centers currently being mar-keted each with lot sizes exceeding EUR 200million. In terms of geographical spread,Poland continues to dominate, accounting forEUR 2.05 billion (58%) in the region.

Hewlett-PackardHP has upgraded its Flex Network technologyfor video conferencing to support multimedia,cloud computing and mobile technologies.The new tools enable merging and harmoniz-ing data from different networks within organi-zations. They also enhance data transferspeed, minimize delays and optimize networkperformance, making the technology simplerto use.

Mamaison Hotel

Le Regina Warsaw

Andrew Harper’s Hideaway Report, one of themost respected publications in luxury travel,published a recommendation of the MamaisonHotel Le Regina Warsaw in its April issue, forexceptional character, a commitment to classichospitality, and a profound sense of place.

Mamaison Le Regina Warsaw (pictured) isa five-star hotel in the Old Town offering 61 in-dividually designed rooms and suites, confer-ence and banqueting facilities, and chefPaweł Oszczyk’s La Rotisserie Restaurant.

HOT DATEJul.02.11Event: AmCham 4th of July Picnic

Place: Królikarnia, Warsaw

Time: 6:00 P.M.

MicrosoftThe fundamental business needs that drivethe requirement for effective and efficient cus-tomer management practices remain un-changed, according to a Forrester Consultingstudy commissioned by Microsoft to examinethe total economic impact and potential returnon investment for enterprises that use Mi-crosoft Dynamics CRM 2011.

Efficient and effective CRM includes acquir-ing new customers, building tighter bonds of

New MembersPharmaceutical company Gilead Sciences Poland

(www.gilead.com) has joined AmCham. It isheaded by Michał Kaźmierski, general manager.

Parsons Brinckerhoff (www.pbworld.com) hasjoined AmCham. Jarosław Putresza, country man-ager, represents the engineering consultancy inPoland.

Packaging and food product specialist Silgan

White Cap Polska (www.silgan.com) has joinedAmCham. It is represented by Marek Rajca, general manager.

Outsourcing and IT specialist Web Inn

(www.webinn.pl) has joined AmCham. PresidentLeszek Rożdżeński represents the company inPoland.

AmCham has moved to the 19th floor

Our mailing address remains the same, but we are now on the 19th floor of the Warsaw Financial Center.

Open HouseFriday, June 3, 11:00 A.M. to 5:00 P.M.

Please stop by to visit us!Our special thanks to Universal Express Relocation for moving our office,

Massive Design for designing AmCham’s new office, McDonald’s for a coffee machineand Whirlpool for a dishwasher.



Letter to the EditorDear Editor,I am a huge supporter of PPP and I loved your editorial in the May issue ofAmerican Investor. Most of my peers in the industry are crying about budgetcuts but I think that “necessity is the mother of all invention” and until we havea bit of hardship trying to get funding, we won’t get people willing to workharder to make PPP deals happen.

Christopher P. Hutchinson

Curb-Tec Europe


Members on the moveK&L GatesDominika Mizielińska hasbecome of counsel at theWarsaw office of K&L Gates.Mizielińska specializes incommercial law and corporatefinance including M&As, struc-tural realignments, companyformations, trade and invest-ment contracts, joint ventures,technology transfers, and li-cense agreements.

Advocate Wojciech Wąsowicz, PhD, has be-come of counsel at K&LGates. His legal practice in-volves civil cases, white-col-lar crime, administrative law,shareholder relations andconstruction law.

Counsel Halina Więckowska has become apartner at K&L Gates. Sheheads the law firm’s real es-tate practice, representingclients in property acquisi-tions, commercialization,leasing, structural realign-ment, project finance, andM&A.

Sheraton KrakówAgnieszka Najberek hasbeen named sales and mar-keting director at the Shera-ton Kraków, where she will beresponsible for developingnew sales and marketingstrategies and relations withcustomers and suppliers. Najberek started her careerwith Starwood Hotels & Re-sorts in 1995 at the sales de-partment of the Le Méridien Bristol in Warsaw. Shewas head of group sales and conference businessat the Sheraton Warsaw, and since 2007 has beensales and marketing director of the Sheraton SopotConference Center & Spa.

ProLogisMichał Ptaszyński has beenappointed land & developmentmanager at ProLogis inPoland. Ptaszyński will be re-sponsible for finding new in-vestment opportunitiesthrough the acquisition or saleof land or existing ProLogisprojects, identification of newbusiness development oppor-tunities, implementation of thecompany’s land bank management strategy, and co-ordination with the leasing department to market Pro-Logis distribution parks and establish relationshipswith new accounts.

Stijn Oyen has becomemanaging director of theSheraton Kraków. Oyen has10 years’ experience workingfor the Sheraton brand, in-cluding the Sheraton LaCaleta Resort & Spa in Tener-ife and the Sheraton Stock-holm. Oyen, a Belgian,speaks Dutch, English,French and Spanish.

loyalty, and reducing the costs of marketing,selling, and servicing. Of the 455 large organi-zations that Forrester surveyed in late 2010 inNorth America and Europe, 55% have alreadyimplemented a CRM solution, and many ofthese are investing more to upgrade their toolset. An additional 19% have plans to buy aCRM solution for the first time within the next12 to 24 months. The pattern for midsize or-ganizations is similar. CRM solutions arewidely deployed, and interest in expandingtheir use is high. However, given the continu-ing uncertainty in the current economic cli-mate, organizations are looking for flexibleand extensible solutions that provide the func-tionality required at the best value.

Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2011 businesssoftware is a solution designed to boost thepersonal and team productivity of customer-facing workers by offering a full set of func-tionalities with a familiar desktop user inter-face through integration with the MicrosoftOutlook messaging and collaboration client.

Norton RoseLaw firm Norton Rose Piotr Strawa and Part-ners has advised Nexen Petroleum UK on ac-quisition of a 40% working interest in ten ofMarathon Oil’s Paleozoic shale play conces-sions in Poland. Nexen and Marathon willcombine their drilling and completion expert-

ise to explore the potential of this substantialacreage. Norton Rose advised Nexen on Pol-ish mining regulations in relation to the nego-tiations.

Panattoni EuropeDeveloper of industrial and logistics spacePanattoni Europe has started another built-to-suit project, a manufacturing facility inRadomsko, within the Łódź Special EconomicZone. The general contractor is the Polishbranch of Japan’s Kajima Corporation. The32,000 sq m facility will employ 400 people inthree shifts. Construction is scheduled forcompletion this fall.

SalansIn the annual ranking of law firms in Poland byRzeczpospolita daily, Salans ranked No. 1 inthe number of lawyers, with 144. Salans alsoranked first in revenue in 2010, at PLN 109.5million, one of only three law firms in Polandwith billings over PLN 100 million. Accordingto Tomasz Dąbrowski, Salans Warsaw man-aging partner, the distinction “reflects thedrive and determination of our lawyers overthe years to serve the needs of our clients andto implement our strategy of building a lead-ing universal law firm in Poland and the re-gion.”

AgendaIntelligence from AmCham and its committees

Small & Medium-Sized Enterprises Committee

Facilitating business in the region

SMEs based in the province of Mazoviaand seeking loan guarantees shouldcontact the Mazovia loan guarantee

fund, Mazowiecki Fundusz Poręczeń Kredy-towych Sp. z o.o., a non-profit organizationestablished by the province in cooperationwith the City of Warsaw, other local govern-ments, and Bank Gospodarstwa Krajowegoto help local business grow. This was themain message from MFPK deputy directorEwa Grymm when she met with the Am-Cham SME Committee in May.

According to Grymm, MFPK is a good al-ternative for small and medium-sized busi-nesses that have been turned down bycommercial banks in their quest for a loan.“Companies of this type, and micro-busi-nesses as well, have always found it toughto obtain financing,” Grymm said. “Localgovernments noticed the problem, andhence their involvement in MFPK.”

Most companies are in fact small ormedium-sized, so helping them also helpsthe local economy. “By underwriting loansto SMEs,” Grymm said, “we help create newjobs and new business opportunities forlocal populations.”

Grymm presented the range of servicesoffered by MFPK. The fund may provideguarantees covering up to 70% of the loanvalue if MFPK is the only guarantor for theloan, or up to 80% if there are multiple loanguarantee companies involved.

MFPK offers guarantees that cover twotypes of loans. For standard investmentloans, MFPK offers guarantees of up to PLN

1 million for a period of 60 months, or up to10 years in the case of investments in the in-novative economy. MFPK also offers secu-rity for loans issued to companies to acquirereal estate. This type of loan is secured forup to 12 months, and the purpose is to se-cure the financing between payment of thepurchase price and entry of the new ownerin the land and mortgage register. Accord-ing to Grymm, 12 months is usually longenough for the buyer to register the prop-erty in its name, together with the mortgagefor the bank that issued the loan.

Although, as Grymm explained, MFPK isa non-profit organization, it does charge itsclients a one-off fee: “We have to chargefees to be in compliance with EU regula-tions governing loan guarantee funds.”

Before MFPK approves a loan guarantee,it runs due diligence of the prospective bor-rower and sets the fee for its service. Thecharge is more or less similar to chargesthat other loan guarantee companies askfor. For instance, in the case of bridge loansecurity, MFPK will charge 0.6% of the valueof the loan secured for the first four monthsof the service and 0.2% for each additionalmonth.

The fees that MFPK collects do not con-stitute profit, but cover the organization’soperating costs.

MFPK cooperates with lenders, and ifboth MFPK and the lender approve the loanto be secured, they will sign a deal. Alongwith its own analysis of the borrower’s finan-cial situation, MFPK also sources informa-

tion from the bank that actually issues theloan.

If MFPK approves the loan, it will sign acivil-law contract with the borrower.

MFPK has been in business for 6 years.Through 2010 it had secured 2,650 loans.Today the organization has approximatelyPLN 120 million in funds to back loan guar-antees, which translates into an ability to se-cure loans worth PLN 400 million. It seeks toissue about a thousand loan guarantees ayear for SMEs.

MFPK has now begun a new project, fi-nanced from EU sources, in which it canoffer loan guarantees for fees up to 50%lower than it normally charges. The condi-tion, however, is that the borrowers mustuse the money for investment purposes—fordirect development of the business.

Grymm stressed that MFPK’s mission en-ables SMEs to raise the money they need,without, for instance, the owners having tomortgage their own real estate.

Along with offering loan guarantees,MFPK is more than happy to offer advice tocompanies seeking loan guarantees or justlooking for credit. As Grymm explained, “Wecooperate with big banks, like BRE Bankand PKO Bank Polski, but also with smallerlenders, such as banking cooperatives,which are especially active outside of thecore center of Mazovia, serving companiesoperating in the most outlying counties ofthe province.”

Small businesses in Mazovia can look beyond commercial banksfor loan assurance and credit advice

Borrowers should not overlook loan guarantee institutions

AmCham just completed its first mission to the US to promote trade and investment withPoland. AmCham spent several months researching and contacting companies in Dallasand Denver to organize a series of one-on-one meetings to talk specifically to compa-nies’ needs. Altogether the AmCham delegation met with ten companies and had threegroup meetings including the World Trade Day in Denver from May 11 to 17.

Although the US is focused on increasing domestic employment, large companies arecontinually looking for global business opportunities and solutions. The conversationsAmCham had were very engaging and put Poland in the minds of corporate decision-makers. Pictured: Dorota Dabrowski, AmCham; Joseph Chapa, Irving Chamber of Com-merce; Thom Davis, Omega Environmental Technologies; Tony Housh, Rick Lada, andJoanna Bensz, AmCham.

Looking further ahead

The long-established tradition at Am-Cham committee meetings is formembers to ask questions of the

guests and learn from them. The tableswere turned in May when 12 colonels fromthe National War College in Washington,accompanied by Ken Hillas, former DeputyChief of Mission at the US Embassy in War-saw, met with the AmCham Defense & Se-curity Committee. This time, it was the mili-tary guests who posed questions to thebusiness members.

Co-chair Stan Prusiński of Sikorsky Eu-rope, who moderated the meeting, said thatthe Polish military has marched a long wayfrom where it was at the beginning of theeconomic and political transformation in1989 to where it is now. Pruszyński men-tioned Poland’s efforts to join NATO andbecome a reliable partner for the US on de-fense issues. When Poland went from thePartnership for Peace to NATO, it did notstop there. It has managed to lead a multi-national division in Iraq, a very significantachievement and success. This is under-stood only by those who know how difficultit is to operate a division.

Pruszyński said that along with Poland’sinvolvement in NATO as one of America’sprincipal allies, Poland has pursued an am-bitious project of acquiring 52 F-16 fighterplanes. The program required next-genera-tion systems that Poland did not have atthat time, but the country has done what ittakes for successful integration of F-16sinto its defense system. For instance, the F-

16 project led the producer of F-16 engines,Pratt & Whitney, to acquire a dilapidated air-craft producer in Rzeszów, southernPoland, where it now produces jet engines.Pruszyński noted that Poland is ready formore acquisition of US defense equipmentto the point that it requires industrial coop-eration.

Although Poland is a tremendous ally ofthe US, there are issues within the defenseindustry in Poland that call out for reform.Poland is not an easy market for defensecompanies because it has more regulationsthan the US. In addition, since Polandjoined the EU, it has been under pressureto buy defense equipment from Europeancountries to prove that “Poland is Euro-pean.” This poses challenges for procure-ment processes, which must be transparentand decided on the basis of quality.

AmCham members at the meeting alsosaid that considering IT and electronics inthe defense sector, the most importantcompetition comes from Polish companies,not the European Union. But the defensesector in not very mature when it comes toIT and electronics, and it will take a longtime for this to change.

Committee members anticipate toughbudget challenges for Poland, which meansthat in procurement, price is going to be ahot issue. Although procurements aregoing well now, the Ministry of Finance islikely to seek to use more creative methodsas well as public-private partnerships.

Another problem is that Polish defense

contractors, of which the Bumar group isthe largest, employ a lot of people andhave very strong trade unions. The unionsimpose challenging conditions for busi-ness. In order to compete on the Europeanand world stages, Bumar has to make pro-market reforms, a process that has nowbegun. Involvement of US companies in thereform process is important, however.Some US defense firms are cooperatingwith Bumar to help it adjust to the realitiesof the market economy. For instance, con-sulting company PwC helped the tank sub-sidiary Bumar Łabędy streamline its organi-zational structure, so the company’s prod-uct line now is more diverse, with not onlydefense equipment but civil engineeringgear as well, including cranes, excavators,loaders, welded structures, tools, castings,forging, transmissions and gear-wheels.

The Bumar Łabędy case signals that thedefense market in Poland is maturing tosome extent. It has a long way to go beforeit reaches a state comparable to that in theUS, but in the US private companies havelong been involved in the defense sector,while in Poland the process has barelybegun.

All of the Defense & Security Committeemembers present agreed that in timePoland will prove an important partner forthe US defense sector. Thanks to its geo-graphical location, it can act as a spring-board for American companies to expandfurther into other important markets.

Although it has a long way to go to match the mature US market,Poland’s defense industry has the potential to become one of themost important regional players for the US

Defense & Security Committee

Fruitful cooperation in defense is on the horizon for Polish and US companies


AgendaIntelligence from AmCham and its committees


For the AmCham Guide to Committees

Agri & Food www.amcham.pl/agri_food

Mission: To provide a plat-form for discussing andsolving issues and identify-ing opportunities in theagricultural and food sec-tor by creating a base for

dialogue and expertise. Co-Chairs: Andrzej Pawel-czak, Animex; Maciej Łubieński, Universal Leaf To-bacco Poland.

Healthwww.amcham.pl/health

Mission: To provide aunited forum for US com-panies to share their ex-pertise on the healthcaresystem and exchangeknowledge and experience

with national counterparts, contribute to the positivedevelopments in the sector and promote the US ex-perience and capital while establishing the best con-ditions and opportunities for investments. Co-Chairs: Elisabeth Asirifi, IBM Polska; JolantaChlebicka-Dominiak, Johnson & Johnson.

Infrastructurewww.amcham.pl/infrastructure

Mission: To discuss is-sues of the developmentof infrastructure; to pro-mote infrastructure solu-tions for cooperation be-tween private and public

partners. Co-Chairs: Krzysztof Wierzbowski,Wierzbowski Eversheds; Andrew C. Kapusto,Raytheon Homeland Security.

Tax www.amcham.pl/tax

Mission: To provide a platformfor identifying tax issues andcreate an educational forum tokeep AmCham members in-formed on current and up-coming legislation. To create a

network to share information, comments and best prac-tices. To lobby decision-makers in the government. Co-Chairs: Peter Kay, KPMG; Piotr Bartuzi, Bank BPH.

Political Discussion Forumwww.amcham.pl/pdf

Mission: To build relation-ships with key players inPolish politics, regardless ofwhether within the govern-ment or not, in small groupsand in private settings, toserve as a vehicle into the

world of Polish politics behind official curtains. Co-Chairs: Robert Koński, Kulczyk Holding; Marek Ma-traszek, CEC Government Relations.

Corporate Social Responsibilitywww.amcham.pl/csr

Mission: To encourage andfacilitate responsible busi-ness practices among Am-Cham members to supportthem to improve the qualityand effectiveness of their

CSR programs. Co-Chairs: Wojciech Arszewski,UPS Polska; Anna Jawor, IBM Polska.

Small & Medium-Sized Enterpriseswww.amcham.pl/sme

Mission: To provide a forumfor exchange of ideas/bestpractices to improve the per-formance of SMEs; to iden-tify and promote solutions tofacilitate and support themanagerial and operational

efforts of SMEs through educational, networking or lob-bying efforts that leverage the resources and knowl-edge of AmCham and its membership. Co-Chairs:Alain Bobet; Cezary Krasodomski, Cisco Systems.

Employee & Labor Relations www.amcham.pl/labor

Mission: To create an infor-mation exchange forum ofHR professionals to share,discuss and learn aboutthe latest trends in HRmanagement and influ-ence local policy and deci-

sion-makers. Co-Chairs: Jolanta Jaworska, IBMPoland; Peter Strupp, United Business Develop-ment.

Consumer Productswww.amcham.pl/consumer

Mission: To provide aforum to share knowl-edge and exchange ex-perience in all areascommon and relevant tomanufacturers and dis-

tributors of goods. Co-Chairs: Małgorzata Surdek,CMS Cameron McKenna; Agnieszka Dzięgielewska-Jończyk, HP Polska.

Telecom www.amcham.pl/telecom

Mission: To create a platformunder the AmCham umbrellafor the exchange of members’ideas and views on trends inthe telecommunications sec-tor in Poland; to take steps to

influence decision-makers in telecommunications legis-lation, policy and practice; to promote innovativetrends in telecommunications; to modernize communi-cations technology for business and the average Polishconsumer. Co-Chairs: Jarosław Roszkowski, CrowleyData Poland; Piotr Muszyński, TP SA.

Real Estatewww.amcham.pl/real_estate

Mission: To discuss issuesregarding the complexitiesof the real estate market inPoland, and exchange infor-mation. To be an educa-tional and networking forum

for members and to lobby and influence legislativedepartments of the Polish government. Co-Chairs:Halina Więckowska, K & L Gates; John Bańka, Col-liers International.

Pharmaceuticalwww.amcham.pl/pharmaceutical

Mission: To discuss andidentify common interestsand exchange information re-garding Poland’s pharmaceu-tical market; to act as a repre-sentative body and collective

voice of pharmaceutical companies before governmen-tal institutions. Co-Chairs: Jarosław Oleszczuk, AbbottLaboratories; Roberto Servi, Eli Lilly Polska.

Outsourcing/High Techwww.amcham.pl/outsourcing

Mission: To provide a plat-form for discussing, identi-fying and addressing com-mon SSC/BPO issues re-lated to high-tech opera-tions; to maintain contact

with local authorities, educational and governmentalinstitutions to present a unified business perspectiveand to suggest ways of possible cooperation. Toidentify the possibilities/areas of state assistance, toshare experience and leverage knowledge. Co-Chairs: Marek Suczyk, Kroll Ontrack; JacekStryczyński, Lionbridge.

Intellectual Property Rights www.amcham.pl/ipr

Mission: To advocate forIPR protection and provideleadership that will bringtogether interested part-ners; to share informationwith decision-makers and

law enforcement. The police, judiciary, prosecu-tors, customs officials, legislators and journalistsare among the target groups, while the curriculumof law schools should have more emphasis on IPR.Co-Chairs: Agnieszka Wyszyńska-Szulc, Philip Mor-ris; Anna Lasocka, Łaszczuk & Partners.

Marketing & Communicationswww.amcham.pl/marketing

Mission: To provide aforum for member firms toshare knowledge and ex-change experiences in mar-keting, communicationsand PR; provide educa-

tional and networking opportunities for memberfirms interested in these areas; and serve as an ad-visory body for AmCham. Co-Chairs: AnyaOgorkiewicz, The Keryx Group; Michael Zawadzki, InterContinental Warsaw.

Defense & Security www.amcham.pl/defense

Mission: To serve as aplatform for defense indus-try issues and exchangerelevant information. Thecommittee creates a net-working forum and fosters

a positive working relationship with the governmentand people of Poland. Co-Chairs: Paul Zalucky;Stan Prusiński, Sikorsky Europe.

Financial Services www.amcham.pl/financial

Mission: The FinancialServices Committee aimsto identify and promote is-sues related to and in sup-port of the financial serv-ices sector, as well as to

provide a forum for dialogue among sector profes-sionals and decision-makers in government. Co-Chairs: Andrew Hope; Adam Michon, MetLife.

Energy & Environmentwww.amcham.pl/environmental

Mission: To help membersdevelop their environmentaland renewable energy busi-ness and help learn about,identify and overcome diffi-culties connected with envi-

ronmental laws, and develop a discussion forumamong members about environmental issues. Co-Chairs: Adam de Sola Pool, Jerzy Chlebowski, Mit-subishi.

For the most recent information about the work of AmCham Committees, and upcoming events: www.amcham.pl

European Union Affairs www.amcham.pl/eu

Mission: To providemembers with relevantinformation on EU-re-lated issues, includingEU funds, and to repre-sent American investors

before the Commission and the Polish govern-ment. Co-Chairs: Magdalena Burnat Mikosz, De-loitte; Jerzy Thieme.

12 AMERICAN INVESTOR JUNE 2011 JUNE 2011 AMERICAN INVESTOR 13

COVER STORY: Shale gas

When the phenomenon of shale gasin the US was showcased inPoland for the first time in April

last year, at a conference organized by theUS Embassy and the Polish Ministry ofForeign Affairs, the Polish media andpublic opinion became so excited aboutthe prospects of shale gas production inPoland that Chief Geologist HenrykJezierski had to come out in the mediaand state that Poland had no documentedshale gas deposits. A year on, by the timethe second shale gas conference was heldin May 2011, the estimates of Poland’s

natural deposits by the US Energy Infor-mation Administration had doubled from2.5 trillion cubic feet to 5.8 trillion cubicfeet. But estimates aside, nothing haschanged in respect to documented re-sources—Poland still has zero.

A year is a long time in business. Thecommercial exploitation of shale gas inthe US has impacted energy markets allover the world by boosting the gas supplyand bringing prices down. The US hasbecome an exporter of LNG instead of animporter. The first shipments of LNGfrom the US reached the shores of GreatBritain in December 2010. This hasopened up new opportunities for coun-tries that rely on gas imports and are in-terested in diversifying their gas supplychains to reinforce their energy security.Poland is one of them.

Polish Minister of Foreign Affairs Ra-dosław Sikorski, who spoke at the confer-

ence in May, noted that the solid outputof shale gas produced in the US presentsa striking contrast with the fragility ofavailability of traditional gas sourced byEuropean countries from North Africa,which is currently torn by domestic polit-ical instability. He added that the Marchnuclear reactor disaster in Fukushima,Japan, undercut confidence in nuclearpower, which may have implications forpolitical decisions about nuclear energyin Europe. Sikorski also said that with itsown shale gas, Poland’s energy securitywill be reinforced, the nation’s economy

will become more competitive, and Poleswill become more affluent, while in themacroeconomic scale the country’s cur-rent account may receive a fresh cash in-jection. The development of shale gas,which Sikorski said is a phenomenondriven by technology, will help Polishcompanies and researchers link with newtechnologies.

In this context, Sikorski said, “The ex-ploration for domestic shale gas marks abig opportunity for Poland and is our dutynow.” But he also noted that shale gas ex-ploration has begun outside of NorthAmerica, in Asia, South America and Eu-rope. “The US continues to maintain atechnological edge,” he said, “but shalegas exploration is no longer a phenome-non attributed exclusively to US compa-nies. The activities of exploration compa-nies and technological advancementsmake it a global phenomenon now.”

slow progress?In recent years the Polish Ministry of theEnvironment has issued over 70 conces-sions for exploration for shale gas. Themajority of concession holders are UScompanies, such as Exxon Mobil,Chevron, Marathon Oil and ConocoPhillips. The Polish gas market monopo-list PGNiG was granted 25% of all con-cessions.

But within the last 12 months, only 8exploration drilling wells have appearedon the Polish landscape. All the explo-ration concessions granted translate intoconstruction of 124 exploration wells,plus an option for 100 more if needed. Ifexploration goes at the current pace, theshale gas “revolution” in Poland may notkick in for another 15 years.

Another speaker at this year’s confer-ence, Vice Minister of Treasury MikołajBudzanowski, called for quicker action.“If we only plan for the shale gas boom tostart 10–15 years from now, I can say nowthat shale gas will never be produced inPoland. I have seen many investmentprojects in the energy sector with such along investment perspective, and none ofthem actually was ever accomplished.”

According to Budzanowski, shale gashas to be approached in Poland as a busi-ness project with a concrete lifespan, fi-nancing and legal framework: “Today weare in the pre-investment part. Over 25companies are exploring for shale gas.This will take 3–4 years and at least 124drilling wells. The next step will begranting production concessions. So thisdefinitely will take place before 2020.”

From the technical point of viewBudzanowski may be right. According toRichard Morningstar, US Energy Depart-ment Special Envoy for Energy in Europeand Asia, what happened in the US is anexample of how markets can change veryquickly. “The production of shale gas hasskyrocketed from 2000 to 2010 in theUS,” Morningstar said. “If you go back to

2005 and you look at the outlook that theUS Energy Information Administrationmade with respect to global markets, itanticipated that the US would increas-ingly become a major LNG importer asdomestic gas production declines. Withinfive short years, as a result of the shaleboom, by 2010, the Energy InformationAdministration was predicting that withthe increasing shale production the USwould be importing little if any LNG. Butnot only that—it looks like the US isgoing to be an LNG exporter, not an im-porter.”

talking businessBut the growth of shale gas in the US andEurope may follow quite differentpaths—a concern for private companiesdriven solely by the prospect of profit.

One of the first things private gas com-panies check when contemplating enter-ing new areas is the value proposition forall stakeholders. According to PatrickBlough, vice president for gas commer-cialization at Chevron Global Gas, whospoke at the conference, “Historically wehave found that if all the stakeholders—companies, landowners, governments andsubcontractors—do not benefit, the valueproposition is not sustainable over time.”There are major differences between theUS and Europe when it comes to the re-source base, he said. “Certainly it is morebroad in the US than it is in Europe.”

Blough noted that unlike most of Eu-rope, the US has a highly mature infra-structure for gas distribution. Thismeans that when shale gas is extracted,regardless of location or geography, it isnever far from feasible infrastructure toget the gas to the marketplace. Gas com-panies can then focus on the upstreamside of the equation—drilling for gas andextracting it—knowing that they can eas-ily get it to the market.

Blough also said that market mecha-nisms in the US are transparent and liq-uid. Not so in Europe, he said: “It is notclear yet, country to country in Europe,how that will evolve, so there is more un-certainty there.”

Another uncertainty in Europe is theregulatory framework for shale gas pro-duction. “Although it is still evolving, it ispretty well-developed in the US,” Bloughsaid. “Again, country to country in Eu-rope, it is still evolving and there is moreuncertainty here.”

Blough said that the shale gas revolu-tion in the US was an extension of an al-ready large industry, well-served by alarge workforce. By contrast, he said:“What is contemplated in Europe is in-

crementally so much bigger than anypresent activity that it will need sometime to develop. Our expectation for howthe cost curve will react in Europe for thetime it will take to develop a significantshale gas position in Europe is probablygoing to be quite different than it is inthe US.”

But there are some pluses to the Euro-pean shale gas equation as well. In theUS, mineral rights are privately ownedfor the most part, and mostly in verysmall pieces. “One of the advantages thatEurope has is that awarding of acreages is

done in much bigger parcels,” Bloughsaid. “That actually can help facilitate de-velopment. The acreage acquisition as-pect of the development of shale gas inthe US was probably the most difficultpart. When you consider the tens of thou-sands of leases that have to be accumu-lated for a company to get a decent shalegas position in the US, that is a more

challenging undertaking than it appearsto be in Europe.”

Blough also said that the drivers for

shale gas development in Europe in someways are more compelling than they werein the US: “Energy security, capital out-flows, the environmental equation withrespect to renewable mandates and emis-

sions—those all are compelling things forthe start of contemplating shale gas inEurope.”

Governments’ roleThe bottom line in Europe is that in-vestors are not going to invest in theshale gas business unless they perceivethat they are going to have a fair returnon their investment in a reasonable time-frame.

Unlike in the US, in Europe govern-ments are going to be enablers for theshale gas industry, and their role will be

pivotal in how fast it unfolds and howprofitable it becomes.

Because there is not a lot of extensiveinfrastructure across the continent, facil-itation of the gas value chain will bemuch more important here than it was inthe US. The return on investment thatgas companies will get is not confined tojust the upstream investment, as it is in

the US. “The entire value chain of explo-ration, development and production,through gas gathering and gas trans-

A long row to hoe……before Poland sees a boom in indigenous shale gas “The exploration for domestic shale gas marks a

big opportunity for Poland and is our duty now.”Radosław Sikorski

Minister of Foreign Affairs

“Historically we have found that if all the stake-holders—companies, landowners, governmentsand subcontractors—do not benefit, the valueproposition is not sustainable over time.”

Patrick BloughChevron Global Gas

“There are moratoria on shale gas exploration intwo states of the US, one land in Germany, andin France, so this is serious.”

Henryk JezierskChief Geologist

“If we only plan for the shale gas boom to start10–15 years from now, shale gas will never beproduced in Poland. I have seen many investmentprojects in the energy sector with such a long in-vestment perspective, and none of them actuallywas ever accomplished.”

Mikołaj BudzanowskiVice Minister of Treasury

industry. Governments have a lot to dowith facilitating the location and growthof indigenous service companies. Accord-ing to Blough, “That will ultimately havea lot of influence on what the cost ofshale gas will be in Europe. There is anopportunity for different kinds of busi-nesses to participate, whether they will be

local indigenous companies, independ-ents, or international oil companies.”

The last issue is to educate and main-tain public support for shale gas explo-ration and production. Blough said this isthe joint responsibility of industry andgovernment: “I do not think that eitherone can necessarily do it themselves. Thegovernments, obviously, have to have a bigsay in that.”

social issues will be hotUnlike with other issues, the US shalegas industry does not have a great trackrecord when it comes to educating aboutshale gas and maintaining public supportfor it. At first, it did not need to educatemuch, when drilling in deserts and plainsthat were largely uninhabited. It was notuntil the drilling wells began to appear in

people’s neighborhoods that the issue ofpublic acceptance of the shale gas indus-try began to surface.

Comparing the US and Poland, it isclear to see that population density in theUS played to the advantage of the shalegas industry. The US has 30 people persquare kilometer, with only 3% living in


portation and getting gas to the market-place, will all contribute to the net profitthat investors will get at the end of theline,” Blough said. “Any of those pieces inthe value chain can be the difference be-tween an economic and uneconomic in-vestment. So we will look quite hard atthe upstream and the non-exploratoin as-

pects of how this business unfolds. Cer-tainly the governments will have a lot todo with how the non-exploratoin sectorunfolds.”

Then comes the regulatory environ-ment for the new market. Industry andgovernment need to collaborate on creat-ing that framework. According to Ambas-sador Morningstar, “There need to bereasonably long lease terms. Sanctity ofcontracts obviously is very important,with options for international arbitration.Regulatory transparency and stability isgoing to be important for the countrieshere to work out. Getting companies toinvest—and there are many companieswho are ready to invest here in Polandand in other countries—in what could bean uncertain prospect requires the gov-ernments to get the regulatory and fiscal

pieces right. There need to be market-based gas prices, and a reasonable corpo-rate tax and a stable tax regime that com-panies can count on so they know whattheir return on investment is going tobe.”

The fourth big issue is support for thedevelopment of the host country’s service

rural areas. In Poland the numbers aremuch less friendly to shale gas produc-tion: 120 people per square kilometer,and nearly 50% of the population livingoutside of cities. In such an environment,public dialogue early on in the process ofdrilling for shale gas is vital. According toMorningstar, “We did not have that dia-logue because we did not know any bet-ter. Now people do know better, and pub-lic discussions should start now.” So be-fore shale gas develops further, the col-laboration between the private sector andthe political sphere will have to becomestronger and more consistent.

The Polish government is fully aware ofthe problem. As Mikołaj Budzanowskifrom the Ministry of Treasury put it,drilling for shale gas in Poland alsomeans drilling into a spectrum of sensi-tivities. “There will be bogus environ-mentalists trying to get financial gainsfrom drilling companies,” he said, “butthere also will be genuine fears of localcommunities about the safety of the natu-ral environment where they live.”

The relatively high population densitymay also affect the development of thepipeline infrastructure that will transportgas to markets outside of Poland. Accord-ing to Gas System, a state-owned gaspipeline construction specialist, Polandwill need to build 2,000 km of gaspipelines to effectively connect its do-mestic infrastructure with that of itswestern and southern neighbors. “To un-dertake such a big investment project willnot be possible without having legal andadministrative regulations,” Budzanowskisaid.

Another batch of difficult issues forPoland to solve were signaled by ViceMinister of the Environment HenrykJezierski, who is also Poland’s Chief Ge-ologist. He said that while there havebeen no major environmental threatsdocumented in the US, the Polish gov-ernment is looking forward to the publi-cation of a report on the environmentalimpacts of shale gas in the US announcedby the Environmental Protection Agency.Jezierski said that there are diverse opin-ions across the political establishment onthe issue: “There are moratoria on shalegas exploration in two states of the US,one land in Germany, and in France, sothis is serious.”

Poland is not going to introduce amoratorium, though, according to Jezier-ski. “There used to be a ban in Europe on

postmortem examination of human bod-ies, but it did not help in the develop-ment of medicine,” he explained. “Wehave very good EU laws regarding envi-ronmental protection and institutionsthat can safeguard shale gas explorationin compliance with the law. And we havehuge experience here at home as well,with 7,000 wells drilling for conventionalgas.”

poland and the euEnergy security and greenhouse gasemissions are the two key issues in theenergy debate in the European Union. Ifthe anticipated huge resources of shalegas in Poland are confirmed, it is univer-sally acknowledged by the American sidethat Poland has an opportunity to lead theshale gas revolution in Europe. But ac-cording to Vice Minister of Foreign Af-fairs Mikołaj Dowgielewicz, whose briefis the EU, it will be a complex business.“I sometimes get a feeling that for somepoliticians, diplomats and journalists,shale gas is something of a Yeti,”Dowgielewicz said. “Nobody has seen it,but everybody is afraid of it.”

He noted that ecological sensitivity ishigh in the EU and must not be ignored.But the economic and environmental as-pects of shale gas are of critical interestfor EU member states. “Not so long agoPoland held a seminar in Brussels onshale gas,” Dowgielewicz said. “It wasmet with extraordinary interest. Many in-stitutions in Brussels that can help de-velop shale gas are interested in it.”

But he noted that Poland needs moreinvolvement on shale gas from the US, atthe level of the EU-US Energy Council.“Poland should not be the only countryadvocating shale gas in Brussels,”Dowgielewicz said.

He added that there will be discussionsin the EU about what chemicals may andmay not be used in hydro-cracking ofshale deposits and other environmentalissues. “Poland will be ready for that,” hesaid. “But one cannot hope that Polandalone will deal with this issue. It needsthe involvement of those companies andcountries who do deal with shale gas pro-duction. Poland is not yet one of them.”

Dowgielewicz also said that the EU isin for many difficult debates regardingthe use of shale gas resources in the con-tinent. What is important, he said, is thatthe narrative shift from negative aspectsto the economic, environmental and en-

ergy security opportunities that shale gasoffers.

As examples of the positive directionthis narrative may take, Dowgielewiczpointed to the increased competitivenessof the EU economy that shale gas maycontribute to, as well as the lack ofprogress in developing other energysources, most notably the carbon captureand storage technology whose economicfeasibility is now in doubt in the EU.

Dowgielewicz also said that the eco-nomic opportunity aspect is beinggrasped by more and more gas compa-nies, who before had been perceived aspotentially opposed to shale gas develop-ment. “Many big gas companies in Eu-rope are looking into the potential ofshale gas and are willing to take benefitsfrom this technological phenomenon aswell,” he said.

What now?While Poland is doing its best to becomea leader in the anticipated shale gas revo-lution and working hard in the EU to pro-mote the technological phenomenon as afeasible way of improving energy securityfor the Union, the country’s take on in-digenous shale gas potential is no differ-ent than that of commercial companies: itneeds the numbers first. As Chief Geolo-gist Jezierski said, “We understand thatwe have a common interest with US com-panies here. We need to know for surehow much shale gas is available for com-mercial use.”

Jezierski took a skeptical view of shalegas deposit estimates for Poland from theUS Energy Information Administration:“As Chief Geologist of Poland and a gov-ernment official, my responsibility is toknow about the extent of our shale gasdeposits, and I approach the [EIA] esti-mates with caution.”

Whether the numbers check out willnot be known until next year. Given thescope of investment needed and theproblems that go with it, until then thegas community in Poland and the Polishgovernment will be jockeying for pole po-sition in the anticipated shale gas boom.

Tomasz Ćwiok

COVER STORY: Shale gas

Energy for the Poland - US relations...

Shale gas aside, cooperation in the en-

ergy sector between Poland and the US

is an important part of building transat-

lantic relations. According to US Ambas-

sador to Poland Lee Feinstein (pictured),

the two countries collaborate well beyond

shale gas. “In our approach to energy,

the US and Poland have a lot in com-

mon,” Feinstein said recently. “In just over

a year our governments have signed

three agreements on energy cooperation,

including an agreement on green energy

and efficient energy cooperation. Our two

countries cooperate in respect to their

large coal resources in developing new

technologies that would allow them to

burn coal more cleanly. Polish and US

scientists are working together on ways

to increase the efficiency in coal-fired

power plants and on carbon capture and

storage. We are working together on re-

newable energy, including wind energy,

where the US is one of the largest in-

vestors in Poland. The US Environmental

Protection Agency and the Polish Ministry

of the Environment are cooperating on

biomass, including methane recovery,

and our nuclear agencies are working to-

gether cooperatively as Poland works on

a new regulatory structure to support the

generation of nuclear power. In our com-

prehensive approach to our energy

needs, our countries can show others

how GDP can grow even as carbon emis-

sions diminish.”

“I sometimes get a feeling that for some politi-cians, diplomats and journalists, shale gas issomething of a Yeti. Nobody has seen it, buteverybody is afraid of it.”

Mikołaj DowgielewiczVice Minister of Foreign Affairs

“Getting companies to invest in what could be anuncertain prospect, requires the governments toget the regulatory and fiscal pieces right.”

Richard MorningstarUS Energy Department Special Envoy for Energy in Europe and Asia

Learning from each other

mit from GIODO to do so. Only multina-tionals that apply EU-compatible data pro-tection regimes across their organizationalstructures can obtain a permit. But once thepermit is granted—which means that theircorporate standards for personal data pro-tection have been recognized by GIODO—they have to re-apply before each new trans-fer. Viewed from the US perspective, this isa very irksome regulation: US companieswho are present in the EU have to apply in-dividually in each of the EU countries theydo business in for permission to have theirdatabases transmitted to the US for furtherprocessing. Wiewiórowski noted, however,that once a company obtains a permit fromGIODO, reissuing the permit is a muchsimpler and shorter process.

Wiewiórowski looks forward to a timewhen data protection regulations in the EUand the US will be compatible. He said thatprominent senators in the US have beenvoicing the need to have federal-level regu-lations in the US. If this happens, and theregulations are compatible with EU regula-tions, business between the US and the EUwill only benefit.

The divergent approaches to data pro-tection in Poland and the US wereon the agenda of the AmCham

Monthly Breakfast Meeting in May, withguest speaker Wojciech Wiewiórowski, In-spector General for Personal Data Protec-tion, who heads Poland’s data protection au-thority, the General Inspectorate for Per-sonal Data Protection (GIODO).

Wiewiórowski explained that GIODO is anindependent agency charged with maintain-ing legal standards for personal data protec-tion in Poland, in line with the standards im-posed on member states by the Data Protec-tion Directive and other EU laws.

the eu wayIn principle, companies must not collect orprocess personal data in the EU except whenthey meet the criteria laid down by the DataProtection Directive (95/46/EC). This meansthat administrators of personal data, referredto in the directive as “controllers,” may oper-ate their databases only after they meet cer-tain conditions for transparency, legitimacy


MONTHLY MEETING: Market regulation

Wojciech Wiewiórowski was ap-pointed as Inspector General for Per-sonal Data Protection by the PolishParliament in 2010. A 1995 law grad-uate of the University of Gdańsk, heearned a PhD in constitutional law in2000. Following an academic career,he was hired by the Ministry of Inte-rior and Administration in 2008 towork on e-government and informa-tion society issues. In 2010 he movedto the Ministry of Culture and Na-tional Heritage to serve as a memberof the archive council. His areas ofinterest include Polish and EuropeanIT law, data processing and security,retrieval systems for legal informa-tion, and computerization of thepublic administration.

Meet the speaker

Peter Kay, AmCham Board Member, and Wojciech Wiewiórowski, Inspector General for Personal Data Protection

Tomasz Ćwiok

of the purpose for which they process thedata, and relevancy of the data collected tothe purpose for which they are stored andprocessed.

The transparency principle provides thatan individual whose personal data are storedand processed by a company—the “data sub-ject”—must be informed by the companythat his or her data are processed. The con-troller must provide its name and address tothe data subject and explain why the data arebeing stored and processed and who will re-ceive the data. Even then, the data may beprocessed only after the data subject hasgiven his or her consent.

The data subject has the right to access alldata processed about him or her. The datasubject also has the right to demand correc-tion, deletion or blocking of data that are in-complete, inaccurate, or not being processedin compliance with data protection rules.

The legitimacy principle provides thatpersonal data may be processed only forproper purposes. The purpose for process-ing the data must be provided by the com-

pany that processes the data. The legitimacyprinciple also prohibits controllers from col-lecting personal data that are not relevant tothe purpose stated by the controller. Per-sonal data may be processed only as appro-priate and relevant to the stated purpose,and only to the extent necessary to achievethe purpose.

Data must also be accurate and kept up-to-date. Controllers are under an obligationto erase inaccurate data so they are notprocessed further. Data must also be storedin a manner preventing identification of datasubjects beyond the period required by thecontroller to achieve the purpose.

In the case of direct marketing, data sub-jects may object at any time to processing oftheir personal data.

With such a restrictive approach to dataprotection, the EU generally prohibits insti-tutions, agencies and companies that storeand process personal data of individualsfrom transferring the data to countries out-side of the European Union—including theUS.

issues with the usThe US does not have any general data pro-tection law on the federal level. Americaprefers an industry approach to data protec-tion legislation, which relies on a combina-tion of government regulation and self-regu-lation, rather than government regulationalone. But this means that the EU considersthe US to be a country without adequatelaws.

“When it comes to personal data protec-tion, the EU views the US as anarchy andgives it as much credibility as Vietnam orUganda,” Wiewiórowski said. He noted that,unlike in Poland, the US allows companiesto decide on their own whether personaldata they hold will be accessible by third-party agencies, such as law enforcement. Hesaid a number of telecommunications com-panies in the US allow the Department ofHomeland Security access to personal dataof their clients. Those telecoms act on “pa-triotic” principles to help law enforcementauthorities, Wiewiórowski said—somethingtheir counterparts in Poland are legally un-able to do.

Another problem for US companies inPoland is that before they may transfer outthe personal data of their customers or po-tential customers, they have to obtain a per-

Narrowing the differences in data protection between the EUand the US will be good for business on both sides of the pond


Supporting IT and justice

software simply understand that it is worthmore to buy the software, which is relativelyinexpensive, than deal with the financialconsequences of losing the archives. Whatis also important is that the software is de-signed in such a way that it can be effi-ciently used by people who do not have anyIT background.

What was the most spectacular data re-trieval performed by kroll ontrack? One of the biggest challenges that we hadwas retrieving data from the wreckage of theColumbia space shuttle in 2003. Despitethe extent of the damage, our lab managedto recover data that carried the informationthat was most critical for understanding thechain of events that led to the catastrophe,which in turn enabled NASA to draw con-clusions on how to prevent those eventsfrom recurring in future flights.

But different cases pose different chal-lenges for our labs. Every year we publish alist of the 10 most challenging cases of dataretrieval. We managed to get data back fromcomputers that were lying on the seabed,and even computers that were almost com-pletely incinerated, among other cases.

the main office of kroll ontrack inpoland is in katowice, the capital ofupper silesia. many times you haveappeared as strong proponents of in-vesting in upper silesia. What are thepros of upper silesia for investors inadvanced it and r&d centers? We advocate investing in Upper Silesia nomatter the business context of our contactswith other companies. Our own case is thebest evidence for this proposition. TheKroll Ontrack lab in Katowice is our com-pany’s largest lab outside of the US. Our ITforensics lab, also in Katowice, is the largestsuch lab in Central & Eastern Europe.

What makes Katowice and Upper Silesiaattractive for investors is the excellent tech-nical schools in the region, whose graduatesguarantee a stable inflow of fresh talent toour labs. There are also many businesseshere who have become our clients, whichalso helps.

But what is especially important for in-vestors is the pro-business attitude that thelocal administration takes toward IT com-panies. Ever since we stepped foot in Ka-towice, it has been extremely supportive andhelpful. Upper Silesia is a region in whichhigh tech is becoming an important part ofthe economy. We hope this trend will con-tinue in the years to come.

kroll ontrack has a state-of-the-art lab-oratory in katowice. What does it taketo retrieve computer data?The process of data retrieval itself is rela-tively simple. A malfunctioning data carrierundergoes data-retrieval assessment in ourlab. At this point we check what is wrongwith the carrier, specify the best technologyto use to retrieve the data and run a reportwhich lists the files that can be recovered.Based on this our clients decide whetherthey want to have the data recovered or not.

You can recover computer data fromnearly all types of data carriers, but whatlimits the ability is your knowledge and ex-perience and the tools that you can resortto. This is why for the last 25 years ourcompany has been developing and improv-ing our data-retrieving tools to face even themost demanding challenges.

how effective is this approach, andwhat is your processing capacity?Our lab’s effective rate of data retrieval isabout 80%, which means that in 80 casesout of 100 we can recover the data, no mat-ter how great the damage to the carrier is.We are capable of dealing with 800 cases amonth in Poland.

how about computer forensics? canyou produce evidence of computercrime that will be recognized by courtsin poland?Many people associate computer forensicswith ferreting out cases of computer crime,while in fact it is a method of producing evi-dence of crimes and abuses that are notspecifically limited to the computer world.Our life today is very much connected todigital devices. If those devices were linkedto a crime, we can track it. Today the evi-dence of a crime is not necessarily finger-prints, but digital fingerprints. That is thedifference.

What kind of digital fingerprints do weleave behind?There are plenty of digital fingerprints. E-mails, text messages and Internet posts allleave tracks. Some advanced technologieslet us find out the physical location of theperson who left the track at a certain time.Most of us do not realize that we all cast an“electronic shadow” which can be tracedeven several years after it was produced.

is computer forensics popular inpoland?It is not as widespread in Poland as in other

Western countries. For 6 years we have beenpioneering computer forensics in Poland,and I have to say I can tell the difference be-tween now and 6 years ago. Companies areincreasingly aware of their dependency onelectronic data—90% of documents todayare electronic—and realize they cannot af-ford losing the data under any circum-stances. Imagine a company that has lostsome critical documents, such as customerdata or financial data. That may have dire fi-nancial consequences, and in the worst-case scenario may force the company intobankruptcy. Such massive data losses areusually no accident, but are often caused bymalicious competition or acts of vengeanceby former employees. This is when forensicinvestigation comes into play. Our investiga-tors will find out how critical computer datawere siphoned out of the system and whowas capable of doing it. After the electronicevidence is secured, it is used in the subse-quent legal proceedings, often in court.

Your company offers software that letsusers delete data but also recover data.how can this software be used safely?Our programs Easy Recovery and OntrackEraser can be used anytime the data carrierworks properly. In case of physical malfunc-tion, the carrier has to be delivered to ourlab for a checkup. We also offer anotherpiece of software, Power Controls, whichenables retrieval of data from e-mail pro-grams. This and Easy Recovery allow forfast recovery of data that have been deleted.This is especially important for companiesthat have professional policies for their digi-tal data archives. Companies that use this

Tomasz Szczerbina from AmCham Kraków talks with Marek Suczyk, managingdirector of the Polish subsidiary of Kroll Ontrack, a data retrieval and computerforensic specialist, about the company’s accomplishments and challenges.

FOCUS: Computer forensics and data recoveryFOCUS: Workplace skills

AmCham AcademyAmCham will support training programs to enhancepractical work skills of selected staff from membercompanies

The rallying cry of entrepreneurs andbusinesses everywhere is “People areour most important asset!” This is

immediately followed by, “It’s so hard to findgood staff.” And Poland is no exception.

During the last few years, southern Poland,and in particular Kraków, has evolved into animportant center for the IT and businessprocess outsourcing markets. Hundreds ofinternational companies, among themdozens of AmCham member companies, in-cluding Motorola, Sabre, IBM, InternationalPaper, Capgemini, Amway, and many more,have made major investments in Kraków andenvirons, employing thousands of young Pol-ish university graduates.

As this phenomenon unfolded, Kraków’sfinest universities reacted as best they couldto supply the burgeoning “Polish Silicon Val-ley” with fresh talent. Private universitiesflourished, weekend and part-time programsexpanded, and new IT and business pro-grams sprouted across the academic land-scape. Supply rapidly rose to meet demand.

But a problem became evident from thevery beginning. The universities, althoughvery good at teaching the technical disci-plines or the core of the chosen academiccurriculum, were producing graduates whowere not “workplace-ready.” Soft skills andleadership skills were a virtually forgottenand abandoned science.

Over the years, AmCham member compa-nies have been pointing out that the educa-tional system was not preparing graduates towork in the business environment. Whetherinvestors hire engineers to work on IT design

projects or manufacturing applications, orlanguage specialists to work in customerservice centers, much time, effort and re-sources must be spent on preparing theyoung people to perform their duties.

Almost across the board, young people be-ginning their careers displayed problems inbasic communication, time management,working in teams, work planning, and projectmanagement. Even though they are very ca-pable, willing to work and quite dedicated,the majority of them had no idea how tomove upwards in the corporate structure. Ontop of this, identifying and training leaderswho could lead projects and teams of people,and then move upwards into the executiveranks, seems to be a major challenge formany employers.

Among AmCham members, investorsvoiced their concerns about these educa-tional shortcomings. After months of discus-sions among a handful of American compa-nies in the south of Poland, an idea arose toactually get involved and supplement the ed-ucational system by cooperating directly withuniversities.

practical approachThe idea for AmCham Academy was born.The concept is to provide AmCham membercompanies’ hand-picked junior and mid-levelemployees a postgraduate supplementaryprogram that focuses on strengthening busi-ness soft skills such as communications.

After a year of preparations, we are ready tolaunch the first pioneering projects in closecooperation with the Jagiellonian Universityand AGH University of Science and Technol-

ogy. The programs are scheduled to launchin January 2012.

AmCham Academy 1 is a postgraduatetwo-semester program at Jagiellonian basedon a curriculum designed and prepared byparticipating AmCham member companies,with input and involvement from the univer-sities. The first program is prepared by com-panies representing the manufacturing sec-tor and addressed to young professionalswith 3-5 years of professional experience.Most students will be recruited among Am-Cham member companies in the manufac-turing sector. General Motors Poland (Opel)is an important partner in the creation of thisprogram.

The second program, in cooperation withAGH, will focus on more junior IT, customerservice and BPO employees. AmCham mem-ber companies we are in contact with haveexpressed a strong interest in such a programand are already playing an important role inthe early development stage of the program.

The programs will be conducted by a com-bination of university professors and Am-Cham member company executives, who willcome and teach chosen subjects at the uni-versity. It will also include a number of fieldtrips to AmCham member companies, wherepractical workshops will be conducted.

The prepared model is not only aimed atsupplementing the knowledge of young pro-fessionals, but will also encourage the profes-sors to get involved with selected companiesin a way that enables them to understand thebusiness reality and its requirements bet-ter—in effect giving Polish professors expo-sure to industry, which should have a positivespillover effect on the Polish student body atlarge.

We are optimistic that this project, thoughsmall-scale at first, will be carefully designedand tailored to the specific needs of ourmember companies and form the basis forscaling in the future.

Starting this month, we ask AmChammember companies to give us your thoughtsand feedback on the program that we haveprepared and plan to launch. We hope thatyou will find the project interesting and thatyou will find the time to share your experi-ences and your comments. Should you like toshare your expertise directly or be a part ofthis initiative, we will gladly welcome youamong the founding project participants.

For more information, please [email protected]

The author is a member of the AmChamBoard of Directors

John Lynch

University graduates in Poland are not practically prepared to take up careers


Quenching people’s thirst

We have had a very strong start to theyear, but it is too early to judge 2011 onlyby the first quarter. The last two yearshave certainly been more difficult for thewhole non-alcoholic beverages marketdue to the economic slowdown. Providing

that no unexpecteddevelopments takeplace, however, we re-main optimistic aboutthe industryprospects for 2011.We are maintainingstrong leadership inthe market withCoca-Cola and CokeZero, and we are verysatisfied with the re-sults of the Burn en-ergy drink as well asNestea and Sprite.What we can say isthat we are well-pre-pared and lookingforward to the begin-ning of the summerseason, which is criti-cal for any beverageproducer.

What key factorshave contributed tothe company's suc-cess in poland?Coca-Cola’s strategy,globally and locally, isto be a total beveragecompany, offeringchoice to consumerswith a full range ofproducts in all bever-age categories, andwe are on a goodtrack to implementthis objective.

The company’ssuccess is built onseveral important ele-ments, such as ourrich and strong port-

folio of highest-quality beverages, loved byconsumers, excellence in marketing com-munications, and a very good distributionnetwork developed by our bottling partnerand reaching out to 120,000 outlets inPoland. Coca-Cola always puts a lot of at-tention and effort into understanding

2011 marks the 125th anniversary ofcoca-cola. the year also marks 20years of the coca-cola system inpoland, which is represented bycoca-cola poland services and coca-cola hBc polska. howwould you assess 2011 forthe company in poland?2011 is indeed a very specialyear for Coca-Cola. It hasbeen 125 years since an At-lanta-based pharmacist,John S. Pemberton, createdthe best-known soft drink inthe world, still producedbased on the original, well-guarded recipe with all nat-ural flavors. 2011 also marksthe 20th anniversary of theCoca-Cola business pres-ence in Poland. AlthoughCoca-Cola has been offi-cially sold in the countrysince 1972, we launched ouroperations here in 1991 andthe first 18 cases of our bev-erages were sold in Novem-ber of that year. Our systemcomprises two companies:Coca-Cola Poland Services,an affiliate of the Coca-ColaCompany, and our bottlingpartner Coca-Cola HBCPolska, a subsidiary of Coca-Cola Hellenic.

The anniversary is a per-fect moment to reflect onwhat has been achieved sofar and to look ahead intothe future. We have goodreasons to be optimistic.Today, both globally and inPoland, Coca-Cola is theleader of the non-alcoholicbeverage market, despite avery competitive environ-ment. In Poland we cur-rently offer 15 brands in 150different packages. TheCoca-Cola system holds a22.2% share of the Polish non-alcoholicbeverage market in terms of value and12.7% in terms of volume (Nielsen 2010).By the end of 2010 we held the number 1position in the sparkling, isotonic andiced teas categories both in volume andvalue terms. We also have a strong posi-

tion in other beverage categories, such asenergy drinks (in 2010 our Burn brandheld the third position in terms of volumeand value), bottled water (our KroplaBeskidu is the third player on the compet-

itive water market in terms of value andfourth in terms of volume). Finally, we aredeveloping well in the juice, nectars andjuice drinks category, with our Cappybrand, where we hold the fourth positionin terms of value. This all creates strongfundamentals for growth in 2011.

As Coca-Cola celebrates its 125th anniversary, American Investor's TomĆwiok talks with Paul Woodward, Operations Director for Coca-Cola North-ern Central Europe (Poland, Czech Republic, Slovakia and the Baltics) aboutthe company’s success in Poland and worldwide.

FOCUS: Coca-Cola anniversary

consumers, and we are successful indoing this. Our teams anticipate whatconsumers want and make the relevantconnections with them.

We also keep innovating to satisfy ever-changing consumer needs and to capturereal business opportunities by, amongother things, listening to consumers’health and wellness needs and deliveringbeverage solutions that meet their expec-tations. We regularly expand our productportfolio across all categories, such assparkling soft drinks, in both regular andlight versions, and still drinks such assports drinks, teas and water, as well as injuices, nectars and juice drinks. In thecourse of 2010 and 2011 we have launchedseveral new beverages which have imme-

diately become popular among con-sumers: Cappy Apple Wholefruit, pro-duced using the unique “Whole Press”technology that enables consumers to sat-isfy more of their dietary fiber needs,Nestea Green Tea with strawberry andaloe, and Burn Tropical, the first energydrink in the market with 20% juice con-tent. Only recently, just ahead of the sum-

mer season, we introduced a new lineupof Cappy still drinks in unique flavors ofapple-mint with lemongrass and apple-grapefruit with cactus.

Our success is also built on the factthat we run our business sustainably, bytaking our societal responsibilities veryseriously. As the Coca-Cola system inPoland, we actively engage in projects tar-geted to the communities where we oper-ate. We consistently promote an active,healthy lifestyle, for example by organiz-ing the Coca-Cola Cup, the biggest andmost prestigious youth football tourna-ment in Poland, which also creates aspringboard to a professional career foryoung football talents. In addition, wehave a strong focus on environmental pro-tection, especially water protection. Forexample, we conduct projects such asRivers for Life: The Vistula, in partner-ship with WWF Polska, and the KroplaBeskidu Fund program.

Other areas of our focus are energymanagement and climate protection, aswell as sustainable packaging and recy-cling. We work with the largest wastemanagement organization in Poland,Rekopol, which helps us to ensure recov-ery and recycling of packaging at all ourmass marketing events like the Coke LiveMusic Festival. These actions are also ac-companied by a broad educational cam-paign addressed especially to youth.

I also have to stress that among themost important success factors for theCoca-Cola system are our consumers,who love Coca-Cola products, and ourcommitted system employees. The Coca-Cola 125th anniversary is a perfect occa-sion to thank them all for their great con-tribution to the outstanding success ofCoca-Cola in Poland.

What are the corporate culture andworkplace culture like at coca-colapoland services?The Coca-Cola brand is a symbol of joy,optimism, refreshment and sharing happymoments with family and friends. This isalso the atmosphere we try to create inour workplace. We do our best to makeour employees feel inspired when at work,able to make a difference and proud to bea part of Coca-Cola. We also live by cer-tain values which are essential to buildingour success in the future: leadership,which we define as the courage to shape abetter future; collaboration, which isabout leveraging collective genius, a criti-cal factor for success in the modernworld; and being authentic, accountableand passionate about one’s work. Westrive to create a diverse workplace whichis as inclusive as our brands. And last butnot least, we are passionate about main-taining the highest standards of quality,which means that what we do, we do well.Our consumers quite rightly expect anddemand this of us!

In our global Mission, Vision and Val-ues, we commit ourselves to be a leader incorporate responsibility and aspire to beamong the world’s most respected com-panies. This is usually the part that makesemployees the most proud of their com-pany. It is why we also promote volun-teerism among employees and create op-portunities for them to actively engage inthe community and the social projects theCoca-Cola system engages in. Every yeardozens of our people volunteer to partici-pate in our environmental projects, liketrees planting, waste collection, our waterprograms, or charity initiatives like sup-porting orphanages and non-governmen-tal organizations. The company does itsbest to support employees in those volun-tary efforts.

What can you say about the com-pany's plans and prospects for growthin 2011 and beyond?Current and anticipated global changespresent us with a unique opportunity tosignificantly strengthen our business forthe long-term. Our global 2020 Vision en-visages doubling our business by 2020—both our system revenues and the numberof servings, to over 3 billion a day—and tobe No. 1 in the non-alcoholic ready-to-drink sector in every market and everycategory that is of value to us.

In this context we see Poland as a mar-ket of opportunities with still high poten-tial. Per capita consumption of non-alco-holic ready-to-drink beverages here islower than other EU countries and is ex-pected to grow ahead of many other mar-kets over the next 5 to 10 years. Being the6th-biggest country in the EU in terms ofpopulation, Poland is one of the key prior-ity markets for the Coca-Cola system inEurope. In 2010 Poland ranked 6th interms of volume in our Coca-Cola Euro-pean group business (after Germany,Spain, the UK, France and Italy). We havegreat programs and assets in place to real-ize our vision.

In 2012 Poland will co-host the UEFAEuro 2012 championship, and Coca-ColaPoland is immensely proud to be a toppartner. This creates a great opportunityfor our business development in Poland,and as a UEFA top partner we have exclu-sive rights to sell non-alcoholic beveragesduring the event. We also have uniqueprograms like Flag Bearers and UltimateAccess that we want to offer to consumersas a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.Sports events of such relevance alwayscreate a great platform to connect withmillions of our consumers who share thepassion of, in this case, football, the mostpopular sport in the world and in Poland.We believe that the European FootballChampionship will positively contributeto our business development in Poland in2011 and beyond.

We keep innovating to satisfy ever-changing con-sumer needsand to capturereal businessopportunitiesby listening to consumers’health andwellnessneeds and deliveringbeverage solutions thatmeet their expectations.

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EXPERT: Administrative law

Mining companieshave an incentiveto explore shale gasand tight depositswhen their right toextract what theyfind is legally pro-tected

EXPERT: Mining law

Seek and ye shall mine

By Ewa Rutkowska-Suboczattorney-at-law, counsel at Salans law firm

an exploitation concession.

anticipated changesThis legal framework is due tochange in the nearest future. Aproposal to replace the Geologi-cal and Mining Law is now inthe legislative pipeline. (Thelatest version, as approved bythe lower house of Parliamenton April 28, 2011, is available athttp://orka.sejm.gov.pl/proc6.nsf/opisy/1696.htm.) It repeats to acertain extent the structure andwording of the current law, butwould also make a number ofchanges in the system.

Some of these amendmentswere necessary because the Eu-ropean Commission accusedPoland of improper implemen-tation of the Hydrocarbons Li-censing Directive. Most impor-tantly, the EC claimed thatPoland improperly introducedthe tender procedure before es-tablishment of a miningusufruct agreement; under theEC interpretation, the tenderprocedure should precedegranting of the concession. Fol-lowing this interpretation, anobligatory tender procedure be-fore issuance of a concession forexploration and exploitation ofhydrocarbons is included in theproposed new law.

The proposal also providesthat the entity that explored adeposit is entitled to priority forfive years in obtaining an ex-ploitation mining usufruct forthat deposit.

Another provision in the pro-posal that would secure the rel-atively safe transition from ex-ploration to exploitation enablesan entity that explored a hydro-carbon deposit to apply for anexploitation concession. Sincethe entity that incurred thecosts of the geological worksduring the exploration stage ob-tains an exclusive right to usethe information for five yearsfollowing expiration of the ex-ploration concession, in practiceno one else will be entitled toexploit the given deposit.

This gives reason to hopethat when the new Geologicaland Mining Law is enacted, en-tities that explore hydrocarbondeposits will be secured asmooth transition from explo-ration to exploitation.

lowing a procedure in which allinterested entities were entitledto submit their applications onthe basis of specified criteria.The Hydrocarbons LicensingDirective provides for certainexceptions to the obligation toensure that proceedings arenon-discriminatory and trans-parent. It also appears that pur-suant to the Hydrocarbons Li-censing Directive, there is nonecessity to organize tenderswhen the holder of one authori-zation (to explore) is seekinganother authorization (to ex-ploit), when holding the firstauthorization implies a right tothe second one.

These rules were imple-mented in Polish law in 2001.Thus, at present, the Geologicaland Mining Law requires a ten-der before conclusion of a min-ing usufruct agreement. Thetender will not take place if anexception in the Geological andMining Law applies. Nor will atender be held if the entity thatidentified and documented thenatural gas reserve under an ex-ploration mining usufructagreement and exploration con-cession, and prepared the perti-nent geological documentation,seeks an exploitation miningusufruct. It has priority over allother entities to conclude amining usufruct agreementwithin two years after the geo-logical administrative authorityconfirms receipt of the geologi-cal documentation. Because themining usufruct is connected tothe concession, priority to ob-tain a mining usufruct agree-ment de facto also gives priorityin obtaining a concession.

The rights of an entity en-gaged in exploration of hydro-carbon reserves are also se-cured under the Geological andMining Law in another way. If ithas incurred costs of perform-ing geological works under anexploration concession, it hasan exclusive right to use the ge-ological information for pur-poses of its exploitation activity,until five years after expirationof the exploration concession.Since a motion for an exploita-tion concession has to be ac-companied by evidence of theright to use geological docu-mentation for exploitation pur-poses, only an entity in posses-sion of that right may apply for

usufruct agreement and holds theproper concession.

Should the UGR explorationprove to be successful, the in-vestor may decide to move on tothe exploitation stage, in whichcase it must then conclude a min-ing exploitation usufruct agree-ment with the State Treasury andobtain an exploitation concession.

Naturally, the safety of the tran-

sition from exploration to ex-ploitation is crucial for the in-vestor. Under the current law, ex-ecution of a mining usufructagreement for exploitation of hy-drocarbons, as a rule, can onlytake place after a public tender.This obligatory public tender formining hydrocarbons was intro-duced in order to implement theHydrocarbons Licensing Directive(94/22/EC) into Polish law. Theaim of the Hydrocarbons Licens-ing Directive is to ensure thatthere is no discrimination inprospecting, exploring and pro-ducing hydrocarbons. The mem-ber states were required to takethe necessary measures in orderto ensure that authorizations forthese activities were granted fol-

The continual decline inconventional natural gasresources has resulted in

the growing importance of ex-ploration and exploitation of un-conventional gas resources(UGR), including natural gastrapped in shale deposits (shalegas) and natural gas locked intight formations (tight gas).

Estimates show that Polandmay have huge unconventionalnatural gas deposits—probablytrapped in a band extendingfrom the northwest to thesoutheast of the country. Al-though work to identify thesedeposits is still at a preliminarystage, there is already huge in-terest from investors, particu-larly overseas investors who pos-sess the necessary knowhow andmining technologies.

legal requirements for ex-ploring and exploiting uGrThe Polish Geological and Min-ing Law currently in force doesnot lay down any special proce-dures for exploration and ex-ploitation of UGR, nor does itcontain any provisions relatingto the specifics of shale or tightgas exploration and exploitation.The procedure is thereforelikely to be similar to that forother hydrocarbons.

First of all, an investor inter-ested in exploring an unconven-tional gas deposit must con-clude a mining explorationusufruct agreement with theState Treasury, granting theright to explore a site owned bythe State Treasury. Then the in-vestor must obtain an explo-ration concession (enabling theinvestor to pursue the specificactivity within the designatedsite), without which the miningusufruct is invalid. Explorationmay only be conducted by an en-tity that is both a party to the

The Polish Geo-logical and Min-ing Law doesn'tlay down anyspecial proce-dures for explo-ration and ex-ploitation of un-c o n v e n t i o n a lgas resources.

Cases should nowbe handled moresmoothly by admin-istrative authori-ties

Less bureaucracy

By Agnieszka Koconlegal adviser, Łaszczuk & Partners

will now be left in the case fileand deemed served.

notice by telephoneIn urgent matters it is now pos-sible to summon a party to par-ticipate in an operation under-taken by the authority or to pro-vide explanations or testimonyby telephone.

reopening final decisionsAnother amendment concernsfinal decisions, which previouslycould be amended or set asideeither by the authority that orig-inally issued the decision or byan authority at a higher level(acting in this case as an au-thority of first instance). Now afinal decision may be amendedor set aside only by the authoritythat issued the decision. If aparty acquired a right throughthe decision, however, consentof the party is also required.The Parliament found that theprevious approach led to point-less competition between au-thorities or unnecessary dis-putes over jurisdiction.

Frivolous challengesThe amendment introduced asolution seeking to put a stop tothe practice of repeated chal-lenges in a matter that the au-thority has already resolved,when the facts have notchanged. Now, if a petition chal-lenging an administrative deci-sion has been considered andheld to be groundless, and thegroundlessness is indicated inthe response to the petition, butthe party nonetheless renewsthe petition without demon-strating any new circumstances,the authority may uphold its po-sition without notifying theparty, but merely enter a rele-vant notation in the case file.

In short, the amendment tothe Administrative ProcedureCode closes several gaps in theprocedure and provides new so-lutions to expedite the resolu-tion of administrative matters.It remains to be seen how thesesolutions work in practice.

does not define “delay” pre-cisely, so to determine whetherthe proceedings before the au-thority have continued longerthan necessary to handle thematter, the court will considerthe complexity of the case, bothfactual and legal, as well as theconduct of the parties. If thecomplaint is upheld, the courtwill order the administrative au-thority to issue a decision ortake other action by a specificdeadline. If the authority fails tocomply, the party may seek afine against the authority.

administrative reviewshould decide the meritsThe amendment limits the abil-ity of administrative review bod-ies to remand cases for recon-sideration by the original au-thority. Vacating a decision is-sued in the first instance andremanding the case for recon-sideration was supposed to be aminor exception to the rule thatan administrative authority re-viewing a decision by the origi-nal authority should decide themerits of the matter. In prac-tice, administrative review au-thorities began to issue suchdecisions as a matter of course,avoiding an examination of themerits of the case and thus ex-tending the proceedings. Theamendment has limited thepossibility of vacating a decisionand remanding the matter tothe authority of first instance tosituations where the decisionwas issued in breach of proce-dural regulations and the issuesrequiring clarification have amaterial impact on the outcomeof the case.

If, however, the regulationsprovide for issuance of a deci-sion on an official form, includ-ing by means of electronic com-munication, and there aregrounds to amend the decision,the appellate body should nowvacate the decision and orderthe authority of first instance toissue a particular decision.

attorney or agent for serviceAnother important change con-cerns service of papers on aparty with its registered officeoutside of Poland. As in civilprocedure, the party should nowappoint an attorney in Poland oran agent for service. Otherwise,papers addressed to the party

means for parties to file a com-plaint with the administrativecourt against delay in proceedingsbefore a public administrative au-thority. Before it was only possibleto file a complaint for inaction ofan authority, i.e. failure to resolvea matter by the applicable dead-line, but in practice that did notsolve the problem because the au-thorities would often extend thedeadline without any good reasonso that technically they were not“inactive.” Now, a complaint fordelay may be filed before thedeadline for resolving the matter.

The complaint is heard by theadministrative court. The code

Amendments to the PolishAdministrative Procedure Codeentered into force on April 11,2011, with the goal of streamlin-ing administrative procedureand closing gaps in the law.Among the new solutions, thepossibility of filing a complaintfor delay of proceedings handledby an administrative authorityand the changes concerning is-suance of a decision by an ad-ministrative review authority de-serve particular attention.

new complaint for delay inadministrative proceedingsThe amendment introduced a


EVENT: Monthly Meeting

Getting personal with data protection czar

In May Am-Cham mem-bers had a

great opportu-nity to discusspersonal dataprotection is-sues with theguest speaker,WojciechWiewiórowski,the InspectorGeneral for Per-sonal Data Pro-tection, who isin charge of en-forcing data pro-tection compli-ance in Poland.Our guest waseager to answereven the mostcomplex ques-tions fromlawyers in Am-Cham memberfirms.

1. Guest speaker WojciechWiewiórowski, GIODO; Peter Kay, AmCham Board Member; MarzenaDrela, AmCham Deputy Director.2. Adam Bergmann; WojciechWiewiórowski. 3. Iwona Wałach, IronMountain; Paweł Makowski, GIODO.4. Elżbieta Raczkowska, Fiserv. 5. Thomas Kolaja, AmCham BoardMember. 6. Andrzej Pawelczak, Animex; Cezary Krasodomski, Cisco.7. Larry Kraut, American School ofWarsaw; Chris Hutchinson, Curb-TecEurope. 8. Sylwia Stepaniuk, Salans.9. Piotr Drobek, GIODO; Piotr Mercik,BMW. 10. Marta Wysokińska, K&LGates.

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as a pdf for download from thewww.amcham.pl website. Go to

"About Us" in the horizontal menu,and choose American Investor

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issues of American Investor datingback to October 2010.

ww.amcham.pl


Walking the talk with Woodward Governor

EVENT: Kraków

AmChamKraków andmember com-

pany Woodward Gov-ernor Poland organ-ized a tour of theWoodward produc-tion facility nearKraków for theheads of AmChammember companiesfrom southernPoland. Along withshowcasing Wood-ward’s achieve-ments, the event wasalso a good occasionfor members to haveface time withMałopolska Gover-nor Stanisław Kracikand US Consul Gen-eral to Kraków AllenGreenberg.

1. Allen Greenberg, US Consul General to Kraków; Stanisław Kracik, Governor of Małopolska; Dominik Kania, Woodward Gov-ernor. 2. Allen Greenberg; Jonathan Koehler, US Consulate General in Kraków; John Lynch, AmCham Board Member; DorotaAdamska, BP Europa; Małgorzata Jamrozik, Bartek Grelewski, CH2MHill. 3. Witold Bator, Coca-Cola Niepołomice; MałgorzataJamrozik; Bartek Grelewski; Allen Greenberg. 4. Eric van der Schilden, IBM; Stanisław Kracik; Monika Pilarska, AmChamKraków Branch Director; Bartek Grelewski; Allen Greenberg; Dominik Wróbel, Skalski SA; Witold Bator; Marek Rajca, SilganWhite Cap; Dorota Adamska. 5. Woodward Governor plant in Niepołomice. 6. Marek Rajca; Stanisław Kracik. 7. PawełPocięgiel, Woodward Governor; 8. John Lynch. 9. Małgorzata Jamrozik; Bartek Grelewski. 10. Monika Pilarska; JonathanKoehler. 11. Stanisław Kracik; Dominik Kania.

Pink Flamingo welcomes AmCham

EVENT: Business Mixer Warsaw

PinkFlamingo, anAmericana-

themed restaurantin Warsaw, was thevenue of the Am-Cham BusinessMixer in May. Theevent was a greatopportunity forAmCham membersand friends to in-terface over drinksand food and goodAmerican music.Other attractionsincluded a tradi-tional AmChamraffle ... not tomention a truckparked in front ofthe Pink Flamingothat, according tothe owners, ap-peared in the movieBrokeback Moun-tain.

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1. Tomasz Lisiecki, Optimax; Jerzy Napierała-Nowak, Pink Flamingo Restaurant & Bar; Roman Rewald, AmCham. 2. Membersof the Warsaw Werewolves American football team. 3. Witold Żabiński; Roman Rewald; Jerzy Kleniewski, European Parliament.4. Anna Włodarczyk; Beata Bednarska, FedEx. 5. Marzena Drela, AmCham; Robert Wieczorek, Pink Flamingo Restaurant &Bar. 6. Jerzy Napierała-Nowak; Anita Kowalska, AmCham. 7. Katarzyna Rudnik-Krzeska, Katarzyna Stepowicz, InterContinentalWarsaw. 8. Randy Mott, Ceeres; Christopher Smith. 9. Kitty van Kessel; Andrzej Wróbel. 10. Wyoming or Warsaw?

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W tym numerze: COVER STORY

Zanim rozpocznie siękomercyjna eksploat-acja gazu łupkowego,Polska musi uporaćsię z problemamizwiązanymi z pow-staniem zupełnienowej gałęzi prze-mysłu, str. 12

MONTHLY MEETINGuczenie się od siebie Zmniejszenie różnic w systemachochrony danych osobowych w USA i Europie będzie z korzyś-cią dla biznesu po obu stronach Atlantyku, str. 16

FOCUSGotowość do pracy AmCham w kooperacji z UniwersytetemJagiellońskim rozpocznie program doskonalenia praktycznychumiejętnośći niezbędnych w miejscu pracy, dla młodych pra-cowników firm członkowskich, str. 18

Wspomagając it i wymiar sprawiedliwości TomaszSzczerbina z krakowskiego oddziału Izby rozmawia z dyrek-torem zarządzajacym firmą Kroll Ontack, Markiem Suczykiem,na temat osiągnięć firmy oraz wywwań, które przed nią stoją,str. 19

zaspakajanie pragnienia Tomasz Ćwiok z “American In-vestor” rozmawia z dyrektorem operacyjnym Coca-ColaNorthern Central Europe, Paulem Woodwardem, na tematsukcesów firmy w Polsce i na świecie, str. 20

EKSPERCImniejsza biurokrajca Władze administracyjnę mogą rozpa-trywać sprawy szybciej i lepiej, str. 22

szukajcie a znajdziecie firmy poszukujące złóż gazu łup-kowego i konwencjonalnego korzystają z ochrony ich praw doeksploatacji złóż, które odkryły, str. 23

© American Chamber of Commerce in Poland 2011. All rights reserved.

American Investor to oficjalny magazyn Amerykańskiej Izby Handlowej w Polsce. Magazyn reprezentuje głos środowisk międzynarodowego biznesu w Polsce. Celem magazynu jestdostarczanie członkom Izby i innym czytelnikom aktualnych informacji na temat działalności Izby a także trendów biznesowych i polityce społecznej firm.

listy do rekacji prosimy wysyłać na adres poczty elektronicznej: [email protected]

RELACJE ZDJĘCIOWESpotkanie Miesięczne w Warszawie, str. 25

Spotkanie członków w firmie Woodward Governor, str. 26

Biznes Mikser w warszawskim Pink Falmingo, str. 27

DZIAŁY STAŁEBriefing redakcyjny, str. 2

Informacje o firmach członkowskich Izby, str. 5

Informacje o działalności Komitetów Izby, str. 9

Przewodnik po Komitetach Izby, str. 11

SUMMARIES: in Polish

We’re allin this

together

AmCham Member to Member

Documents

American Investor June 2011