From 1 July 2026, the Central Register of Contracts (CRU) will come into operation—a new system in which public offices, ministries, public institutions, and municipalities will publish information on the contracts they conclude. This will allow citizens to verify in one place how public funds are being spent—without the need to submit access-to-information requests.
Although the register will only become available to citizens in the summer, public administration must begin preparations already in the spring. From April, offices will need to start implementing new procedures and adapting their systems to report contract data.
Local governments: no threshold means excessive burden
During consultations on the draft regulation, numerous comments were submitted by local governments. In their view, the obligation to publish all contracts—regardless of their value—may create a significant administrative burden.
The Polish Rural Municipalities Association proposed introducing a threshold of PLN 10,000. Under this solution, only higher-value contracts would be included in the register, while minor expenditures—such as office supplies or small repairs—would be excluded.
According to the association, the absence of a threshold could require the manual entry of thousands of low-value contracts annually and increase bureaucracy in public offices.
Not all local governments see a problem
Some municipalities already maintain their own contract registers and point out that, with proper work organization, managing them does not pose a major challenge.
“There is really no problem with entering data into the register. Everyone knows what they need to do and how many contracts they have concluded, and the entire process runs very efficiently,” said Małgorzata Pachecka during a panel on public finance transparency at the European Congress of Local Governments.
Experience from such municipalities suggests that publishing contracts can actually streamline the day-to-day work of public offices and improve communication with residents.
“The dispute concerns the scope of transparency, not the idea itself”
Representatives of government administration, academia, and other public institutions also participated in the consultations. Most stakeholders agree that a contracts register is necessary. The debate focuses primarily on how broad the scope of published data should be.
The Institute of Public Finance and Sieć Obywatelska Watchdog Polska argue that the absence of value thresholds increases transparency and enables citizens to more effectively monitor public spending.
As emphasized by Patrycja Satora, publishing all contracts—including those of low value—makes it possible to compare the costs of public services across institutions and supports a more substantive debate on public spending.
Citizens expect full transparency
Public opinion research conducted by the Institute of Public Finance shows that the majority of respondents support the publication of all contracts concluded by public institutions, regardless of their value. This expectation applies both to large investments and to minor expenditures that make up the everyday functioning of the state and local governments.
Register to launch on 1 July 2026
The Central Register of Contracts will become operational on 1 July 2026. From that moment, every citizen will be able to check, within a single system, what contracts public institutions are entering into and how public funds are being allocated.
