Inspekcje/en

INSPECTIONS – this is a term strictly related to the administrative police (adm.p.)and is understood as one of the functions performed by services responsible for → public safety and → public order. Adm.p. is basically classified as police in the material sense, which differs from the security police and criminal police. The tasks of adm.p. include: ensuring security and public order; removing dangers threatening public order; forcing individuals to refrain from activities that harm public order. In addition, adm.p. may be perceived as a set of legal and administrative measures intended to guarantee the inviolability of three states: security, order and public peace, and three goods: life, health and property. However, these legal and administrative measures are diversified due to the type and scale of potential threats. In organisational terms the functions of adm.p. are performed by various public authorities. These are first and foremost various state organs within the executive branch, as well as other institutions that break out of the classical rule of the trifurcation of public authorities, i.e. inspections. In this respect, adm.p. is apparently present in the structures of state administration. Due to the specificity of the subject of action, adm.p. cannot be included in the group of entities with a wide range of competences. Therefore, it is located in most cases in the territorial joint governmental administration, however, it is excluded from the direct governing authority of the voivode (in the voivodship), let alone the starost (in the county). Therefore, it is advisable to set up specialised institutions for this purpose, which are colloquially termed (albeit imprecisely) as services, guards or inspections. Specialised entities performing the function of adm.p. that are part of a joint administration include the following statutory inspections: the Road Transport Inspection – to control the observance of road transport regulations for motor vehicles and to comply with traffic regulations by drivers of vehicles under the rules laid down in road traffic law; the Environmental Protection Inspection – to control compliance with environmental protection regulations as well as to study and assess the state of the environment; the Veterinary Inspection – in order to ensure the protection of public health, it performs tasks in the area of animal health protection as well as the safety of products of animal origin and food containing both non-animal food ingredients and products of animal origin in agricultural retail trade, within the meaning of the Act on food safety and nutrition; the Trade Inspection – a specialised control body appointed to protect consumer interests and rights as well as economic interests of the state; the State Sanitary Inspection – performs tasks in the field of public health, in particular by supervising hygiene conditions of: the environment, work in workplaces, radiation, teaching and education processes and health conditions of food, nutrition and objects of use, hygiene and sanitation requirements that should be met by medical personnel, equipment and premises in which health services are provided; the National Labour Inspectorate – appointed to supervise and control compliance with labour law, in particular the provisions and principles of health and safety and hygiene at work, as well as provisions regarding the legality of employment and other paid work. [A. Misiuk]

Literature: J. Dobkowski, Pozycja prawnoustrojowa służb, inspekcji i straży [The legal and systemic position of the services, inspections and guards], Warszawa 2007.