Access to the public service in the light of the provisions of the  Constitution of the Republic of Poland – selected issues

The Constitution of 1997., is the first post-war Polish basic law which includes the guarantee of the right of access to the public service. In the art. 60 of the Constitution, the legislator has decided that Polish citizens enjoying full public rights shall have a right of access to public service on equal terms. Interpretation of the normative content of this provision may not be clear. Those rules do not contain a definition of „public service” or other indications that overcome the problems of interpretation as to the scope of the constitutional guarantee referred to in art. 60 of the Constitution. The purpose of this article is to determine the personal scope of the public service, and in particular to show that both the notary and bailiff, as a public official, but also a lawyer, legal advisor and tax advisor or patent attorney practicing in the so-called aid law perform a public service.