President of the Republic of Poland Bronislaw Komorowski has just signed the changes in the Public Procurement Law. The purpose of the amendment to the Act is to help eliminate barriers to growth in innovation and research in Poland. Scientists from the International Institute of Molecular and Cell Biology were first who took photographs symbolizing the limitations of the Public Procurement Law. Their initiative started the "PZP ties the hands of science" action.

The Act of 14 March 2014 amending Poland's Public Procurement Law includes changes called for by the Public Procurement Office, including an increase in the threshold for application of the Public Procurement Law from EUR 14 000 to EUR 30 000. Under the current exchange rate used for this purpose, this means that an order will be subject to the procurement regime only if the contractor's fee exceeds PLN 126 747 net. Also excluded from the procurement regime will be orders below EU thresholds for supply of goods or services solely for the purposes of research, experimentation, science or development, not for use for serial production by the contracting authority for profit or to cover R[&]D costs.

IIMCB would like to thank all those scientists who participated in the action and institutions which formally supported the activities.