Poland’s Sejm voted 240-202 on November 6 to pass the Act on Restrictive Measures, which lets the interior minister freeze crypto assets, bank accounts and other property of people on a national sanctions list before any court reviews the order.
Key takeaways
- The Sejm passed the Act on Restrictive Measures 240-202 at its 68th sitting, with one abstention and 17 members not voting.
- A freeze takes effect the day after posting in the Public Information Bulletin and stays in force until an administrative court judgment becomes final.
- The Senate received the bill on November 9 and has 30 days under Article 121 of the Constitution to adopt, amend or reject it.
- The measure uses the MiCA definition of crypto assets, folding digital assets into the same freeze regime as bank accounts.
The vote took place at the Sejm’s 68th sitting, with one member abstaining and 17 not voting, according to the chamber’s proceedings record for the bill.
Under the act, a freeze applies only to people and entities the interior minister adds to a public national list, either on his own initiative or at the request of agencies including the financial watchdog KNF, the central bank, the financial intelligence unit and the internal security service. Listing grounds include supporting a country already under EU sanctions, serious human rights abuses, or financing information manipulation that threatens Poland’s national security.
A listed person can complain to an administrative court, but the bill keeps the decision in force until a judgment becomes final and sets aside the usual rule that lets a court pause a challenged order while a case runs. A freeze takes effect the day after posting in the Public Information Bulletin, Poland’s official notice system.
The bill defines crypto assets by the MiCA definition, the EU’s Markets in Crypto-Assets Regulation, so digital assets sit in the same freeze regime as bank accounts and other property. Banks, exchanges and other institutions face administrative fines if they fail to freeze a listed person’s assets or make them available. The text offers no way for officials to obtain the keys to coins held in self-custody, so practical enforcement runs through exchanges and custodians. The approach mirrors moves elsewhere: Cambodia froze nearly $1 billion in Prince Group assets amid a scam crackdown, and in the United States the CFTC has sent crypto market structure rulemaking to the White House while the Treasury’s OFAC already applies the same sanctions obligations to digital currency as to traditional money.
Deputy Interior Minister Czesław Mroczek said in the September 3 parliamentary debate that the existing national sanctions list held 554 entries, 435 individuals and 119 businesses.
The bill now sits with the Senate, which received it on November 9 and has 30 days under Article 121 of the Constitution to adopt, amend or reject it. After the Senate acts, the bill goes to President Karol Nawrocki. The vote followed a separate crypto dispute: Nawrocki vetoed the MiCA licensing bill three times this year, most recently on June 11, and the Sejm’s September override attempt failed 241-198 against a 266-vote threshold.
The measure would bring Poland’s freeze regime in line with those comparisons. Senate action on the bill is due by roughly December 9.
