The adoption of the draft law will introduce a fundamental change in the psychological services market. The draft covers the rules for obtaining the right to exercise a profession and the terms and conditions for admission to the profession of a psychologist, establishes the self-government of psychologists and lays down the disciplinary rules applicable to psychologists. The proposed law is intended both for psychologists and their patients.

The new law will render it illegal to represent oneself as a psychologist without the relevant qualifications and therefore without the right to exercise the profession of psychologist. This will ensure that the person seeking support knows clearly whether the psychologist is qualified and able to offer specialist care.

The proposed provisions will regulate the market for psychologists and introduce clear rules for its operation The psychologist is a profession of public trust and should therefore be subject to additional regulation, ensuring that this trust is based on a solid foundation.

The proposed law will ensure the establishment of the self-government of psychologists and thus introduce mechanism for further professional regulations. One of these regulations will be a Code of Ethics that will guarantee high standards of professional practice. In the event of a breach of the standard of service, recipients of psychological services will be able to seek assistance and justice from the disciplinary ombudsman of the self-government body. The self-government will also ensure that the qualifications of psychologists are continuously improved. They will also be bound by professional secrecy, which will better protect the privacy of benefit recipients. In future, all legislative developments affecting psychologists will require the opinion of the self-government body.

The draft proposes detailed procedures to safeguard the rights and interests of both psychologists and recipients of psychological services. The draft, developed by the Ministry of Family, Labour and Social Policy provides for, among other things:

• the introduction of definitions of psychological services, which were developed by the psychological community – associations and unions of psychologists in the previous stages of the work on the regulation of the profession of a psychologist.
• the rules for admission to the profession of a psychologist and keeping the list of psychologists,
• the introduction of a procedure for the recognition of professional qualifications to exercise the profession of a psychologist for both EU and foreign nationals,
• the supervision by the minister competent for labour over the self-government of psychologists, which will be exercised within the scope and in line with the principles provided for in the law,
• the establishment of a two-tier self-government of psychologists, which will, among other things, lay down the rules of professional ethics to ensure the proper exercise of the profession.
• the establishment of a care institution to assist in the introduction to the profession of a psychologist.
• the introduction of a system of professional responsibility of psychologists.

The currently effective law of 8 June 2001 is not functioning in practice. Due to various legal and regulatory defects, the application of the said law is impossible and the self-government of psychologists has never been constituted. The scale of the changes required (in almost every article of the law) necessitated the drafting of an entirely new law. The flawed law will be repealed and the new legislation will be in line with European Union standards and current legislative standards.

The draft law on the profession of psychologist and professional self-government of psychologists was referred on 28 June 2024 for interministerial consultations, assessment and public consultations, which will last until 28 July. The law will enter into force after the establishment of the self-government, which will assume all the powers referred to in the draft law and will start to draw a list of psychologists.

The draft is available on the website of the Government Legislation Centre: https://legislacja.gov.pl/projekt/12386703