Special Services Committee (Sejm)

The standing committee of the Sejm through which the Sejm oversees the special services. It has no more than seven members, and its meetings are held behind closed doors.

The committee was introduced into the Standing Orders of the Sejm by a resolution of 27 April 1995 (Chapter 5a); the special services at the time were the Office of State Protection (UOP) and the WSI.¹

According to the ABW, the committee is now governed by Articles 137–142 of the Standing Orders of the Sejm. Among other things, it gives opinions on draft legislation, the services’ lines of work, annual reports and budgets, and candidates for their heads, and it examines complaints; it covers the ABW, AW, SKW, SWW and CBA (Article 142(2)).²

The Act on the Internal Security Agency and the Foreign Intelligence Agency provides that the activities of the heads of both agencies are subject to oversight by the Sejm (Article 3(3)), and that their appointment requires, among other things, the opinion of this committee (Article 14(1)).³