Week ahead 16–20 Nov: Sejm lines up its Data Act enforcer

Poland's Sejm sits from 17 to 19 November and may vote on the bill that makes the telecoms regulator UKE the enforcer of EU data-access rules for makers and users of connected devices.

Rapporteur Artur Gierada (KO, Kielce) carries the committee report. In Brussels, the civil liberties committee votes on Thursday on border and asylum funds worth €27.4 billion, and in London peers begin report stage on the Railways Bill.

The one to watch: Poland names its Data Act regulator

The government's bill on fair access to and use of data, print 3266, reached the Sejm on 19 October. The digital affairs committee held the first reading on 5 November and reported the same day in print 3288, recommending the text it attached. The Sejm had set the committee a deadline of 17 November, the day the sitting opens.

The bill sits on the list of items with which the agenda "may be supplemented", so the Marshal may add it.

According to the Sejm's record of the bill, the President of the Office of Electronic Communications (UKE) will supervise compliance, handle complaints and certify the bodies that settle disputes. The Minister of Digital Affairs will report to the European Commission.

The EU rules are those of the Data Act, which has applied since 12 September 2025. It gives people and businesses the right to access the data produced by their use of connected products and to pass that data to third parties such as repair and maintenance providers. It also sets the framework for customers to switch between providers of data-processing services.

For device makers and the firms that want their data, the bill names the authority that hears complaints. After a third-reading vote it goes to the Senate and then to the President.

Poland: capital markets, deepfakes and a higher cash limit

The 69th sitting opens on Tuesday 17 November at 10:00. Four first readings are on the fixed agenda:

• print 3298, a government bill implementing EU law that cuts the cost and formalities of raising capital, mainly for small and medium-sized companies going public. The Minister of Finance and Economy presents it;
• print 3268, presented by Monika Rosa (KO, Katowice), which extends criminal liability for using digital techniques, artificial intelligence in particular, to produce pornographic content and to harm people shown in intimate situations;
• print 2806, presented by Sławomir Ćwik (Centrum, Chełm), which raises from PLN 15,000 to PLN 25,000 the transaction value above which businesses must settle through a payment account;
• print 3184, a citizens' bill on hunting law that would limit hunters' influence over game management and introduce oversight by nature-protection authorities.

Second readings include the government's deregulation bill for the National Court Register, print 3004. It updates company data automatically from the PESEL population register and simplifies the filing of financial statements and the procedure for "dead entities".

Deputies also take print 3085, with rapporteur Dominik Jaśkowiec (KO, Kraków). It changes personal and consumer bankruptcy at the stage where a debtor carries out the court's repayment plan.

The Marshal may also add print 3138, which aligns the corporate income tax exemption for seaport managers with EU state-aid rules. Rapporteur Jarosław Wałęsa (KO, Gdańsk) reported it on 6 November. The same list carries the government's drug reimbursement bill, print 3281, and Senate resolutions on a dozen bills, among them housing support and the investment process for key infrastructure.

European Parliament: three committee votes before Strasbourg

Parliament holds no plenary this week. The next session runs in Strasbourg from 23 to 26 November.

On Thursday 19 November the civil liberties committee (LIBE) votes on its positions on the 2028–2034 border management fund and the asylum, migration and integration fund, according to its draft agenda. We preview that vote separately.

Half an hour earlier, LIBE and the culture committee vote jointly on the AgoraEU programme for 2028–2034. The co-rapporteurs are Emma Rafowicz (S&D, France) and Alice Kuhnke (Greens/EFA, Sweden). The committees also vote on opening talks with the Council.

On Monday 16 November at 18:45, LIBE and the budgetary control committee vote on a legislative-initiative report asking the Commission to revise the regulation on the European Public Prosecutor's Office. Gilles Boyer (Renew, France) and Raquel García Hermida-van der Walle (Renew, Netherlands) drafted it.

United Kingdom: peers reach report stage on the Railways Bill

The Lords take the first of three report-stage days on the Railways Bill on Wednesday 18 November. Lord Hendy of Richmond Hill (Labour) sponsors it for the Department for Transport. The other two days are 8 and 15 December.

Peers also hold:

• day two of committee on the Courts and Tribunals Bill on Monday 16 November. The bill changes the criminal courts in England and Wales and removes the presumption of parental involvement from the Children Act 1989;
• day five of committee on the Health Bill on Tuesday 17 November, with further days on 23 and 25 November;
• consideration of Commons amendments to the Sporting Events Bill [HL] on Wednesday 18 November.

In the Commons, public bill committees sit on Tuesday 17 and Thursday 19 November on two government bills. The Highways (Financing) Bill, sponsored by Heidi Alexander (Labour, Swindon South), provides for licences to charge tolls in return for securing works on trunk roads in England. The Building Safety (Remediation of Unsafe Cladding etc) Bill, sponsored by Angela Rayner (Labour, Ashton-under-Lyne), covers the assessment and remediation of external walls in taller residential buildings.

The Leader of the House sets out the chamber's legislation for the week in the business statement of 12 November. On the morning of that day the Finance Bill had no date for its second reading.

Germany and the Netherlands

The Bundestag does not sit. Its calendar lists the next sitting week as 23–27 November.

In The Hague, the Tweede Kamer's agriculture committee holds a legislative consultation on the fund for nitrogen, agriculture and nature on Monday 16 November.

What to watch

• 16 November, 18:45: the joint committee vote on revising the European Public Prosecutor's Office regulation.
• 17 November, 10:00: the Sejm opens, and the Marshal decides whether the Data Act bill and the seaport tax bill join the agenda.
• 18 November: the Lords' first report-stage day on the Railways Bill.
• 19 November: LIBE's votes on the border and asylum funds and the joint vote on AgoraEU.

Follow these files across all six parliaments on PoliData.