Regulatory environment

Given the nature of JSW’s operations, the most important national legal acts are the Law on Entrepreneurs and the Geological and Mining Law, which regulates issued related to the ownership of mines, performance and supervision of geological and mining works, responsibility for damages as a result of mine operations. Taking into account initiatives that are being undertaken in Europe and around the world as regards climate policy, those legal acts that are intended to minimise the negative impact of mining enterprises on the natural environment are becoming increasingly important.

Taking into account the trade union membership rates at JSW Group companies, which reached 119.9% in 2018, the update of the Act of 23 May 1991 on Trade Unions, introduced through the Act of 5 July 2018 on Amendment of the Act on Trade Unions and certain other acts, should be considered as important.

The scope of regulation should be viewed positively given the commonly agreed need to extend the existing provisions of the Act on Trade Unions, however it should also be noted that this gives rise to numerous duties on the part of the trade unions as well as on the part of JSW Group companies in their role as employers.

The Act on Employee Capital Plans went into force in 2018 and is of significance to JSW Group due to the levels of employment at JSW Group companies. Employee capital plans constitute a tool that is adequate to the objective to build an effective capital-based pension system, taking into account benefits in the form of higher competitiveness for employers and the introduction of an expected long-term savings system for employees. It should be noted that under the act it is possible to choose the existing employee pension programmes in place of the employee capital plans. Thus, JSW Group companies are facing a challenge in choosing – following consultations with trade unions – the right employee programme and subsequently effectively implementing and servicing it.

In the current legal environment, there is still no full legislation dedicated to hydrogen stations. In October 2018, the Council of Ministers adopted an updated national framework policy for the deployment of alternative fuels infrastructure, introducing to this document technical specifications for hydrogen refuelling points in accordance with directive 2014/94/EU.

Significant technical specifications are included in the following standards: ISO/TS 20100 – concerning fuelling stations that dispense gaseous hydrogen, ISO 17268 – gaseous hydrogen land vehicle refuelling connection devices and ISO 14687-2 – concerning the quality of hydrogen dispensed at hydrogen refuelling points.

Taking the above into account and considering new technologies and hydrogen fuels, desirable legislative changes are taking place, with the intention to regulate this issue, which is of interest to JSW Group.

This act, in force since 2017, specifies the rules and ways in which compensation is provided for the loss of right to free coal, hereinafter „compensation.” Authorised persons are eligible to receive up to PLN 10 000 in compensation.

In accordance with the act, the following are authorised persons:

• pensioner having the right to a retirement pension or invalidity pension and collecting this benefit, authorised in the course of collecting pension to free coal based on the provisions of collective labour agreements, arrangements or other regulations in place at the mining enterprise that expired prior to the act’s entry into force, as a result of executed agreements or notices served,
• widows, widowers and orphans having the right to a family pension for the aforementioned person,

A significant part of the disputed cases concerning implementation of the act on compensation remains in court proceedings therefore it is difficult to unequivocally state at this time what their outcomes will be and thus indicate the amount that JSW S.A. might be required to pay.

Securing safe, sustainable and attractively priced supplies of strategic raw materials for EU manufacturing is important for the European steel industry.

The EU’s List of Critical Raw Materials is an exceptionally important document, of key significance to JSW. Although it is a non-legislative document, it ascribes special status to coking coal. A lack of sufficient own sources of supply means that the European Union is almost entirely dependent on the import of both iron ore and coking coal.

Taking into account global emissions from sea transport or the time required for delivery, supporting European suppliers of the raw materials on the list seems to be of key importance to the EU economy.

EU legal regulations concerning the environment and use of natural resources, which JSW Group must comply with, are constantly changing and in recent years becoming stricter.

Technological installations must meet legal requirements concerning emissions into the environment, including requirements specified in the IED Directive on industrial emissions. Installations with integrated permits must comply with requirements arising from the BAT (Best Available Techniques) conclusions, which are applicable to all facilities in a given industry within the European Union and are aimed at determining the levels of pollution emissions and at ensuring that emission limits reflect the proportions between benefits and costs.

The modernisation of infrastructure at coking plants (coking batteries, installations for treatment and efficient use of coke oven gas) – aside from renewing the production potential of JSW Group’s plants – is also intended to reduce their impact on the environment.