Poland is a country with significant lignite resources. Prospecting for and exploring lignite deposits, as well as lignite extraction, requires prior acquisition of an appropriate concession. As concessions serve as instruments for regulating economic activity—and thereby constitute a form of permissible restriction on such activity under the Polish Constitution—the legal provisions governing them must be enacted by statute. This article analyzes the role of state policies relating to lignite extraction and its use in electricity generation, and examines the concession procedure as a regulatory instrument, with a particular focus on one specific ground for refusing to grant a concession: inconsistency with the state’s raw material interest. The main research question addresses whether the incorporation of the state’s raw material interest as grounds for refusal complies with constitutional standards and whether policy documents—specifically the State Raw Materials Policy and the State Energy Policy—can effectively guide its interpretation. The analysis concludes that, while the constitutional framework permits such a ground for refusal, current policy documents require updates and greater specificity to ensure legal certainty and consistency in administrative practices.

The energy transformation in Poland is anchored in both European Union documents and national policies and strategies. Although the national policies and strategies do not have the character of legal regulations and are binding only on the Council of Ministers, they indirectly affect the factual and legal situation of citizens. The subject of the article is an analysis of the government's program documents (strategies and policies) in the context of the planned reduction in miners' employment related to the energy transformation, as well as the institution of miners' pension as an element of this transformation - including the principles of its granting on the basis of recently amended legal provisions. In the authors' opinion, the legal regulations of the miners' pension are insufficient, despite having been amended several times. These regulations still contain a number of unspecified concepts, despite the fact that many of them have been defined in the legislation, which leaves considerable discretion to the pension authorities. For these reasons, the authors have undertaken to indicate the areas of law requiring amendment in order to eliminate (or at least: reduce) the currently observed arbitrariness in the application of pension regulations, and thus make the energy transformation effective in the area of miners' pensions - as a labour market instrument mitigating the social effects of this transformation.