The Act on Protection of Classified Information of 5 August 2010 (Journal of Laws 2018, item 412, as amended) — hereinafter referred to as the "Act" – states that an entrepreneur performing an agreement or task related to access to classified information appended with the CONFIDENTIAL or stricter clause is obliged to possess the industrial security certificate.

Industrial security proceedings are carried upon request of the entrepreneur. The entrepreneur indicates in the request:

• the degree of certificate;
• and the secrecy clause of the classified information, whose capability of protecting is to be confirmed in the certificate.

The request concerned does not need a statement of grounds.

An entrepreneur intending to apply for performance of agreements related to access to classified information appended with the CONFIDENTIAL or stricter secrecy clause submits the request for industrial security proceedings together with attached industrial security questionnaire and surveys or copies of security credentials of persons specified in Article 57(3), in accordance with competence provided for in Article 10(2) and (3) of the Act, with the Military Counterintelligence Service (SKW) or the Internal Security Agency (ISA).

Entrepreneurs possessing the valid industrial security certificate issued by the SKW before the entry into force of the Act and currently being outside the statutory competence of the SKW shall send requests for initiation of extended verification proceedings, together with personal security surveys, directly to ISA. An entrepreneur being in the statutory competence of the SKW, during the industrial security proceedings and in the period of validity of the industrial security certificate, is obliged to notify the SKW, within 30 days, on:

• changes to the data in the industrial security questionnaire;
• announcement of bankruptcy, liquidation or dissolution of the organisational unit;
• conclusion of an agreement related to access to classified information appended with the CONFIDENTIAL or stricter secrecy clause, indicating
• the name and address of the organisational unit;
• the subject matter of the agreement;
• the highest secrecy clause of the classified information, access to which is related to the performance of the agreement;
• the termination of the agreement;
• the end of its performance;
• conclusion of an agreement with a subcontractor, that is related to access to classified information appended with the CONFIDENTIAL or stricter secrecy clause, its termination and expiration.

Furthermore, the entrepreneur performing an agreement related to access to classified information appended with the CONFIDENTIAL or stricter secrecy clause is obliged to notify the person referred to Article 71(3) of the Act on:

• changes to the data in the system of protection of classified information;
• changes to persons performing the agreement;
• the need to conclude an agreement with a subcontractor, that is related to access to classified information.

The organisational unit remaining within the statutory competence of the SKW and commissioning the performance of the agreement related to access to classified information appended with the CONFIDENTIAL or stricter secrecy clause, i.e. the so-called PRINCIPAL is obliged to immediately notify the SKW on:

• the name and address of the entrepreneur with whom the agreement was concluded, i.e. the CONTRACTOR,
• the subject matter of the agreement,
• the highest necessary secrecy clause of the classified information, access to which is related to the performance of the agreement;
• violation of the provisions on protection of classified information by the entrepreneur with whom the agreement was concluded (i.e. by the Contractor),
• the termination of the agreement,

and to immediately provide the SKW with:

• a copy of the industrial security instructions,
• a copy of the industrial security certificate of the entrepreneur with whom the agreement was concluded.

Obligations of entrepreneurs resulting from the fact of possessing industrial security certificates and related to the performance of the agreements with access to classified information appended with the CONFIDENTIAL or stricter secrecy clause are regulated by the provisions of Article 70(1) and (2) and Article 71 of the Act. In accordance with Article 65(1) of the Act, in the period of validity of the industrial security certificate, the SKW may ex officio investigate the entrepreneur in the scope of the components referred to in Article 57(2) of the Act in order to determine whether or not it has lost the capability of protecting classified information from unauthorised disclosure. PLEASE NOTE Article 66(2) of the Act indicates events in which the SKW is obliged to revoke the industrial security certificate and Article 66(3) – events in which the SKW may revoke the certificate. The matters related to industrial security are regulated in detail by Chapter 9 "Industrial Security" of the Act.