Ministerstwo Gospodarki > English > Economy > Export control

Freedom of scientific research
Scientific research carried out in many academic centres as well as in science and research institutions in our country ceased to be specifically supervised by the state.
Unlimited freedom to carry out scientific research in the post-communist era, and the dissemination of the Internet made the knowledge originating from the research accessible to persons other than research participants.
Publishing the results of researches, or making publicly available the information concerning the researches carried out, has become a widespread phenomenon, making the information on scientific research accessible to everyone.

The phenomenon of open communication in every field of scientific research can be evaluated as positive. Free exchange of information on research achievements and sharing the knowledge resulting from scientific experiments are fundamental both for the quality of individual researches and for the development of science as a whole.
Any restrictions upon the information flow may have negative effects on further development of research, they may slow down the raise of the level of knowledge among the employees of science, research, and educational institutions, and first of all, they may hamper or totally prevent the realisation of basic science objectives, namely education and progress.
Therefore, no legal restrictions should be imposed on the academics employed in centres carrying out research.

Academics, if denied free access to studies prepared at science centres others than their own, have no opportunity to draw on achievements of the most enlightened minds or to critically review and verify their own research results, an opportunity priceless for every academic circle.
Free movement of information allows, moreover, the emergence of dynamic and often unexpected interactions, which may bring about subsequent innovations. Unhampered access to knowledge is of key importance for the research carried out to be successful and for its final results.

Academics should be aware, though, of the fact that easy access to scores of research results allows many lay persons to take advantage of scientific achievements.
Having the above in mind, it can be said that research works should be carried out, and their outcome made available, keeping the balance between scientific needs of research and educational institutions of academic centres on one hand, and national as well as international security requirements, on the other.
In what extent should the information on research carried out should be transmitted, as well as the levels of access to research results, remain open questions to be answered by academics exclusively.

International organisations dealing with this issue are aware that administration of each country is capable of no more than restricting the open exchange of ideas or blocking somebody's participation in research or educational activity, which brings about only negative results, as it limits the efficiency of research and educational system, lowering moreover the level of knowledge of most students and academics.
Consequently, state authorities may cause degradation of the potential of science and research centres, which in result will not be able to fulfil the national objectives.

Research institutions recruit best students and offer them work with the most experienced academics. Graduates, who are willing to devote themselves to science and research, strive to join those institutions where the most exciting research work is done.

Science centres, unable to engage best students and researchers, who hold promise for professionalism and commitment in research, will not be able to compete in a dynamically changing global world, which offers plenty of other opportunities to such persons.

The Minister of Economy, acting as trade inspection authority in Poland, and performing the tasks associated with export of arms, dual-use goods and technologies, is aware that imposing unnecessary bureaucratic barriers on science and research activities, as well as creating an inflexible export inspection system, will lead to a situation where academics will be up-to-date with neither developments in individual science disciplines in our country nor with technological progress worldwide.

What does open communication give us?
Progress in science is conditioned by the possibility to critically review the researches that are carried out and to verify their results, by all persons able to contribute to a given research process.
Critical review of scientific research can take on diverse forms: it may be done during various workshop meetings and talks (both formal and informal), during presentations at professional meetings, by means of informal circulation of working documents (manuscripts) before submitting them to a publisher, through formal review, by scientists, of documentation before its publication, as well as by way of scientific discussion over the already published research results, with participation of fellow researchers.

Research work may bring about technical and technological progress in many aspects of life only if such work is known by others.
Restricting the dissemination of research results will inevitably lead to restricting their verification by independent experts.

Some persons dealing with the issues of national security are against open and uncontrolled communication between academics.
Several mechanisms are being considered, which would restrict the transfer of data and dissemination of research results in cases where free communication may result in infringement of national interest or security.

Possible solutions are the following:

Confidentiality
Only those researches which directly influence national security should be classified. The classifying procedures for data that could be recognised as confidential are well-defined in national legislation and can be applied.
The researches not directly associated with maintaining national or international security should be carried out openly.
Academics participating in research that is difficult to be subjected to statutory classification should, in harmony with their knowledge and conscience, assess whether their research results may relate to national security and as such should be granted confidentiality clause or not.

Alleged export
Preventing the data associated with certain categories of research from being transmitted to foreigners residing in Poland could be considered unlawful or discriminating on grounds of nationality.
The inspection tools would include a list of names of students, lecturers and academics denied access to laboratories at national research centres.
Functioning of such control mechanisms, however, is quite difficult, as the identification of persons, whose activity may be recognised as undesirable in terms of international security, is seriously hindered due to similarities in personal data, characteristic for certain cultures and nationalities.
It also needs to be noted that research institutions currently do not have their own mechanisms of collecting and sorting data on the activity of foreigners having contacts with academics in our country.

Difficulties in controlling access to laboratory or technical equipment.
Trade inspection authority is aware of cases when research of a project, involving teams from different countries, is carried out with participation of several commercial companies. Science institutions may also carry out joint research, making use of laboratories in various countries.
Historical experience indicates that making a list of names of students and academics, who would need a license to work at one of the laboratories in Poland or abroad, seems to be pointless and ineffective – especially in the age of ever more intense cooperation between countries.
Moreover, taking into account the time needed to obtain such licence, as well as frequent changes in university research programmes implementation, such as rotation among academics, foreign students and researchers could not obtain such licence fast; as they would face administrative limitations (applications, forms, certificates).
At the same time, it seems uncertain whether the benefits gained by the state from introduction of administrative methods of controlling knowledge transfer between domestic and foreign academic centres would compensate the losses incurred by Polish science.

Some important discoveries may be threatened
Procedures involved in obtaining the licence could eliminate scientific discoveries which may emerge as a result of incidental interactions and spontaneous cooperation between persons carrying out the research.
An academic or a lecturer, making use exclusively of the laboratory base of his employing institution, may learn, during an incidental conversation, that the laboratory equipment at the disposal of his interlocutor may be useful in his research.
If administrative procedures prevented the use of other research institutions’ equipment, the research progress could be significantly hampered.

The results of introducing licences or authorisations for foreign academics would be worse than those of no opportunity for scientists to work at a laboratory other than their own. Such restrictions imposed upon academic circles would discourage foreign scientists from coming to Polish centres and make them choose universities and centres with no restrictions.
Consequently, the knowledge and experience of foreign researchers, sharing their achievements with universities and institutions abroad, would become unavailable for Polish scientists.

Alternative approach
Taking the above into account, it can be stated that it would be irrational to impose on science and research institutions a control system, equivalent to that functioning in commercial enterprises.
On the other hand, leaving the academic circles without adequate instruments and elementary knowledge about the potential threats from persons attempting to gather information about certain sorts of research could result in violating national or state security.
Therefore, if we identify persons that we have negative information about, we should prevent their access to laboratories.

Self-control mechanisms
Introduction of self-control mechanisms within the academic and research community is currently the most effective way to meet basic objectives regarding national security, as well as international peace and security.
The point is to work out appropriate procedures of conduct in cases where in the course of research the research documentation is created, which might become the focus of attention for persons linked to terrorist groups. In such cases, all the information and data associated with such research should be protected, e.g. through preventing access to the research results to persons interested in them, as well as by means of suspending all publications related to it.
In order to avoid such risks, the science and research centres should pursue actions leading to development of own self-control mechanisms.

Such actions include:

Recommendations
All higher education institutions and research centres should establish a special body, consisting of experienced scientists, responsible for raising awareness and knowledge of their fellows, concerning the need to protect documents, to classify them, to apply self-control mechanisms and regulations for export control.

The team of scientists (a commission, committee) responsible for pursuing the abovementioned objectives would perform a periodic evaluation of behaviour of academic staff, in accordance with internal regulations set by themselves.
If higher education institutions and research centres perform their tasks in compliance with the regulations on export control in force in Poland, they will avoid any future interference of state administration authorities as well as imposing the law on them.

Universities, technical universities, science and research institutions should establish and refine the internal education mechanisms applicable to staff, administrators and other employees in respect of compliance of their activities with export control procedures, as well as with the expectations of international public regarding the maintenance of international peace and security.

Further considerations and analyses of procedures for granting access to scientific data in "sensitive" fields are needed to increase the level of education and awareness among the academic circles.

The Ministry of Economy is ready to cooperate with academic and scientific circles to develop some internal control mechanisms, in order to maintain national security as well as international peace and security.