The amendment to the Geological and Mining Law, signed by the President on August 1, 2018, introduces a number of changes to the law regulating mining minerals. The Act clarifies the rules of using the so-called priority right consisting in the power to apply for the establishment of mining usufruct of the person who prospected or documented a mineral deposit. The previous three-month term for concluding an agreement on the establishment of mining usufruct has been abandoned, indicating that the conclusion of such an agreement is permissible until the right to its conclusion has expired.

Another change is the requirement to obtain the opinion of the Minister of National Defence and the minister competent for fisheries, regarding the location of the area of conducting the intended activity, including prospecting and exploring hydrocarbon deposits and mining hydrocarbons from the deposits within the maritime areas of the Republic of Poland.