Fundacja Frank Bold

Description

Fundacja Frank Bold is a Polish foundation made up of lawyers and other specialists who defend citizens, help them resolve legal problems and act on behalf of their communities. It calls itself an expert organisation that uses legal tools to protect people and the environment. It has expertise in environmental law, administrative law, ESG, energy law and anti-corruption law. It uses this expertise to help individuals, local governments and businesses make sound decisions and strengthen a free and responsible society.

Its name reflects the principles it follows: frankness of intention and boldness of action. It has worked in Poland since 2012 and is headquartered in Krakow. It is part of an international team of more than one hundred experts, with offices in Brno, Ostrava, Prague and Brussels. In 2020 it established a related law firm, Kancelaria Radców Prawnych, to take on representation work that the foundation itself cannot carry out.

Over more than ten years in Poland, Frank Bold has worked alone or with partner organisations on several cases. Its work led the EU Court of Justice to rule that valuable species, habitats and citizens’ right to challenge forest management plans must be better protected. It secured a Polish court ruling recognising the state’s liability and awarding compensation to a resident harmed by air pollution. It helped stop planned lignite and hard coal mines, including at Gubin-Brody, Złoczew, Imielin, Mysłowice and Rybnik.

It won a court ban on misleading advertising for illegal diesel particulate filter removal. Its research contributed to new EU corporate sustainability reporting standards. With Stowarzyszenie 61, it built jawnylobbing.pl, a central registry of lobbyists in Poland aimed at increasing transparency and scrutiny of lobbying.