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);

published in the Polish Official Journal on

13 June

2017 and in force since

20 June 2017. 2. FACTUAL AND PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND (6) Since November 2015, the Commission has been following closely the developments relating to the rule of law in Poland and has taken action. The full account of these developments concerning the rule of law in Poland and the dialogue of the Commission with the Polish Government under the Rule of Law Framework2 can be found in the Commission Recommendations (EU) 2016/13743 , (EU) 2017/1464 and (EU) 2017/15205 . An overview of the main developments is presented below. (7) The Rule of Law Framework provides guidance for a dialogue between the Commission and the Member State concerned to prevent the escalation of systemic threats to the rule of law. The purpose of this dialogue is to enable the Commission to find a solution with the Member State concerned in order to prevent the emergence of a systemic threat to the rule of law that could develop into a '

clear risk of a serious breach'

which would potentially trigger the use of the '

Article

7 TEU Procedure'

. The Framework is to be activated in situations where the authorities of a Member State are taking measures or are tolerating situations which are likely to systematically and adversely affect the integrity, stability or the proper functioning of the institutions and the safeguard mechanisms established at national level to secure the rule of law ('

national rule of law safeguards'

)6 . The Rule of Law Framework has three stages. In a first stage ('

Commission assessment'

) the Commission collects and examines all the relevant information and assesses whether there are clear indications of a systemic threat to the rule of law. If, as a result of this preliminary assessment, the Commission believes that there is a systemic threat to the rule of law, it will initiate a dialogue with the Member State concerned, by sending a '

Rule of Law Opinion'

, substantiating its concerns and giving the Member State concerned the possibility to respond. In a second stage ('

Rule of Law Recommendation'

), if the matter has not been satisfactorily resolved, the Commission can issue a '

Rule of Law Recommendation'

addressed to the Member State. In such a case, the Commission indicates the reasons for its concerns and recommends that the Member State solves the problems identified within a fixed time limit, and informs the Commission of the steps taken to that effect. In a third stage ('

Follow-up to the Rule of Law Recommendation'

), the Commission monitors the follow-up given by the Member

2 Communication from the Commission to the European Parliament and the Council of

11 March 2014, '

A new EU Framework t........