Legnica Special Economic Zone is a

special economic zone A special economic zone (SEZ) is an area in which the business and trade laws are different from the rest of the country. SEZs are located within a country's national borders, and their aims include increasing trade balance, employment, increas ...

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It extends from the Baltic Sea in the north to the Sudetes and Carpathian Mountains in the south, bordered by Lithuania and Russia to the northeast, Belarus and Ukrai ...

, situated in

Lower Silesian Voivodeship Lower Silesian Voivodeship (, ) in southwestern Poland, is one of the 16 Voivodeships of Poland, voivodeships (provinces) into which Poland is divided. It covers an area of and has a total population of 2,899,986. It is one of the wealthiest ...

in the southwest of the country. Cited by the Polish Investment and Trade Agency as "one of the most dynamically developing regions in Poland", it lies near the border with Germany and the Czech Republic and comprises an area which includes the cities of Chojnow, Glogow,

Legnica Legnica (; , ; ; ) is a city in southwestern Poland, in the central part of Lower Silesia, on the Kaczawa River and the Czarna Woda. As well as being the seat of the county, since 1992 the city has been the seat of the Diocese of Legnica. Le ...

Lubin Lubin (; ) is a city in Lower Silesian Voivodeship in south-western Poland. It is the administrative seat of Lubin County, and also of the rural district called Gmina Lubin, although it is not part of the territory of the latter, as the town for ...

Zgorzelec Zgorzelec (, , , , Lower Sorbian: ''Zgórjelc'') is a town in Lower Silesian Voivodeship, in southwestern Poland, with 30,374 inhabitants (2019). It is the seat of Zgorzelec County and of Gmina Zgorzelec (although it is not part of the territory ...

, Zlotoryja and the communes of Chojnow,

Gromadka Gromadka is a village in Bolesławiec County, Lower Silesian Voivodeship, in south-western Poland. It is the seat of the administrative district (gmina) called Gmina Gromadka. It lies approximately north-east of Bolesławiec, and west of the re ...

Iłowa Iłowa () is a town in Żagań County, in Lubusz Voivodeship, in western Poland, the administrative seat of the Gmina Iłowa. Geography It lies in the easternmost part of the historic Upper Lusatia region, at the border with Lower Silesia. The se ...

, Kostomloty,

Legnickie Pole Legnickie Pole (in 1945–1948 ''Dobre Pole'') is a village in Legnica County, Lower Silesian Voivodeship, in south-western Poland. It is the seat of the administrative district (gmina) called Gmina Legnickie Pole. It lies approximately southea ...

, Miekinia, Milkowice,

Polkowice Polkowice () is a town in south-western Poland. It is situated in Lower Silesian Voivodeship. The town is the seat of Polkowice County and of Gmina Polkowice. Geography Polkowice is located in historic Lower Silesia, about northwest of Lubin ...

Prochowice Prochowice () is a town in Legnica County, Lower Silesian Voivodeship, in south-western Poland. It is the seat of the administrative district (gmina) called Gmina Prochowice. It lies approximately north-east of Legnica, and west of the regiona ...

, Przemkow, Radwanice, and Sroda Slaska.

History

The zone was established in 1997. New legal regulations introduced in 2018 allow for entrepreneurs working in the zone to be exempt from income tax in all of Poland. The Iłowa Subzone of the zone was established in Iłowa in December 2007. The Chinese technology company

Lenovo Lenovo Group Limited, trading as Lenovo ( , zh, c=联想, p=Liánxiǎng), is a Chinese multinational technology company specializing in designing, manufacturing, and marketing consumer electronics, personal computers, software, servers, conv ...

had intended to open a factory in the zone in the summer of 2008, but the plans were later scrapped. The zone has a special interest in clean energy and has made numerous agreements with companies which advocate or are involved with clean energy to help meet Poland meet its carbon objectives for 2050. In 2022 a cooperation agreement was made with SatRev, a Polish space company, which uses 100% of its energy from renewable energy sources. They agreed to manufacture nanosatellites in a new factory to be built in Legnica, with the objective of forming a constellation of a thousand Earth Observation satellites by 2026. In July 2022, the zone signed an agreement with American nuclear energy company Last Energy to develop 10 small modular reactors in the LSSE. Construction work is underway in Sroda Slaska with a

PepsiCo PepsiCo, Inc. is an American multinational corporation, multinational food, snack, and beverage corporation headquartered in Harrison, New York, in the hamlet of Purchase, New York, Purchase. PepsiCo's business encompasses all aspects of the f ...

plant. In July 2022, the Viessmann Group, a manufacturer of heating systems and components, announced the construction of a new production plant on a plot of land in Legnica, in a ceremony which was attended by Prime Minister

Mateusz Morawiecki Mateusz Jakub Morawiecki (; born 20 June 1968) is a Polish economist, historian and politician who served as the prime minister of Poland between 2017 and 2023. A member of the Law and Justice (PiS) party, he previously served in the Cabinet of ...

. The new plant will create up to 3000 jobs. As of 2022, Legica Special Economic Zone had 77 investors globally, including Volkswagen Motor Polska, Brose Sitech, Winkelmann and BASF, and had created over 17,000 jobs in Poland. According to Benchmarkia, Legica Special Economic Zone is ranked among the top 30 industrial parks based on total investment.

History

References

Further reading