A fine of up to PLN 500 can be imposed for not wearing a face mask in a shop. In extreme cases, however, the penalty may be as high as PLN 30,000. The police, municipal police or sanitary inspectors may check whether people are wearing masks. In an interview with Radio Zet, Chief Sanitary Inspector spokesperson Jan Bodnar stated that:
A shopkeeper has the right to refuse to serve a customer without a face mask, as this is a matter of safety, and if the shopkeeper is not wearing a mask, customers may intervene.
In turn, Dziennik Gazeta Prawna quotes a statement by Ministry of Health spokesperson Wojciech Andrusiewicz to PAP, who goes further and announces that regulations will be introduced that a shopkeeper will be able to invoke when refusing to serve a customer without a face mask.
We want to clarify the regulations on covering the nose and mouth as a matter of urgency, among other things so that shop owners can refuse to serve customers who do not comply with this obligation.