Administration through imposing a fine? A fine as a legal instrument of administration of the broadcasters’ operation in Poland

The aim of the paper is an analysis of the legal structure of the administrative fine under the Polish Broadcasting Act, as well as an analysis of the practice of its application by the authorized administrative body, which is the Chairman of the National Broadcasting Council. The main problem of the paper is formulated as the question whether imposing a fine on broadcasters is an important instrument for administering their operations in Poland. In order to answer the posed question, an analysis of the legal regulations and administrative decisions of the Chairman of the National Broadcasting Council was conducted. For this purpose, the dogmatic-legal method and the case study method were used. As a result, it has been concluded that imposing a fine on broadcasters in Poland is not only a significant instrument for regulating their operation, but also a highly repressive practice that can be misused. Such a practice should be retrieved both at the legal and application of law levels.