Lustration in Poland refers to the policy of limiting the
participation of former communists , and especially informants
of the communist secret police (from the years 1944-1990), in
the successor governments or even in civil service The first
lustration statue, passed by the Polish Sejm in 1992, has been
declared unconstitutional by the Constitutional Tribunal of the
Republic of Poland Several other projects have been submitted
and reviewed by a dedicated commission, resulting in a new law
passed in 1996. In the years 1997-2007 lustration was dealt with
by the office of Public Interest Spokesman (Rzecznik Interesu
Publicznego ) who analyzed lustration declarations and could
initiate further proceedings, including submitting a request to
the courts to initiate a legal lustration proceeding. On 18
December 2006 Polish law regulating Institute of National
Remembrance (pol. Instytut Pamięci Narodowej - IPN) was changed
and came into effect on 15 March 2007. This change gave IPN new
lustration powers . The first