Will use custom app for legislative expediting

Politicians in Poland will switch from paper to digital when working on laws in the country's parliament, following an approval to purchase up to 500 top-of-the-line iPads for Sejm legislators, according to a report in the Polish business publication Wyborcza. Each of the 460 members will get a 64GB 3G-enabled iPad 2 at a cost of roughly $400,000. The move will replace paper and notebook computers currently in use by February.

The move follows similar action by the Dutch upper house (senate) in October, which cost the body some $200,000 but was estimated to have paid for itself in the first year in savings on copying, printing and couriers for legislative business. The Polish parliament hopes the use of the iPads with the custom app will encourage digital circulation of pending bills rather than printed copies, make communication with colleagues easier and facilitate more efficient use of parliamentary time. The move will also make more legislation available on the web, fostering more public comment and review.

While Apple sells upwards of 10,000 iPads per month to individual customers in Poland, the Sejm purchase is said to be the largest institutional sale thus far in the country. Members of Parliament will be limited to 2GB of 3G data per month, and are expected not to abuse the tablet as has been seen in isolated cases in other countries (the periodical reports that journalists caught a German politician playing chess on his iPad instead of paying attention during debates).

Deputy Prime Minister Waldemar Pawlak using an iPad during a Sejm session

by MacNN Staff