Summary:

In the context of interpretation of law, the article deals with the issue of planning in environmental protection - a phenomenon that has been experienced a kind of renaissance in Polish law. The aim of the article is to answer the question, what are the distinctive features of interpretations of environmental law in relation to planning norms and whether and to what extent the specificity of planning acts as sources of law determines their interpretation. The article is preliminary. It aims to identify problems and determine directions for further research. Starting from the presentation of planning acts in the environmental law as a source of legal norms’ reconstruction, it is pointed out that the difficulties of interpreting planning acts as sources of law reflect their special legal character. Analyzing then the nature of planning norms in environmental law, it is noted that (similarly to other planning norms) their diversity is a consequence of the legal nature’s diversity of planning acts. The specificity of the interpretation of planning norms is presented in some examples. Finally, the impact of planning in environmental law on evolutionary tendencies of the legal model in Poland, in the light of P. Nonet and P. Selznick's theory is noted.

Key words: legal interpretation, planning norm, legal norm, planning in environmental law