Background: An analysis of the role of public administration in the Polish health system, essential for the effectiveness of health protection and health promotion, is a very important and urgent task faced by scholars. This issue also concerns the authorities of counties (powiaty) and municipalities having the county status (MHCS), and these structures were chosen as the subject of our study. The aim of the study was to analyze whether health related rules and regulations of these administrative structures comply with the requirements of relevant Polish legislation acts. Material and Methods: The survey, performed in 2008, covered all the 378 counties and municipalities having the county status. On the basis of 171 Acts reviewed, a list of 11 groups of obligations and duties assigned to county and municipality units were prepared and used as a research tool. Results and Conclusions: It was found that the provisions of the Health Care Institutions Act of 1991 were most evidently (87%) reflected in the rules and regulations of the studies structures; more than a half (57%) refer to prophylaxis and health promotion, however, the most important Act as far as health protection and health promotion are concerned, i.e., the Act of 2004 was reflected in only 11.6%. Also the presence of some outdated regulations was discovered. The results of the study may indicate that the mechanisms, by which the execution of legal regulations on health protection and health promotion tasks should be supervised, are insufficient. Med Pr 2009;60(2):131-136