The article analyses the framework of public debt in the national legislation. It contains a detailed description of the fiscal rule found in the Polish Constitution which provides for an acceptable limit of public debt. The article discusses also the importance of the rule for the fiscal policy. The essence, scope and the method of calculating of public debt under Public Finance Act is analyzed as well. The article appeals to the EU regulation of public debt by making a comparison of national and EU regulations. In this regard, the Regulation of EU Council on the application of the Protocol on the excessive deficit procedure and the Regulation on the European system of national and regional accounts (ESA 95/2010) are examined. The purpose of the comparison is the assessment of the national regulation of public debt. The article includes the issue of the economic importance of public debt and its strong connection with fiscal policy. Some changes of the current legislation on debt and fiscal framework are proposed in the article as well.