The aim of this work is to indicate the place which the Foreign Service occupies in the model of Polish public administration. The first part characterises the public administration, indicating within it the area of tasks performed by the Foreign Service and defines the service in terms of its objects, institutions and subjects. The second part points out the differences of the Foreign Service, in particular from the civil service, in terms of legal authority, structure, subordination, powers and responsibility. The third part at-tempts to indicate the legal, organizational and financial consequences of the separation of the Foreign Service within the public administration.