The representation of positive polynomials on a semi-algebraic set in terms of sums of squares is a central question in real algebraic geometry, which the Positivstellensatz answers. In this paper, we study the effective Putinar's Positivestellensatz on a compact basic semialgebraic set S and provide a new proof and new improved bounds on the degree of the representation of positive polynomials. These new bounds involve a parameter ε measuring the non-vanishing of the positive function, the constant c and exponent L of a Łojasiewicz inequality for the semi-algebraic distance function associated to the inequalities g = (g 1 ,. .. , g r) defining S. They are polynomial in c and ε −1 with an exponent depending only on L. We analyse in details the Łojasiewicz inequality when the defining inequalities g satisfy the Constraint Qualification Condition. We show that, in this case, the Łojasiewicz exponent L is 1 and we relate the Łojasiewicz constant c with the distance of g to the set of singular systems.