Changes regarding SENT applications for foreign carriers from 1 January 2025

In 2024, the Council of Ministers adopted changes to the SENT system. They were a response to the demands of Polish carriers, who were greatly affected by competition from across the eastern border. From 1 January 2025, the obligation imposed on foreign carriers to report transport in SENT was extended.

What is SENT?

The SENT system, or the Electronic Transport Supervision System, is a system that monitors the road and rail transport of sensitive goods in Poland. Access to SENT is provided by the e-Transport service on the Electronic Tax and Customs Services Platform (PUESC). Only a natural person can open a PUESC account, so in the case of business entities, the employer may designate a person responsible for reporting to the SENT system using an appropriate power of attorney, e.g. an employee of this entity with an appropriate power of attorney. The catalog of goods subject to declaration is specified in the Act on the monitoring system for road and rail transport of goods, and trade in heating fuels, and the regulation of the Minister of Finance on goods subject to the monitoring system. These goods include, among others, heating fuels, goods containing ethyl alcohol, dried tobacco within the meaning of excise duty regulations, medicinal or medical products. In January 2024, the SENT system also covered the transport of 11 types of waste.

Protective measures

After the outbreak of the conflict in Ukraine and the abolition of road permits for Ukrainian carriers by the European Union, the Polish transport industry felt the breath of Ukrainian competition on its back. The wave of strikes and the tense situation on the Polish-Ukrainian border, which we observed at the beginning of last year, were an attempt by the industry to draw the attention of the government and public opinion to the deteriorating situation on the Polish transport services market.

SENT has become a way to protect Polish carriers from unfair competition. As expected, the Polish government has accelerated the entry into force of the obligation to report international road transport of goods to the Register of International Road Transport (RMPD) within the SENT system. As of 1 November 2024, this obligation was imposed on carriers who are not established in an EU Member State, the Swiss Confederation or an EFTA member state and who perform road transport in Poland to or from a non-EU country on the basis of a permit required under the provisions of an international agreement binding Poland and that country.

The regulations impose on a foreign carrier performing international road transport of goods in Poland the obligation to have a geolocation device switched on in the vehicle. Thanks to this, it is possible to automatically record the vehicle’s position. Control services have the possibility to compare GPS data from the notification register with data recorded by the G2V2 generation tachograph.

According to the government, the new requirement will enable more effective control and monitoring of foreign entities, and thus strengthen the protection of Polish carriers against prohibited practices of foreign carriers.

Changes in SENT from 2025

As of 1 January 2025, the obligation to report road transport of goods in SENT also covered carriers from other EU Member States, the Swiss Confederation and EFTA (European Free Trade Association) member states. These entities are required to submit a transport notification in SENT when they perform international road transport of goods in Poland to or from a third country (outside the EU), for which a permit is required. Carriers from the EU, the Swiss Confederation or EFTA are not required to report transport in SENT when they perform road transport (including cabotage transport), based on the provisions of Regulation (EC) No 1072/2009.

Romania is also tightening the transport market

Poland is not the only country that is tightening its internal road transport market. In 2022, Romania introduced the RO e-Transport System, which monitors the transport of goods with increased tax risk on its territory. Since January last year, the scope of the system has been extended to all goods transported through Romanian territory as part of international transport. Carriers are required to report data on the transported cargo in the system, such as: data of the sender and recipient, loading and unloading locations, information on the type, characteristics, quantity and value of the transported goods, and details of the means of transport used for transport. Based on this information, the system generates a unique UIT code, which is then made available to the driver. Failure to comply with the requirements of the RO e-Transport system may result in high financial penalties – from 10 to 50 thousand lei for individuals and from 20 to 100 thousand lei for companies. A penalty may be imposed, for example, for failure to report data on goods or failure to update vehicle information. The penalty package also provides for the confiscation of goods with an undeclared value.