The consequences of the introduction of the system of monitoring of the road transport of goods

The law implemented in Poland was implemented with the aim of tightening the tax system. There is a reason for that since the estimates of the European Commission talk about budget losses in 2014 caused by exploiting loop holes of the VAT taxation system in the EU member states at the level of almost 160 billion Euro which accounted for approximately 14% of the expected revenue from that tax! Poland was not an exception here - its losses exceeded 9.3 billion Euro, i.e. almost a quarter of the state revenue from VAT.

SYSTEM SIMILAR TO THE HUNGARIAN EKAER

The Polish system of monitoring of the road transport of goods is not the first system of that kind in the EU. It works just like the system launched on January 1, 2015, in Hungary called EKAER. It requires reporting of all B2B transports of goods subject to tax duty executed using heavy goods vehicles, and in the case of goods referred to as "risky" by the Hungarian law, also transported by vehicles with the total mass below 3.5 tons. The Hungarian system requires obtaining the EKAER number for each transport (executed in one vehicle, for one consignor, to the defined destination, in conditions of a designated and one-time delivery). In case of any changes (of the vehicle, date, place of delivery, cargo composition of the vehicle) the registration must be updated. In case of failure to do so, the Hungarian tax and customs authorities may impose the fine in the amount of up to 40% of the value of unreported goods.Although the Polish system of monitoring of road transport of goods is similar to the Hungarian one in many respects, there are still a lot of significant differences. Below we have gathered the most important information about the system.

"SENSITIVE" GOODS"

The Polish act on the system of monitoring of the road transport of goods, as opposed to the Hungarian one, focuses only on the so-called "sensitive" goods (as long as they are transported into or through the territory of Poland).   The complete list of the goods covered by the new law can be found on the website of the Electronic Services Portal of the Customs Service (PUESC). They are, among others, various types of:

• petrol,
• fuels,
• oils,
• lubricants,
• ethyl alcohol (without excise or denatured),
• hydraulic and antifreeze fluids,
• adhesives for casting moulds,
• chemical products,
• dried tobacco. 

In some cases the law defines to which quantity the transported goods are not covered by it (e.g. undenatured ethyl alcohol without excise - unit packagings not exceeding 5 litres). 

WHO THE ACT APPLIES TO

he new law lists 3 groups the new obligations apply to. They are the consignor, the consignee and the carrier. It is their joint responsibility to provide up-to-date information about the shipment to the National Tax Administration via the Electronic Services Portal of the Customs Service.The obligations of each of the entities are different, however, depending on the transport type. They are accordingly:For transports commencing on the territory of Poland

• responsibilities of the consignor
  • sending the information to the register (using PUESC)
  • obtaining the reference number of the registration
  • transferring the number to the carrier,
  • in some cases (e.g. domestic sales), transferring the number to the consignee,
  • updating of the registration if the transport did not start.
• responsibilities of the carrier
  • updating the registration before commencing the transport of goods (using PUESC).
  • updating of data during transport, e.g. change of the means of transport
• obligations of the consignee
  • updating the information about the collection not later than one working day after it took place (using PUESC).

In case of import of intra-Community acquisition of goods which are transported to Poland

• obligations of the consignee
  • sending the information to the register (using PUESC)
  • obtaining the reference number of the registration
  • transferring the number to the carrier,
  • updating of the registration if the transport did not start.
• responsibilities of the carrier
  • updating the registration before commencing the transport of goods (using PUESC).
  • updating of data during transport, e.g. change of the means of transport.

In case of transport through the territory of Poland

• responsibilities of the carrier
  • sending the information to the register (using PUESC)
  • obtaining the reference number of the registration
  • updating of the registration if the transport did not start.

Detailed description of the responsibilities of each entity and data which need to be submitted can be found on PUESC website. It is worth knowing that the law imposes an obligation on the carrier and the driver to refuse the transport of goods if the reference number has not been received.The new act also provides for control of goods during transport hence it is recommended to attach instructions to the goods on how to take samples if the goods require special guidelines. It also provides for penalties for the consignor, carrier and the consignee for failure to comply with the provisions of the act.

INTEGRATION WITH MYRABEN

Thanks to the integration of myRaben with PUESC, Raben Group customers will still be able to place orders through our system.  During the process of placing the order it will be mandatory to provide the SENT number and the carrier's key entitling Raben Group to update the data. As of April 18 there is no possibility to place orders in the Integrator and MKR systems.