The TSL Industry Appeals to the President of Poland Regarding the Amendment to the Sanctions Act

Representatives of the TSL (Transport, Shipping, and Logistics) industry are concerned about the amendment to the so-called Small Sanctions Act. Experts have serious reservations regarding its compliance with existing regulations and its practical feasibility. For this reason, they have sent a letter to the President of Poland, urging him to refer the amendment to the Constitutional Tribunal.

The amendment concerns the Act on Special Measures to Counteract Supporting Aggression Against Ukraine. Some of its provisions raise doubts and concerns within the TSL industry.

In its current form, this law could paralyze Polish exports. For example, it introduces high penalties for failing to meet obligations that, in many cases, are simply impossible to fulfill, says Joanna Porath, owner of the customs agency AC Porath.

The letter to the President was sent by several organizations, including the Polish Institute of Road Transport, the Employers’ Association Transport and Logistics Poland, ETA.FM, the National Association of Oversized Transport Employers, as well as independent customs experts such as Piotr Sienkiewicz.

Key Issues

The TSL industry highlights several key problems that companies in this sector will face if the amended regulations come into force:

• The law introduces high fines (up to 500,000 PLN) for violating regulations that are vaguely defined. This is particularly concerning in the context of exports to countries that may be involved in circumventing sanctions—without clearly specifying which countries are being referred to.

  You cannot impose such high penalties for breaking rules that are not precisely defined. Furthermore, the law does not indicate which authority would be responsible for determining the list of such countries, explains Joanna Porath.

• Another problematic aspect of the amended law is the requirement for exporters to obtain special declarations from product manufacturers.

  In complex supply chains, where multiple intermediaries exist between the manufacturer and the exporter, such a requirement is often impossible to fulfill. The manufacturer may not be interested in issuing additional declarations, especially if they do not have direct business relationships with the Polish exporter, emphasizes Joanna Porath.

• A 45-day deadline has been introduced for providing documents confirming customs clearance in the destination country, without considering the specifics of international transport.

  For maritime transport to distant destinations such as Australia, New Zealand, or South American countries, the transport itself takes longer. Take deliveries to Chile or Peru, for example. Transport is carried out via the Panama Canal, where severe congestion occurred for most of last year due to low water levels. In some cases, not only for such distant destinations, a container with goods must be transshipped at ports onto multiple different vessels, significantly extending transit time.
  All of this makes the 45-day deadline often impossible to meet due to circumstances entirely beyond the exporter’s control, explains Sebastian Wróbel, founder of the ETA.fm think tank and the FreightTech.org organization.

In its current form, the law could paralyze legal exports to many countries, especially in the Far East and South America, where maritime transport alone may take longer than the legally mandated period for document submission.

TSL industry experts also point out the lack of an appeals procedure for penalty decisions, which violates the principle of two-instance proceedings. This is especially concerning given the severity of the fines imposed.

We fully understand and support the need to tighten the sanctions system against Russia and Belarus. However, the regulations must be precise and enforceable. Otherwise, instead of targeting those who deliberately violate sanctions, the law will harm Polish companies engaged in international trade, explains Maciej Wroński, president of the Employers’ Association Transport and Logistics Poland.