SENT – clothing and footwear

17 March – this is an important date for business, as from that day onwards, the obligations to monitor the transport of clothing and footwear in the SENT system are updated.

Therefore, it is worth recalling the most important issues in this regard.

According to Article 2(7) of the SENT Act, a sending entity is a natural person, a legal person or an organisational unit without legal personality, conducting business activity, performing:

1. Supply of goods within the meaning of the Act of 11 March 2004 on the Tax on Goods and Services:

– the last one before the start of the transport of goods – if it is the supplier of the goods, and after the release of the goods it is transported to the receiving entity,

– entitled to dispose of the goods as the owner at the time of commencement of the transport – if it delivers the goods to the receiving entity to deliver the goods after the completion of the transport of goods,

• intra-Community supply of goods within the meaning of the Act referred to in point (a),
• export of goods within the meaning of the Act referred to in point (a).

On the other hand, as defined in Article 2(6) of the above-mentioned Act, a receiving entity is considered to be a natural person, a legal person or an organisational unit without legal personality, conducting economic activity, making an intra-Community purchase of goods, import of goods or acquisition of goods in the case of a supply of goods within the meaning of the Polish Act of 11 March 2004 on the Tax on Goods and Services (Journal of Laws of 2024, items 361 and 852).

In accordance with §1 point 10 of the Decree of the Minister of Finance of 25 April 2022 on goods the transport of which is covered by the system of monitoring the road and rail transport of goods and trade in heating fuels in the version effective from 17 March 2026, the system of monitoring the road and rail transport of goods and trade in heating fuels covers the transport of goods:

1. falling within Chapter 61 of the CN, if the gross weight of the consignment of goods falling within that Chapter exceeds 10 kg,
2. falling within Chapter 62 of the CN, if the gross weight of the consignment of goods falling within that chapter exceeds 10 kg,
3. falling within CN code 6309 00 00 if the gross weight of the consignment of goods falling within that code exceeds 10 kg,
4. falling within Chapter 64 of the CN, with the exception of heading 6406 of the CN, if there are more than 20 pieces of footwear in the consignment of goods covered by these chapters,
5. of Chapter 61, 62 or 64 of the CN, with the exception of heading 6406 of the CN, if the gross weight of the consignment containing goods from at least two of these chapters exceeds 10 kg.

Thus, from 17 March, entities involved in the transport of clothing, footwear, etc. have been included in the SENT system.

In principle, the SENT Act will apply to the obligation to submit a declaration to the SENT register for clothing and footwear in transport:

• beginning in the territory of Polish (Article 5 of the SENT Act)
• from the territory of the EU or a third country in the territory of Polish (Article 6 of the SENT Act);
• territory of the EU within the territory of the EU or a third country through Poland (Article 7 of the SENT Act).

At the same time, as specified in §2 point 10, the above-mentioned obligation does not apply to goods

1) the carriage of which is carried out on the basis of Article 5 of the Act on the Monitoring System, except for:

1. the carriage of goods originating from the territory of a third country, after having previously been admitted to the country for free circulation in the European Union, and the place of completion of the carriage is outside the territory of the country in another Member State,
2. carriage of goods which is not accompanied by an invoice within the meaning of the Act of 11 March 2004 on the Tax on Goods and Services (Journal of Laws of 2025, items 775, 894, 896 and 1203) documenting the supply of goods, intra-Community supply of goods or export of goods within the meaning of that Act, provided that in the case of an invoice in electronic form in a format that allows familiarisation with its content;

2) the carriage of which is carried out on the basis of Article 5 or Article 6 of the Act on the Monitoring System, if the entity obliged to send to the register of notifications:

1. has the status of an AEO Authorised Operator referred to in Article 38 of Regulation (EU) No 952/2013 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 9 October 2013 laying down the Union Customs Code (Official Journal of the European Union). OJ L 269, 10.10.2013, p. 1, as amended. as amended), or
2. is a party to the cooperation agreement concluded with the Head of the National Tax Administration, referred to in Article 20s of the Act of 29 August 1997 – Tax Ordinance (Journal of Laws of 2025, item 111, as amended);

3) transported by postal operators in postal parcels within the meaning of the Postal Law.

By the way, it may be noted that in accordance with Article 3(7) of the VAT Act, the transport of goods that is not related to the performance of activities subject to VAT is not subject to the transport and turnover monitoring system, if the transported goods are accompanied by a document confirming the inter-warehouse transfer issued by the consignor of the goods.

Therefore, in the case of a supply of goods referred to in Article 5 of the SENT Act (supply within the territory of the country), the obligation to report it to SENT occurs only if it concerns goods:

• originating from the territory of a third country, after having been previously released in Poland for trade in the EU (within the meaning of customs law), and whose place of completion of transport is outside the territory of Polish in another EU Member State (customs procedure 42 00 – placing under the procedure of admission to trade at national customs branches);
• which are not accompanied by an invoice, within the meaning of the Value Added Tax Act, documenting the supply of goods, intra-Community supply of goods or export of goods, within the meaning of this Act, in paper or electronic form (in a format that allows you to familiarize yourself with its content).

An additional exemption also applies to transport carried out by postal operators in postal parcels within the meaning of the Postal Law, i.e. in a registered consignment, which is not a letter item, weighing up to 20,000 g and the sum of dimensions (length, width, height) not exceeding 3000 mm, with the longest dimension not exceeding 1500 mm.