In brief

• Poland's Ministry of Infrastructure has resumed work on a ban on the long-term use of cars registered outside the EU.
• The changes would mainly affect cars with Belarusian and Ukrainian plates.
• A car staying in Poland for more than 12 months would have to be registered in Poland, insured, and undergo Polish technical inspections.
• The date when the rules would take effect is not known.

What the ministry plans

The Ministry of Infrastructure has resumed work on draft legal acts that would ban the long-term use in Poland of cars registered in non-European Union countries. The first announcements of such changes already appeared last year (У Польшчы хочуць забараніць мігрантам ездзіць на аўто з беларускімі ды ўкраінскімі нумарамі. Якія змены рыхтуюць – Nasza Niwa). Until now, such cars have practically operated outside the system: they do not undergo the Polish technical inspection and are not included in a shared database that would allow owners to be automatically penalised for traffic offences.

Who it would cover

The changes concern primarily cars from Belarus and Ukraine (Готуйте гаманці: що варто знати українцям з власним авто у Польщі — Радіо ТРЕК – rv.ua). According to the draft, a car staying in Poland for longer than 12 months from crossing the border would have to be registered in Poland. People from Ukraine who obtain a permanent place of residence in Poland would have 30 days to register. After registration, the car would have to have Polish insurance and undergo Polish technical inspections.

Sanctions

The draft provides for the possibility of withdrawing the vehicle from traffic and confiscating the foreign registration document.

Next steps and timing

Minister of Infrastructure Dariusz Klimczak announced that the UC95 draft will be submitted for consideration by the Standing Committee of the Council of Ministers. For now these are plans, not binding regulations, and it is not known when the new rules will take effect.