What is SENT?
SENT, the Electronic Transport Supervision System (System Elektronicznego Nadzoru Transportu), is a road monitoring system used primarily to track so-called sensitive goods, which include heating fuels, biodiesel, lubricating oils and denatured alcohol. The legal basis for SENT is the Polish Act of 9 March 2017 on the system for monitoring the road and rail carriage of goods and trade in heating fuels (Journal of Laws 2023, item 104). The system was created by the Ministry of Finance and is available on the PUESC platform (Platform of Electronic Fiscal and Customs Services).
The entities obliged to declare sensitive goods in transit in the SENT system include: suppliers, carriers and buyers. As a result, every forwarding or transport company responsible for carrying sensitive goods must report this to the register. Failure to comply may result in a fine of up to PLN 20,000.
The SENT system – how to get access?
Access to the SENT system is obtained through the e-Przewóz service on the Platform of Electronic Fiscal and Customs Services (PUESC). To do this you need to set up an account on PUESC (such an account can only be created by a single natural person).
How does a declaration in the SENT system work?
First, the sending entity is obliged to declare its intention to carry sensitive goods, which involves completing the appropriate form. Once it is submitted, a SENT number and 3 authentication keys are generated – for the sender, the carrier and the recipient.
Next, the carrier updates the declaration – it must provide its details, the vehicle registration number, the start date of the carriage and the planned delivery date. Transport may only begin once confirmation has been received.
Finally, the receiving entity completes the declaration with information on receipt of the goods – this must be done no later than the next working day after delivery.
What counts as sensitive goods?
Sensitive goods include, among others:
- petrol, oils, heating and motor fuels, biodiesel,
- lubricants, binders, solvents, preparations for oiling textile materials,
- dried tobacco, cigarette forming tape and cigarette paper,
- denatured and undenatured ethyl alcohol
- vegetable oils, vegetable fats and their fractions,
- polycarboxylic acids,
- viscosity-increasing additives,
- medicinal products and medical devices at risk of shortages in Poland,
- foodstuffs for particular nutritional uses.
Importantly, sensitive goods are subject to mandatory road transport monitoring only when the quantity carried exceeds the limits set out in the Act.
It is also worth noting that on 12 January 2024 an amendment to the regulation governing the road transport monitoring system came into force. The SENT system now covers the carriage of 11 types of waste – waste whose total gross weight/volume per consignment is equal to or greater than 1,000 kg / 1,000 l. This mainly concerns waste paints and varnishes containing solvents or other harmful substances, paint or varnish removers, waste printing inks and others.
What is monitored under the SENT system?
Wondering which operations are monitored? Monitoring in the SENT system covers:
- transports related to domestic deliveries,
- transports carried out in connection with intra-Community supplies of goods and exports starting in Poland,
- movements carried out in connection with intra-Community acquisitions of goods and imports starting in an EU member state or a third country,
- movements through Poland starting in one EU member state and ending in another member state or a third country.
Detailed information on the carriage of sensitive goods is set out in the transport monitoring Act.
What does not require monitoring?
The following do not require declarations in the sensitive goods monitoring system:
- consignments carried by postal operators,
- consignments subject to the customs procedures of transit, storage, temporary admission, processing and export,
- consignments moved under the excise duty suspension arrangement using the EMCS system,
- carriage of goods by means of transport belonging to state authorities (police, Internal Security Agency, border guard).
