A regular meeting of the Ukrainian-Polish Joint Commission on International Road Transport took place. The Ukrainian delegation was headed by Serhiy Derkach, Deputy Minister for Communities and Territories Development, and the Polish delegation was led by Stanisław Bukowiec, State Secretary of the Ministry of Infrastructure.

Specialised carrier associations also joined the meeting of the Commission.

The main topics of the meeting included the peculiarities and procedure for using the SENT system for transport to and through the territory of Poland, transport “for own needs”, permits for transport to/from third countries, and the period of stay of drivers in the territory of the other party.

“Starting from 1 November, freight carriers travelling to or through Poland will have to register in the Polish SENT system in accordance with the recently adopted law. I therefore urge Ukrainian carriers to study the features of the system in detail and use it to protect themselves from possible fines. We also expect detailed explanations from our Polish colleagues and urge them to ensure that the system works in Ukrainian, as for example the eCherha border crossing system, which works in Ukraine and is also used by carriers from neighbouring countries,” said Serhiy Derkach.

The Deputy Minister also stressed that, according to Ukrainian carriers, there were cases of unlawful application of fines to Ukrainian carriers using the e-TOLL system to pay for roads in Poland. The Polish side assured that it would process all the submitted cases to prevent such situations in the future. It should be noted that Polish legislation has officially approved the procedure for appealing against the relevant fines in case of their illegality.

The meeting also touched upon the issue of freight transport carried out by companies for their own needs. The Ukrainian side’s position is to liberalise such transport, as is the case with other EU countries. The Polish side did not support this proposal. The parties continue to work on finding options to resolve this issue.

In addition, during the meeting, the parties worked out a mechanism to resolve the issue of cargo transportation to/from third countries. The Ukrainian side has already drafted amendments to the bilateral Agreement on Road Transport between Ukraine and Poland and submitted them to its Polish counterparts.

As part of the amendments to the same Agreement, the Ukrainian side proposed to extend the period of stay of drivers from a neighbouring country in Ukraine and Poland.