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State Plant Health
and Seed Inspection Service

General Import Requirements

Two womens looking at truck full of wood packing material

General Principles

Importation should be understood as the entry of goods into the territory of Poland from third countries which are not Member States of the European Union.

Plants, plant products or objects that are particularly susceptible to contamination by quarantine organisms may be introduced into the territory of Poland if:

  1. they are free from quarantine organisms,
  2. they comply with specific requirements and, if they are destined to protected zones, with the specific requirements for these zones,
  3. entities introducing them into the territory of Poland are registered in the Official Register of Professional Operators kept by the respective Voivodeship Plant Protection and Seed Inspector,
  4. they have been subjected to a health inspection in the countries from which they originate or are dispatched and are duly accompanied by a phytosanitary certificate before being introduced into the territory of Poland.

Consignments regulated under phytosanitary regulations are subject to documentary, identification and direct (health) checks carried out by inspectors of border branches of voivodeship plant protection and seed inspectorates or, in certain cases, by the Customs Service. The purpose of the inspection is to verify that importation of the plant commodity concerned into the European Union does not pose a phytosanitary risk, and that imported plants, plant products and other objects comply with the EU plant health legislation. Also, all consignments containing plants, as defined in Regulation 2016/2031 (Article 2(1)), must be accompanied by a phytosanitary certificate when entering the EU, but they are not subject to full border phytosanitary inspection. This group of goods is subject to an inspection of the accompanying phytosanitary documentation (phytosanitary certificate), with their identity and health being checked as part of the monitoring. This means, that selected consignments are subject to a full border phytosanitary inspection. Of all plants only fruits of durian, date, banana, coconut and pineapple are exempt from the requirement of being accompanied by a phytosanitary certificate during entry into the EU.

Monitoring programme covers also checks on wood packaging material (WPM) used in international trade to transport various goods. Wood packaging creates risk of introduction of various pests (e.g. the pine wood nematode - Bursaphelenchus xylophilus) and diseases. In order to eliminate this hazard phytosanitary standard was developed for wood packaging - International Standard for Phytosanitary Measures No. 15 ("Regulation of Wood Packaging Material in International Trade") under FAO International Plant Protection Convention. This standard stipulates, among other things, that wood from which the wood packaging is made should be subjected to a specific treatment, which is evidenced by placing on the packaging a special mark approved by the International Plant Protection Convention (IPPC), and a registration number of the treatment facility granted by National Plant Protection Organisation. Wood packaging material as defined in this standard does not include wood packaging made from wood that has been treated in such a way that it is free of pests (e.g. plywood). Wood packaging material may also be inspected by Customs.

Depending on results of the above-mentioned inspections, the inspector in question decides to allow or prohibit entry of the goods into the EU, or to order a specific treatment of the goods (e.g. reship outside the EU, treat the consignment to decontaminate or clean it, destroy the consignment, or remove contaminated plants, plant products or objects).

Pending completion of the border phytosanitary inspection and implementation of decisions referred to above, plants, plant products or objects stay under supervision of the Customs Service.
Inspection rules described above do not apply to consignments in transit between third countries through the territory of the European Union without a change of customs status (unless there is a risk of harmful organisms spread). Such consignments of plant goods, which are subject to full border phytosanitary inspection on entry into the EU, must be notified for inspection by the person responsible for consignment by completing document CHED-PP in TRACES NT. The document must clearly indicate that the consignment is intended for transit through the EU. In this case, official inspection covers documentation accompanying the consignment, packaging and transport means.

Fees for border phytosanitary inspections, including consignments in transit through the EU, are set out in Annex IV (points VII and VIII) Regulation 2017/625 of the Council and of the European Parliament. The amount of fee is converted into PLN using the average exchange rate of the National Bank of Poland of the day preceding the day on which the bill was issued

TRACES System
Notification of goods for border inspection is done in TRACES.