SENT and RMPD fines 2026, amounts, who pays, how to appeal

One run, two systems, three wallets. The consignor in Poland files a SENT notification about the goods. The Ukrainian carrier files an RMPD entry about the carriage. The driver carries both numbers and a locator. When an inspector finds an error, he does not ask who is to blame. He asks whose field it is and which act it is written in. That decides the amount: 46 % of the goods' value, 20,000 zł, 12,000 zł, 10,000 zł, or a fine for the driver.

This article puts every amount into one table, with the payer and the provision it comes from. Status: September 2026. Written for a reader who meets the Polish system for the first time, so it starts with what the two systems are.

In short: three parties answer for SENT and each has its own fine: the consignor or consignee 46 % of the goods' value, not less than 20,000 zł; the carrier 20,000 zł; the driver 5,000–7,500 zł · inaccurate data in a SENT notification costs 10,000 zł, missing geolocation another 10,000 zł · 12,000 zł is the fine for RMPD, from a different act, and only the carrier pays it · from a Ukrainian carrier every fine is collected on the roadside as a deposit · an appeal takes 14 days, a court complaint 30, and the "significant interest" clause exists only for SENT, not for RMPD · Sigil handles RMPD declarations; the SENT notification is filed by the consignor or the consignee.

What SENT and RMPD are

SENT is Poland's monitoring system for listed goods: fuels, alcohol, dried tobacco and oils named in the act itself (art. 3 ust. 2 of the SENT Act), plus goods added by a Minister of Finance regulation, among them grain, honey, eggs, poultry meat, frozen berries and, since 17 March 2026, clothing and footwear. Every road carriage of such goods through Poland must be notified in the SENT register on the PUESC customs portal before it starts. The notification is filed by the consignor (when the carriage starts in Poland) or the consignee (when the goods come into Poland from abroad), and the carrier adds its own data to it.

RMPD, Rejestr Międzynarodowych Przewozów Drogowych, is a separate duty for carriers established outside the EU, Switzerland and EFTA. Since 1 November 2024 such a carrier must record every carriage of goods on Polish territory, whatever the goods, in the same register and get a reference number (art. 28b of the Road Transport Act). A Ukrainian truck carrying fuel therefore travels with two numbers: SENT from the consignor and RMPD from the carrier.

How much each breach costs

All amounts come from two acts: the SENT Act (ustawa o systemie monitorowania drogowego i kolejowego przewozu towarów) and the Road Transport Act (ustawa o transporcie drogowym), where RMPD lives. Hryvnia at the NBU rate of 11.94 ₴/zł on 14 September 2026, rounded to the nearest thousand.

The same rows are computed by the fine calculator, with hryvnia at today's rate.

Who pays for SENT

Three parties answer for SENT, and the act separates them clearly.

Consignor or consignee. They file the notification about the goods (art. 5 ust. 1 and art. 6 ust. 1). Without it the fine is calculated from the goods' value: 46 % of the gross value, not less than 20,000 zł (art. 21 ust. 1). For a trailer of goods worth 200,000 zł that is 92,000 zł. If the goods do not match the notification, 46 % is taken from the difference (art. 21 ust. 2).

Carrier. The carrier completes the consignor's notification with its own data: registration plate, dates, locator number. If it did not file what it had to, or carries different goods, the fine is fixed: 20,000 zł (art. 22 ust. 1). If it filed but did not complete, 10,000 zł (art. 22 ust. 2). If geolocation is not transmitted, another 10,000 zł (art. 22 ust. 2a).

Any of the three. Data inconsistent with the facts, other than about the goods themselves, costs whoever entered it 10,000 zł (art. 24 ust. 1 pkt 2). There is one milder variant: goods left a tax warehouse, taxes were paid, and the error is obvious, then 2,000 zł (art. 24 ust. 1a). An error in a registration plate does not qualify.

Does a Ukrainian carrier pay because the Polish consignor did not file SENT? No. The 46 % is the consignor's. But it is the truck that gets stopped, and it is the truck that waits.

Why 12,000 zł is not SENT

The most common confusion in this topic: "SENT fine 12,000 zł". There is no such amount in the SENT Act.

12,000 zł is written in a different act, the Road Transport Act, in the penalty schedule for carriers. It is the fine for a carriage without an RMPD filing, or with a filing whose data is incomplete or inaccurate (Annex 3, item 3.2a). The carrier pays. The amount is the same for both cases. How one digit becomes 12,000 zł is a separate article: One digit in an RMPD costs 12,000 zł.

The difference is not only the amount. The SENT Act lets the authority waive a fine. The Road Transport Act does not. More on that below, under appeals.

Can a carrier get both fines for one run, 20,000 zł for SENT and 12,000 zł for RMPD? Yes. These are two different duties from two acts. Goods under SENT travel with two numbers: SENT from the consignor and RMPD from the carrier.

What about geolocation

GPS is fined in two ways, depending on which act the truck travels under. In a SENT carriage the carrier pays 10,000 zł if geolocation data is not transmitted (art. 22 ust. 2a of the SENT Act). In an RMPD carriage the same 10,000 zł, but under the Road Transport Act (Annex 3, item 3.2b). The duty is one: the carrier ensures transmission for the entire route (art. 10a ust. 1 of the SENT Act).

The driver answers for the locator separately. In a SENT carriage he switches it on before departure and off no earlier than at unloading, and if the locator fails for more than an hour he stops at the nearest car park (art. 10b and art. 10c). Breaking this costs 5,000–7,500 zł (art. 32 ust. 1). In an RMPD carriage the rules are the same, but the fine is lower: 2,000 zł (Annex 1, item 2b).

Where the signal is really lost and how many times per trip the system checks the position, we counted on our own data: 571 transports, 212 checks per transport, and 47 % of trips begin in silence before the truck even moves. The breakdown is in How often SENT-GEO checks your truck's position in Poland.

One exception exists in both acts: if the PUESC register itself was down, there is no SENT geolocation fine (art. 22 ust. 2b). For RMPD there is no explicit rule; a register outage is proven as a circumstance beyond the carrier's control. Whether the register was working that day is visible on the PUESC status page.

And if the register was up but only the locator went silent while the driver's app showed green, the case is not lost: on 13 May 2026 the Kraków court quashed such a fine for "automatic punishment", analysed in Court quashes 10,000 zł GPS fine.

Why a Ukrainian carrier pays on the roadside

A Ukrainian company pays not after a decision but during the check. Poland has no mutual enforcement agreement with Ukraine, so the inspector collects a deposit equal to the expected fine at once, in cash or by transfer. For SENT that is art. 31 of the SENT Act, for RMPD art. 94 ust. 3 of the Road Transport Act. Without the deposit the truck and its goods go to a guarded car park at the carrier's cost (art. 31 ust. 2 and art. 95). They are released after payment.

A deposit is not a fine. If the case is dropped, it is returned. If a fine is imposed, the deposit is credited against it. But the money leaves the company on the day of the check, and the run stands still until it is paid.

When you can appeal and how much time you have

Every fine in the table can be appealed. The deadlines are the same; the grounds differ.

Deadlines. A SENT fine decision is issued by the head of a customs and tax office (naczelnik urzędu celno-skarbowego, art. 26 ust. 1 and 2). The appeal goes to the director of the tax administration chamber (art. 26 ust. 4a) within 14 days of delivery (Tax Ordinance, art. 223 § 2 pkt 1). An RMPD fine decision is issued by the regional road transport inspector (art. 93 ust. 1 of the Road Transport Act), with an appeal to the Chief Inspector within 14 days (Code of Administrative Procedure, art. 129 § 2). After the second instance a complaint to the regional administrative court remains, within 30 days (art. 53 § 1 of the Law on Proceedings before Administrative Courts).

Grounds under SENT. The authority may waive the fine where a significant interest of the consignor or carrier, or the public interest, requires it (art. 22 ust. 3, art. 24 ust. 3). This works. In case II GSK 677/21 the Supreme Administrative Court set aside a 10,000 zł fine for inaccurate data because the authority had not considered a waiver with regard to proportionality. In case II GSK 1621/21 the same court asked whether there is any public interest in punishing a lawful carrier for a formal defect that posed no threat to the treasury.

Grounds under RMPD. There is no "significant interest" in the Road Transport Act. There is one provision: the case is dropped if the carrier had no influence on the breach and it resulted from events it could not foresee (art. 92c ust. 1 pkt 1). A dispatcher's mistake is the carrier's influence. A register or locator-operator outage is not, but it has to be proven with documents.

Is it worth appealing 12,000 zł for one transposed digit in an RMPD? Usually not. The chance is small and the deadlines and costs are real. Appeal when you hold a document about an outage beyond your control.

Whether the goods fall under SENT at all, check against the list with thresholds: Goods under SENT monitoring.

What to do

1. 1Separate the responsibilities in writing. Who files SENT, who files RMPD, who hands the driver both numbers. Every row of the table has its payer.
2. 2Check whether the goods fall under SENT. Beyond fuels, alcohol and dried tobacco from the act, the Minister of Finance regulation covers wheat, maize and rapeseed above 10 t, honey above 10 kg, eggs, poultry meat, frozen berries, and since 17 March 2026 clothing above 10 kg and footwear above 20 pairs. RMPD is needed for any cargo.
3. 3Check data against the documents field by field. 10,000 zł for SENT and 12,000 zł for RMPD are taken for one wrong date or country.
4. 4Give the driver both numbers in writing before departure and test the locator before the border. His fine is smaller, but it is your truck that is stopped.
5. 5Keep 12,000 zł reachable on the road. This is not advice to pay; it is a fact about the deposit: without it, a car park and a lost run.
6. 6Count 14 days from delivery of the decision, not from the day of the check. A missed deadline closes the road to court.
7. 7Collect proof of an outage at once: a screenshot of the register status, the operator's notice, the time. For RMPD it is the only ground.

What not to do

• ✗Do not call 12,000 zł a "SENT fine". It is RMPD, a different act, different appeal rules.
• ✗Do not assume the consignor will "cover" the carrier's fine. Each has its own article and its own payment.
• ✗Do not rely on the "significant interest of the carrier" in an RMPD case. That ground does not exist there.
• ✗Do not refuse the deposit on principle. The car park costs more, and the decision will come anyway.
• ✗Do not convert hryvnia at an old rate. The table uses the rate of 14 September 2026; the calculator uses today's.

Where Sigil fits in

Sigil handles RMPD declarations: it reads the CMR, carries the data over one to one, lets the dispatcher confirm it before submission and watches the SENT-GEO signal throughout the run. That is the part of the table where the carrier pays 12,000 zł and 10,000 zł. Sigil does not file the SENT notification about the goods; the consignor or the consignee does, and those rows of the table stay on their side.

Sigil handles RMPD declarations. The SENT notification for the goods is filed by the consignor or the consignee.