SENT transit through Poland, the control summons and border

A Ukrainian truck carries antifreeze from Germany to Ukraine. It is the company's first run under SENT. The forwarder writes to the driver: "they gave us coordinates where you have to stop for the control: 49.9642809, 23.0655308". The driver opens the map and sees a field near Korczowa. The question in the carriers' group chat is the one asked hundreds of times a year: "has anyone done this and knows how to get in there?"

This article explains what that "control" is, where the coordinates come from, where you actually need to go at Korczowa, and what it means for the locator, the deposit and the antifreeze itself.

In brief: SENT is Poland's monitoring system for sensitive goods; in transit through Poland the carrier files the notification itself, before entry, with form SENT300 (art. 7 of the SENT Act) · "coordinates for the control" is a summons under art. 12a: together with the reference number, the Polish revenue administration (KAS) demands the vehicle be presented on the day it leaves Poland at the customs branch nearest the exit point, after a phone call · failing to present the vehicle costs 20,000 zł, about 235,000 ₴ · at Korczowa that is the Oddział Celny w Korczowej at the crossing itself, 37-552 Młyny, shift manager 24/7 at +48 16 623 64 02; a field on the map means the coordinates are wrong, not a parking spot · trucks queue at the buffer car parks MOP Hruszowice (A4) or Młyny (DK94) and take a ticket from a machine · the locator stays on from entry to exit, in the car park too; a gap longer than an hour means stopping · antifreeze is under SENT only with ethyl alcohol, glycol antifreeze is not, and goods from the act's own list (fuels, alcohol, chemicals) moving through Poland under the customs export or transit procedure need no SENT at all (art. 3 ust. 6 pkt 2).

"Stop for the control" in a SENT transit means one thing: a summons under art. 12a arrived with the reference number, and the vehicle must be shown to customs on the day it leaves Poland, at the customs branch nearest the crossing. Before arriving, the carrier must phone the number in the summons. A carrier who does not present the vehicle pays 20,000 zł.

What SENT is and who files it in transit

SENT is the Polish system for monitoring the carriage of "sensitive" goods: fuels, alcohol, certain chemicals, farm produce, and since 2026 clothing and footwear. Every such carriage touching Polish territory is declared in the PUESC portal and tracked by GPS. Which goods are covered, with thresholds and legal basis, is on the searchable SENT goods list.

In transit the notification is filed by the carrier and nobody else. So says art. 7 ust. 1 of the SENT Act (ustawa o systemie monitorowania drogowego i kolejowego przewozu towarów): when goods travel from one EU state to another or to a third country through Poland, the carrier sends the notification to the register before the carriage starts on Polish territory and obtains a reference number. The consignor in Germany and the consignee in Ukraine owe the Polish register nothing. The reverse direction is not in art. 7 at all: a run from Ukraine to Germany through Poland starts in a third country, not in an EU state, and PUESC answers in its FAQ (question 12.27) that art. 5, 6 and 7 do not list such a transit.

The PUESC form is SENT300 "Zgłoszenie przewozu przez przewoźnika". A basic account is enough. It contains: the carrier's details and tax number, consignor and consignee, place and date the carriage starts in Poland (entry crossing), place where it ends in Poland (exit crossing), planned exit date, the goods with CN code and mass, CMR number, registration plates, locator number (art. 7 ust. 2). Data other than the goods can be updated en route (art. 8).

Can a forwarder file SENT300 for the carrier? Yes, with a power of attorney. But the breaches still fall on the carrier as the obliged party; that is how PUESC explains it in its SENT FAQ. Whoever files on the carrier's behalf must pass the reference number and any summons to the driver before the border.

What the control summons is and where the coordinates come from

The summons is art. 12a of the SENT Act. The register analyses the notification, and if the carriage "involves increased risk", a summons to present the vehicle arrives together with the reference number. A new company's first transit with a chemical liquid in a tank or IBCs is a typical candidate.

The act then says exactly where and when (art. 12a ust. 3). The vehicle is presented on the date the carriage ends on Polish territory, that is the exit day, at one of two places: the delivery address, or the customs branch of the customs and tax office located nearest the place where the carriage ends. For transit to Ukraine via Korczowa the end point is the crossing itself, and the nearest customs branch stands on it. Before arriving, the carrier must notify by phone the KAS body named in the summons of the planned arrival (art. 12a ust. 5).

What happens if the vehicle is not presented? 20,000 zł. Failure to comply with art. 12a ust. 3 sits in the same line as not filing at all: art. 22 ust. 1 pkt 3 of the SENT Act. That is about 235,000 ₴ at the NBU rate of 11.74 ₴/zł on 21.09.2026.

Why coordinates in the chat? The forwarder, or the system that forwarded them, usually takes the point of the exit or car park by the customs branch. The point 49.9643, 23.0655 lies on the A4 itself, a kilometre before the Korczowa junction and three kilometres before the crossing. The map shows a field because there really is a field next to the motorway there. It is not a parking place but a mistake or a rough marker. The place you need is in the act and on gov.pl, with an address.

A summons under art. 12a is not negotiated or "rescheduled". A call to the number in the summons before arrival, and the vehicle at the customs branch on the exit day. Everything else, including which exit to take from the motorway, the duty officer will tell you by phone.

Where to stop at Korczowa

The Oddział Celny w Korczowej is located at the Korczowa road border crossing, postal address 37-552 Młyny. Secretariat in office hours +48 16 623 64 01, shift manager 24/7 +48 16 623 64 02, as published by the Podkarpacki Urząd Celno-Skarbowy on gov.pl. The A4 motorway ends at this crossing, so there is no need to leave the A4: the last junction, Korczowa, leads to road DK94 and the village, not to customs.

A truck with goods for customs clearance enters a buffer system before Korczowa. Since December 2018 the road authority GDDKiA has run the System Buforowania Pojazdów Ciężarowych: the driver stops at MOP Hruszowice on the A4 or the car park in Młyny on DK94, takes a free ticket from a machine, and the ticket puts the vehicle in the clearance queue. When the number appears on the display board, there are 15 minutes to leave for the crossing; an expired ticket is void and a new one must be taken. That is how GDDKiA described it at launch. Whether your run follows exactly this procedure, the same duty officer you must call anyway will tell you.

Do not turn onto field or dirt roads even if the sat-nav draws a route to the coordinates that way. There is no passage for heavy vehicles, and sign B-5 (no trucks) stands on most local roads in the border strip.

The locator from entry to exit

In transit the locator is switched on when the carriage starts on Polish territory and switched off no earlier than when it ends on Polish territory (art. 10b of the SENT Act). The buffer car park, the queue and clearance at the crossing are still Polish territory. The phone with the e-TOLL PL app or the external tracking system keeps working until exit.

If the locator is down for more than an hour, the driver must stop at the nearest car park or lay-by (art. 10c ust. 1). The carrier pays 10,000 zł, about 117,000 ₴, for a gap in data transmission (art. 22 ust. 2a), and the act does not ask about fault. What to do when the app is green but the system has no data, and how the Kraków court quashed such a fine, is in Court quashed a 10,000 zł SENT GPS fine, how to appeal.

Does antifreeze need SENT

Not every antifreeze, and on this run most likely none at all. Antifreeze has CN code 3820, and the act says "3820 zawierające alkohol etylowy", that is only anti-freezing preparations containing ethyl alcohol, from 500 kg or 500 litres per consignment (art. 3 ust. 2 pkt 1 lit. i). Most automotive antifreeze is glycol without ethanol. The composition is in the safety data sheet (SDS) the consignor provides.

Second, and more important. Goods from the act's own list (fuels, alcohol, chemicals, antifreeze with ethanol included) are not subject to SENT when they move under the customs procedure of transit, storage, temporary admission, processing, export or re-export (art. 3 ust. 6 pkt 2 lit. a). A load from Germany to Ukraine leaves the EU under the export procedure: the driver has the MRN of the export declaration, and under that procedure the truck travels to the customs office of exit at Korczowa. PUESC says the same in its FAQ: for exports, SENT covers only the leg up to the place where the goods are placed under the export or transit procedure; from there customs documents govern.

Is SENT300 needed for antifreeze with ethanol travelling from Germany to Ukraine with an export declaration? No. That is our reading of art. 3 ust. 6 and of the PUESC answer; goods from the regulation (oils, grain) have their own exceptions in § 2, while clothing and footwear have no such exception and their transit through Poland is covered. The CN code search shows which procedures exempt which goods in the exclusions column. An example where SENT and ADR answer differently about the same goods is in Coal and charcoal from Poland under SENT, ADR, or neither.

What about a summons when SENT300 was filed but there was no duty? The cheapest course is still to present the vehicle: call and drive in. The argument about whether the duty existed is won in an office, while the deposit is collected on the road. If entry into Poland is still far off, the notification can be cancelled with form SENT_EDIT on PUESC; the summons then has no object.

What a mistake costs a carrier from Ukraine

From a carrier based in a country with which Poland has no agreement on mutual recovery of claims, the inspector collects a deposit equal to the future fine on the spot; without it the vehicle and goods are directed to a designated depot (art. 31 ust. 1 and 2). Ukraine has no such agreement with Poland.

NBU rate 11.74 ₴/zł on 21.09.2026, amounts rounded to the nearest thousand hryvnia. Other combinations are in the fine calculator.

For the same run a non-EU carrier also files an RMPD before entering Poland, a separate system with its own 12,000 zł fine. The difference is explained in The difference between SENT and RMPD nobody explains.

What to do

1. 1File SENT300 before entering Poland and check whether a summons under art. 12a came with the reference number. It arrives in the same confirmation.
2. 2Give the driver the reference number and the text of the summons before the border, in writing. A forwarder who filed under a power of attorney acts in your name, so a summons sent to the forwarder is a summons to you; art. 12a ust. 2 obliges only the consignor and consignee to pass a summons to the carrier, so put that duty in the contract with the forwarder.
3. 3Call the number in the summons before arrival and say when you will be at the crossing (art. 12a ust. 5). For Korczowa the duty officer: +48 16 623 64 02.
4. 4Drive the A4 to the end. Before the crossing, enter the buffer car park MOP Hruszowice or Młyny, take a ticket and wait for your number.
5. 5Keep the locator on until exit, in the car park too. If the app shows a failure for more than an hour, stop and call the dispatcher.
6. 6Check three things before filing: the CN code from the invoice, the composition in the SDS and the customs procedure. Antifreeze without ethanol is outside SENT; with ethanol under an export declaration it is outside too; SENT300 is needed when listed goods cross Poland without a customs procedure, or when they are clothing or footwear.
7. 7Have cash or a card for the deposit. It does not mean a fine will follow; it means the truck will not go to the depot.

What not to do

• ✗Do not drive "to the coordinates" across fields and local roads. There is no passage for trucks, and sign B-5 adds another fine.
• ✗Do not treat the art. 12a summons as advice. Without the vehicle at the customs branch on the exit day it is 20,000 zł, the same as not filing.
• ✗Do not switch off the locator in the buffer car park. The queue at the crossing is still Polish territory, and the system sees it.
• ✗Do not assume the consignor in Germany will file SENT300. In transit the carrier is the obliged party, and the fine goes to the carrier.
• ✗Do not file RMPD "instead of" SENT or the other way round. On one run of a Ukrainian carrier both systems apply separately.

Where technology fits in

The same Germany, Poland, Ukraine run carries one more duty for a non-EU carrier: an RMPD before entering Poland. Sigil reads the CMR, carries the data into RMPD100 one to one, the dispatcher confirms, and the declaration goes to PUESC under the carrier's own account. After registration the system polls SENT-GEO for the truck's position and notifies the dispatcher when positions stop arriving, that is before the hour of art. 10c runs out. How it looks in the status view is in the help article Checking RMPD statuses.

Sigil does not file SENT300. The transit SENT notification is filed by the carrier on PUESC, and the art. 12a summons arrives there too.

Sigil handles RMPD declarations. The SENT notification in transit is filed by the carrier on PUESC.