EORI number in Poland for import and export

An EORI number is mandatory for anyone lodging a customs declaration in the European Union — art. 9 of Regulation (EU) No 952/2013, the Union Customs Code. In Poland the number is issued by the Director of the Tax Administration Chamber in Poznań through the PUESC platform, free of charge, normally within a few business days. One economic operator may hold only one EORI number, and it is valid across all 27 member states.

An EORI problem rarely looks like an EORI problem. It looks like this: the cargo has arrived at the terminal, the broker asks for the number to lodge the declaration, there is no number — and from that minute every day costs money. The goods sit in temporary storage, the carrier charges demurrage, and the Polish buyer is waiting for a delivery you have already confirmed.

Registration, meanwhile, is free and takes a few days. The only thing that matters is whether you started it two weeks before shipping or on the day the container was already on the quay. EORI is not a permit, it is an entry ticket: customs physically cannot accept a declaration without it, because the number field is mandatory.

Who needs an EORI number and who does not

An EORI number is required by any person who deals with EU customs authorities in their own name: lodging declarations, applying for authorisations, receiving customs decisions. In everyday terms this reduces to “anyone moving goods across the Union’s border”, which is broadly right.

What matters more is knowing who does not need one, because that is where people most often pay for a service they do not need. A company registered in another EU member state does not obtain a Polish EORI: it already has its own, and that number works in Poland with no further steps.

The one-line rule: the number belongs to whoever is named as importer or exporter on the declaration. If you merely buy goods from a Polish supplier who lodges the declaration, you do not need one.

A GB or US number is not an EU EORI

This is the single most common misunderstanding among English-speaking clients, and it surfaces at the worst possible moment — when the goods are already at the border.

EORI is a Union number. It is issued by the customs authority of an EU member state under art. 9 of the Union Customs Code, and only such a number is recognised in EU customs systems. A GB EORI issued by HMRC has had no standing in the EU since Brexit; the same is true of Swiss, Norwegian, Turkish and any other third-country identifier, whatever it is called.

A British company shipping into Poland therefore normally holds two numbers: a GB EORI for the UK side and an EU EORI for the Union side. They are not interchangeable and they look different.

The practical consequence: if your first customs operation in the Union will take place in Poland — Gdańsk, Gdynia or a road crossing on the eastern border — the number should be obtained in Poland, not in whichever member state promised the fastest turnaround.

Signing from abroad: what PUESC accepts

PUESC accepts exactly three ways of signing: a qualified electronic signature, a Polish profil zaufany, and an advanced signature backed by a customs certificate. There is no fourth.

The good news for EU-based directors is that a qualified signature from any provider on the EU trusted list works in Poland directly, under the eIDAS Regulation. An Estonian ID card, an Italian firma digitale, a Spanish FNMT certificate — all of them sign a PUESC filing without any Polish credential whatsoever.

A profil zaufany requires a Polish PESEL number, which most non-resident directors do not have and do not need. For a company outside the EU with no EU-based signatory, the standard route is therefore a power of attorney to a Polish representative: signed by hand, filed through form DDS0001, with PLN 17 of stamp duty paid once per instrument.

What an EORI number costs in 2026

Issuing an EORI number is free. That is the fact worth knowing before you speak to any intermediary: the state charges nothing for the number, and there is no paid fast-track procedure on PUESC.

One compulsory payment appears when a representative files on your behalf: PLN 17 of stamp duty on the power of attorney. It is paid once per instrument, not per filing.

In short: the registration itself is free, and what you pay for is the filing going through correctly the first time. A defective application is not rejected instantly — it is examined for several days and only then queried. One wrongly completed section costs a week, not money.

Timing: how long the number really takes

The official PUESC wording is deliberately cautious: an application “may be verified over several days”. There is no statutory deadline here.

A good deal of English-language material still quotes 7–10 days. Those figures date from the era when registration ran through the separate SISC system and part of the checks were manual. Today a Polish company with an active NIP normally has its number within 1–2 business days, and delays almost always come down to three things: incomplete data on the form, a missing power of attorney, and foreign corporate documents without a sworn translation.

Plan on a week before your first shipment, and two weeks for a non-EU company. A number obtained a day early costs nothing; a number obtained a day late costs a day of storage.

Getting an EORI through PUESC, step by step

The whole process runs online through the Platforma Usług Elektronicznych Skarbowo-Celnych. There is no separate “EORI application”: the number is issued together with the registration of entity data, provided the activity area “Cło (EORI)” is ticked on the form. That single checkbox is the most commonly missed step in the entire procedure.

1. A PUESC account with extended rights. Signing up with an email address is not enough; the identity behind the account has to be verified.
2. Form WRP0001. Entity data, legal form, PKD activity codes, address, contact details, bank accounts, communication channels and — this is the one — the “Cło (EORI)” activity area.
3. Signature. An EU qualified electronic signature, a profil zaufany, or an advanced signature with a customs certificate.
4. Power of attorney and stamp duty where a representative files. The instrument goes in through DDS0001 together with proof of the PLN 17 payment.
5. Submission and UPO. The system issues an urzędowe poświadczenie odbioru, the official confirmation that the document has been received.
6. Issue of the number. The confirmation of entity registration and the EORI number itself appear in your PUESC account.

What the number looks like and how to verify it

An EORI number follows the national rules of the country that issued it and always begins with that country’s code. A Polish number takes one of two shapes, and the shape tells you immediately whether the operator holds a Polish NIP.

Any number can be checked free of charge in the European Commission’s validation service: it confirms whether the number is valid and, where the operator has consented, shows the name and address. The check takes under a minute and is worth running before a first shipment with a new counterparty — an invalid EORI means no declaration can be lodged in their name.

Non-EU companies: when Poland issues the number

The rule is straightforward: an operator not established in the customs territory of the Union registers in the member state where it carries out its first customs operation or first applies for a decision. If that is Poland, Poznań issues the number.

Such a company will need corporate documents with a sworn translation into Polish: an extract from the commercial register of its home jurisdiction, evidence of the signatory’s authority and sometimes the articles of association. Whether an apostille is required depends on the country and on the document — EU membership does not, by itself, exempt corporate documents from legalisation, and the EU regulation that removed it covers civil-status records rather than commercial register extracts.

Parcels under EUR 150: the relief is gone

This is the most recent and the most widely missed change in the field. On 1 July 2026 the customs duty relief for consignments worth up to EUR 150 was abolished — Council Regulation (EU) 2026/382 of 11 February 2026, amending Regulation (EC) No 1186/2009 setting up the Community system of reliefs from customs duty.

In place of the old relief, a simplified rate applies during the transition from 1 July 2026 to 1 July 2028: EUR 3 per item in the consignment. It covers postal consignments and imports exempt from VAT under the IOSS scheme.

A flat charge hits cheap multi-item parcels far harder than any percentage rate. A EUR 40 parcel containing three items: previously no duty at all, now 3 × 3 = EUR 9, or 22.5% of the goods’ value. The same EUR 40 in a single item costs EUR 3, or 7.5%. The only difference between the two is how the seller packed the shipment.

The upshot: business models built on splitting shipments into small parcels have lost their point, and with the relief went the last practical way of moving goods without customs clearance. For a seller outside the EU the EORI question has moved from “at some stage” to “before the next shipment”.

EORI and VAT: two numbers and the art. 33a procedure

An EORI number does not replace a VAT-UE registration and confers no tax rights. They are separate registrations held by separate authorities: EORI by the customs administration, VAT by the tax office. An importer normally needs both.

The most valuable thing a properly built importer registration delivers is not the number itself but access to the procedure under art. 33a of the Polish VAT Act. In the standard regime import VAT is paid in cash to the customs account and recovered later through the return. Under art. 33a it is not paid in cash at all: the tax is shown as both output and input VAT in the same return.

In figures. An import of PLN 100,000 at the 23% rate means PLN 23,000 leaving the business and coming back weeks later. On PLN 1,000,000 of annual turnover that is PLN 230,000 of working capital. For a trading company this is the difference between growth and a permanent cash squeeze.

So: an EORI number by itself gives no right to art. 33a. It is a necessary condition, not a sufficient one. That is why importer registration is worth planning as a whole rather than one form at a time.

Customs representation: direct and indirect

A customs representative is the agency or person who lodges the declaration for you. The difference between the two forms is practical rather than terminological: it decides who owes the customs debt.

Under direct representation the representative acts in the name of and on behalf of the importer, and the importer remains the debtor for duty and VAT. Under indirect representation the representative acts in its own name but on behalf of the importer, and becomes jointly and severally liable alongside it.

A company not established in the Union normally has no choice: it can only lodge declarations through an indirect representative. That also explains why Polish agencies ask non-EU clients for guarantees or prepayment of duties — their own money is on the line.

Note the last row: a non-EU company needs an EORI number even when a Polish agency physically lodges the declaration, because its own number still appears on it.

ICS2 and NCTS: what changed on 1 June 2026

Alongside the duty reform, the filing systems themselves were changing. Poland used a derogation and accepted entry summary declarations under the previous rules until 31 May 2026. From 1 June 2026 ICS2 release 3 (step 3) and NCTS phase 6 are mandatory.

This has no direct bearing on getting an EORI number, but a great deal to do with what happens next: cargo data now reaches the European system before the goods reach the border, and every one of those messages carries the EORI numbers of consignor, consignee and carrier. An error in the entity data behind your number now surfaces before departure rather than at the terminal.

Your company details have changed

The EORI number itself is issued once and never changes. The data attached to it does have to be kept current: a change of address, name, legal form, bank account or contact details is reported on PUESC through form WRP0002.

Skip this and the number stays formally valid while declarations start being rejected for data mismatch. From the outside it looks like an inexplicable glitch: the number exists, it validates in the Commission’s database, and the declaration will not go through.

The update is free. It matters most after a change of registered address or management board in the KRS — data does not move between the registers automatically.

Do individuals need an EORI number

An ordinary buyer ordering something for personal use does not need one: the postal or courier operator handles the clearance and no separate identifier is required.

That changes once the import stops being personal. Systematic buying for resale, regular shipments, a commercial purpose — and customs may treat the individual as an economic operator. An EORI number is then required and registration runs on form WRR0001.

The abolition of the EUR 150 relief also affects private recipients, but only as regards duty. It has not created any obligation for individuals to obtain an EORI number: the operator still handles clearance.

Common mistakes when filing yourself

The first row is the most common and the most galling: the applicant goes through the whole procedure, receives a registration confirmation and assumes the job is done. There is no number, and that only becomes apparent when the declaration is lodged.

How we work and what it costs

1. We check whether a number already exists. Companies that have shipped before quite often have one, forgotten.
2. We assemble the data for the form. From the KRS and CEIDG for a Polish company, from home-jurisdiction documents for a foreign one.
3. We prepare the power of attorney and pay the stamp duty.
4. We file WRP0001 with the “Cło (EORI)” activity area and collect the UPO.
5. We run the application to issue, answering queries from Wydział Centralna Rejestracja.
6. We hand over the number and confirmation and explain what comes next: VAT-UE, representation, art. 33a.

Further reading

• VAT registration in Poland — VAT-R, VAT-UE and timing
• Changes in the KRS — after an address change the PUESC data needs updating too
• A bank account for your Polish company — where VAT refunds land
• Company registration in Poland — if there is no Polish entity yet

Frequently asked questions