26.03.2020
On 24 March, Polish Authorities amended the rules on mandatory quarantine: drivers engaged in international road transport operations using vehicles below 3.5 tonnes are not any longer subject to quarantine.
The provision entered into force immediately.
Source: ZMPD
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Restrictions
On 13 March, the Prime Minister of Poland announced a “state of emergency”. In addition to measures to limit public gatherings, the government announced that border controls will be temporarily restored from 15 March(00:00) for 10 days (renewable). During this period:
- Foreigners will not be allowed to enter Polish national territory. All air traffic and train movements coming from abroad will be temporarily suspended.
- Polish citizens and foreigners working in Poland that are returning from abroad must undergo a two week quarantine period.
- National bus, air and rail transport will operate normally.
- International road freight transport is not included in these restrictions. Borders remain open to the flow of goods and truck drivers operating international road freight will not have to comply with the two week quarantine period. The list of border crossing points open during this period is available here.
On 19 March, the Polish Minister of Health lifted the previous duty of fulfillment of driver localisation forms. In addition, according to information on the Border Guard website, quarantine is not imposed on:
- people living in Poland who work in a neighbouring country and who regularly cross the border (cross border workers).
- foreigners living in a neighbouring country who work in Poland and cross the border regularly (cross border workers).
- drivers engaged in the professional transport of goods and passengers.
Health checks are still taking place at border crossing points. Drivers with a temperature of above 38 degrees will automatically undergo a medical examination and will not be able to continue driving.
The updated border waiting times can be found here: www.granica.gov.pl.
Relieves
The Polish Minister of Transport has introduced a temporary relaxation of the enforcement of driving and rest times for drivers performing international road transport of passengers and goods. This exception applies from 18⁄03⁄2020 to 16⁄04⁄2020, included. The relaxation concerns only international transport and covers EU-registered hauliers only (not applicable to Contracting Parties of the AETR Agreement). Measures lifted are the following:
- Daily vehicle transport time cannot exceed 11 hours.
- The weekly transport time of the vehicle cannot exceed 60 hours.
- The total transport time of the vehicle over a consecutive two week period may not exceed 96 hours.
- After a five and a half hour period of driving, the driver shall be entitled to a continuous break of at least forty-five minutes.
Due to the extended transport time of the vehicle, from 9 to 11 hours, no derogations will be applied on daily and weekly rest periods.
Source: ZMPD
