License for road transport in the field of brokering the transport of passengers

 From 1 January 2020 a new type of license has appeared in Polish law, regarding brokerage in the transport of passengers. The intermediaries under this license may be entrepreneurs who, using, for example, mobile applications or websites, transfer orders for the transport of passengers. This also applies to entities that enable the conclusion of a transport contract, charge for the transport or allow the payment of such a fee. In order to obtain a license, an application should be submitted to the General Inspectorate of Road Transport in Warsaw.

 What conditions must be met? The intermediary should be registered in the Central Register and Information on Economic Activity (CEIDG) or in the National Court Register (KRS). Persons running a business (in the case of sole proprietorship) or members of the management board (in the case of a limited liability company) should submit a declaration that they haven’t been issued a final judgment prohibiting the performance of economic activity in the field of road transport and haven’t been convicted by a final judgment for criminal fiscal offenses or intentional offenses: against security in communication, property, economic turnover, credibility of documents, environment or working and pay conditions, or other related to the performance of the profession.

In addition, the entrepreneur must prove that he is in a financial situation that ensures starting and running a business in the field of road transport, defined by available funds or assets in the amount of 5000 PLN. This can be proved by: annual financial statements, a document confirming the disposal of funds (e.g. bank statement), a document confirming the possession of shares or other transferable securities (e.g. a document from a brokerage house), a document confirming the granting of a bank guarantee (in the place of the beneficiary, indicate the Chief Inspector of Road Transport) or a document confirming the ownership and value of the property (e.g. a notarial deed).

The fee for the license for road transport in the field of brokering the transport of passengers, depending on the period for which it is to be issued, is: 400 PLN for a license for a period of 2 to 15 years, 450 PLN for a license for a period of 15 to 30 years, and 500 PLN for a license for a period from 30 to 50 years.

The broker is obliged to check to order transport only to drivers who have the appropriate license for the transport of passengers: a passenger car, a bus (a motor vehicle designed to transport more than 7 and no more than 9 people, including the driver) or a taxi, no later than before the start cooperation and within 7 days from the expiry date of the license held by the contractor to whom the contract is transferred.

The intermediary's duties also include keeping an electronic register of orders for the transport of passengers, e.g. in a database program or Excel. You should also keep records of contractors (drivers) to whom the transport is commissioned. Information on this subject should be kept for a period of 5 years, counting from the end of the calendar year in which the transport was ordered. If the Road Transport Inspection Authority or the National Revenue Administration wants to carry out an inspection, the broker must make this information available to the authority within 21 days.

During the inspection, the entrepreneur may be fined from PLN 5000 to PLN 40000. The sum of all penalties imposed during one inspection may not exceed PLN 100000. The reason for the imposition of a penalty may be the transfer of orders to drivers who don’t have a license to transport passengers or failure to provide the control authorities with the required information.