Poland’s New Yacht Registration Rules: What Foreign Owners Must Know

Poland has formally submitted draft legislation (UD305) that fundamentally reshapes how foreign-owned pleasure craft under 24 metres can obtain and maintain Polish registration. The draft introduces mandatory pre-registration inspections, steep new fees, five-year data renewal obligations, and a toolkit of deregistration powers that could see tens of thousands of foreign-flagged vessels removed from the Polish ships register for pleasure crafts.

Following our article of 5 November 2026 on the proposed changes to Poland’s yacht registration framework, the draft legislation has now taken on a very concrete form. Prime Minister Donald Tusk formally submitted the bill – registered under reference RM-0610-107-26, draft number UD305 – to the Sejm in July 2026. What was once a set of broad proposals has become detailed statutory text, complete with fee tables, transitional deadlines, and enforcement powers that leave little room for ambiguity.

If you own a pleasure craft under 24 metres that flies the Polish flag, and that vessel is not in Polish ownership – meaning it is not owned by the Polish State Treasury, a Polish legal entity, or a Polish citizen residing in Poland – then this legislation affects you directly. And the effect is rather significant.

Here is what you need to know.

What does the draft legislation actually change?

A mandatory pre-registration inspection for foreign-owned vessels

The headline change is the introduction of a compulsory preliminary inspection (przegląd wstępny) for any vessel that does not constitute Polish ownership and wishes to obtain – or in certain circumstances maintain – Polish registration.

This inspection must be carried out by an authorised Recognised Organisation (RO), currently the Polish Register of Shipping (PRS), which is the sole body currently holding the relevant authorisation under Article 8a(1)(1) of the Maritime Safety Act. The inspection covers the verification of documentation, the vessel’s general seaworthiness, its principal dimensions, and the accuracy of hull identification numbers. It is not a full technical survey, but it is considerably more than a paperwork exercise.

For vessels that hold a CE declaration of conformity, the inspection may be conducted remotely via electronic communication, at the RO’s discretion. For others, a physical inspection will be required, wherever in the world the vessel happens to be.

The cost is borne by the owner. The fee is set by the RO, calculated on the basis of vessel length, engine power, and time required. The maximum is capped at 100% of the average national wage in Poland for the preceding year – roughly PLN 4,500 to 5,000 at current levels, or somewhere between €750 and €1,200. That is not a trivial sum, but it is also not the only new cost to consider.

New registration fees that reflect a very different ambition

Under the current rules, registering a vessel under the Polish flag costs a flat 80 PLN. That is not a misprint. The new fee schedule is a rather dramatic departure from that figure.

For foreign-owned vessels (those not subject to mandatory registration), the proposed fees are:

• Vessels up to 15 metres: 2,000 PLN to register; 1,000 PLN to renew every five years
• Vessels between 15 and 24 metres: 3,000 PLN to register; 1,500 PLN to renew every five years

Data changes involving a change of ownership attract the same fee as a new registration. Changes that do not involve an ownership transfer cost 1,500 PLN (up to 15 m) or 2,500 PLN (15-24 m).

The regulatory impact assessment accompanying the draft projects a 20% reduction in new foreign registrations as a direct result of these changes, down from approximately 8,000 new foreign-owned registrations per year to around 6,400. That is the intended deterrent effect, stated plainly in the official documentation.

A five-year renewal https://portal.reja24.gov.pl/obligation for all registered vessels

Every vessel currently in REJA24, regardless of ownership, will be required to confirm the validity of its registration at least once every five years. Owners must submit an application within a window running from 90 to 30 days before each fifth anniversary of their registration date, confirming or updating their registered details.

For foreign-owned vessels, this renewal must also be accompanied by a positive pre-inspection result, meaning the inspection obligation does not only apply at first registration, but recurs as part of the renewal process whenever the vessel no longer qualifies as Polish property.

Fail to renew on time, and the registration is suspended automatically. Fail to resolve the suspension within the time allowed – six months for voluntarily registered vessels – and the registration is cancelled by law.

How will the transitional rules work for existing registrations?

As of 21 December 2025, REJA24 held 100,902 registered vessels. Of those, approximately 40,018 – just under 40% – are owned by individuals or entities residing or based outside Poland. Roughly 11,000 of those owners are based outside the European Union entirely.

All of those existing registrations remain valid for now, but they will be subject to staggered confirmation deadlines once the law enters into force:

Foreign-owned vessels will also need to undergo the pre-registration inspection as part of this transitional confirmation process. Owners who registered their vessels before these rules existed will still be required to comply.

Vessels that miss the transitional deadline will have their registration suspended. If the suspension is not resolved within a further 12 months, the registration is cancelled and the vessel loses Polish nationality.

The toolkit for downsizing: what the legislation is actually designed to do

The regulatory impact assessment is refreshingly candid about the intended effect of these new rules. The financial analysis explicitly projects a 20% decline in new foreign registrations, a figure that did not appear by accident. The ministry’s own documentation anticipates that a significant portion of the approximately 40,000 currently registered foreign-owned vessels will not complete the transitional compliance process, and that this will result in their removal from the register by operation of law.

In other words, the legislation is not simply raising the bar for registration. It is designed, at least in part, to shrink the register.

Beyond the fee increases and inspection requirements, the draft contains a set of specific legal instruments that give registration authorities and maritime administration bodies the tools to actively reduce the number of foreign-flagged vessels on the Polish register. These are worth examining closely.

The five-year renewal as a deregistration mechanism

The most powerful tool is the simplest one. Every foreign-owned vessel that fails to file a valid five-year renewal application – complete with pre-inspection results – faces automatic suspension followed by mandatory cancellation. No individual court decision is required. No enforcement proceedings need to be initiated. The registration lapses by operation of statute.

The draft’s own projections assume that 80% of existing foreign-owned vessels will comply with the transitional confirmation requirement. That means 20% – somewhere in the region of 8,000 vessels – are expected to be removed from the register in the first two years alone, simply by not responding.

No-response deregistration

Under Article 10c of the amended Act, if a public authority or Recognised Organisation sends a formal notice to a vessel owner at their registered Polish delivery address and receives no response, it may apply to the registration authority for the vessel’s removal from the register. The owner’s silence becomes, in effect, grounds for deregistration.

This is a significant shift from the current position. Registration authorities previously had very limited tools to address non-responsive owners. That changes entirely under the new framework.

The geopolitical exclusion power

The Council of Ministers is granted statutory authority to introduce bans – by regulation – on the registration or continued registration of vessels owned by citizens or entities from specific non-EU, non-EEA states. These bans can be triggered on grounds of foreign policy, national security, public order, or economic interest, and can also be activated by binding UN Security Council resolutions.

The practical target is not difficult to identify. The draft’s explanatory memorandum notes a marked increase in registration interest from entities based in the Russian Federation and the Republic of Belarus. The geopolitical exclusion power is designed to enable a rapid regulatory response to that kind of pattern, without requiring fresh primary legislation each time.

Vessels already registered under the Polish flag are subject to mandatory deregistration if a ban applicable to their owner enters into force.

Mandatory Polish delivery address

Every foreign owner must provide a valid postal delivery address on Polish territory as part of their registration data. Correspondence sent to that address – including suspension notices and deregistration orders – is treated as formally delivered, regardless of whether the owner actually reads it.

If the address is wrong, outdated, or never checked, the administrative consequences still flow. This is, practically speaking, a mechanism to ensure that the administrative process of deregistration can proceed even when owners are difficult to reach.

Suspension for missing safety cards

Vessels subject to flag state inspection requirements under the Maritime Safety Act that do not hold a valid safety card (karta bezpieczeństwa) can have their registration suspended on application from the inspection authority. Operating a vessel with a suspended registration is an offence punishable by fine, with local starostas now granted authority to impose those fines directly.

Electronic submission requirement

Foreign-owned vessels must submit all registration applications and data changes electronically through the REJA24 system, authenticated via the Polish e-government platform (login.gov.pl) or a qualified electronic signature. This is partly a practical measure to integrate the pre-inspection workflow – since the RO uploads documentation directly into REJA24 – but it also closes off the possibility of paper-only applications that might be harder to process or track.

When does all of this take effect?

The main body of the legislation enters into force 12 months after publication in the Journal of Laws (Dziennik Ustaw). Based on the July 2026 submission date, full implementation is expected around mid-to-late 2027, though the precise date depends on parliamentary timing.

A small number of provisions – including the geopolitical registration bans, certain refusal grounds, and the electronic delivery framework – take effect just 14 days after publication.

The REJA24 verification portal, which allows anyone to check whether a vessel is registered and whether its registration document is valid, is already live at https://verification.reja24.gov.pl/.

What should foreign yacht owners do now?

The honest answer is: do not wait. The transitional deadlines begin running from the moment the law comes into force, and the shortest window – for vessels registered before the end of 2021 – is just three months. That is not a great deal of time to arrange an inspection, gather documentation, and submit a confirmation application, particularly if your vessel is moored somewhere in the Mediterranean or further afield.

A few things worth doing now:

• Check your registration date. This determines which transitional deadline applies to you.
• Review your registered delivery address in Poland. If it is outdated or does not exist, formal notices may be sent there without your knowledge.
• Look into the pre-inspection process. PRS operates globally and can conduct inspections outside Poland. Vessels with a CE declaration of conformity may qualify for a remote inspection.
• Consider acting before the law enters into force. There is nothing stopping you from completing the confirmation process early, and doing so avoids the risk of being caught in a backlog when registration authorities are processing tens of thousands of simultaneous applications.

Do you have questions about how these changes affect your specific situation? Do drop us a note, we are happy to talk through the details and help you work out what steps make sense for your vessel.

Frequently Asked Questions

Does the pre-registration inspection apply to vessels already registered under the Polish flag?

Yes. The transitional provisions require existing foreign-owned vessels to undergo the pre-registration inspection as part of the mandatory five-year data confirmation process. Even if your vessel was registered years ago under the old rules, the inspection obligation applies during the transitional period.

Can the inspection be done outside Poland?

Yes. The authorised Recognised Organisation – currently the Polish Register of Shipping – operates globally and can conduct inspections wherever your vessel is located. For vessels with a CE declaration of conformity, a remote inspection via electronic communication may be possible, at the RO’s discretion.

What happens if I miss the transitional confirmation deadline?

Your registration will be suspended by operation of law. If the suspension is not resolved within the permitted period – six months for voluntarily registered vessels – your registration document loses validity and the vessel is removed from the REJA24 register. The vessel simultaneously loses its Polish nationality.

What counts as “Polish ownership” under the new rules?

A vessel constitutes Polish ownership if it belongs to the Polish State Treasury, a Polish legal entity with a registered office in Poland, or a Polish citizen residing in Poland. Polish citizens living abroad do not meet the definition, their vessels are treated as foreign-owned for the purposes of these rules.

Can I still register a new vessel under the Polish flag as a non-Polish owner?

Yes, but the process is considerably more involved than before. You will need to complete a pre-registration inspection, submit your application electronically through REJA24, provide an authenticated identity, supply a Polish delivery address, and pay the new registration fee of 2,000 PLN (for vessels up to 15 m) or 3,000 PLN (for larger vessels). The registration certificate no longer authorises you to sail the vessel until the full registration document has been issued.

What are the grounds for outright refusal of registration?

Registration will be refused if the pre-inspection result is negative, if the submitted data contains inaccuracies, if the vessel or engine appears in the Schengen Information System as stolen or sought in criminal proceedings, or if a Council of Ministers ban applies to vessels owned by citizens or entities from the applicant’s country of residence.