Poland
On 21 March 2019, the Court of Justice of the EU announced a decision in the case of restrictions on traffic on the territory of Poland for vehicles with a maximum load on the drive axle not exceeding 11.5 tons.

These are sanctions for passing without special permits on roads designated for axle loads of up to 8 or 10 tonnes of vehicles whose axle loads exceeded these indicators but complied with Directive 96/53 / EC (11.5 tons).

The judgment of the Court states: “In its application, the European Commission seeks a declaration from the Court that, by imposing on transport undertakings the obligation to hold special permits in order to be able to travel on certain public roads, the Republic of Poland has not fulfilled its obligations under Article 3 in conjunction with Article 7 of Council Directive 96/53 / EC of 25 July 1996 on the maximum permissible levels in national and international traffic of certain road vehicles moving within the Community, and maximum permissible masses in international traffic (OJ 1996 L 235, p. 59; special edition in Bulgarian, 2007, Chapter 7, Volume 4, p. 79), as amended by Directive (EU) 2015/719 of Of the European Parliament and of the Council of 29 April 2015 (OJ 2015 L 115, p. 1) (‘Directive 96/53’), considered in conjunction with points 3.1 and 3.4 of Annex I to Directive 96/53 “

The ruling of the European Court of Justice means that Poland will have to change the provisions governing the issue of the requirement for a special permit for the movement of regulatory vehicles on certain public roads.

The Court’s ruling also has practical consequences for transport companies. Carriers who have paid a fine (from 2013 until now) due to the lack of the above-mentioned permit (PLN 1500 – for municipal and regional roads or PLN 5000 – for state roads) will be able to initiate a refund procedure.

Requests for reimbursement must be submitted within the following period from the date of publication of the judgment of the Court of Justice:
– one month, for cases ended with an administrative decision imposing a fine;
– three months, for cases ended with a court decision imposing a fine.

Source: www.speditor.net