Poland
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As a member of the European Union, both EU and national legislation apply.
Exporters of vehicles, Original Equipment (OE) parts & components, as well as aftermarket products & accessories to the European Union and its member states must undergo a thorough assessment of, and ensure compliance with, existing European Commission Directives, i.e., regulatory requirements regarding technical specifications, product safety, as well as environmental impact & requirements. In principle, type-approval granted for vehicles or vehicle parts in one EU member state should be accepted by all member states across the EU. However, individual member states may enforce more stringent or additional regulatory requirements for certain product groups and/or applications.
In addition to compliance with the legal requirements of an EU member state as well as relevant EC and UNECE directives and regulations, U.S. exporters of automotive parts are advised to assess and obtain evidence of compliance with relevant technical norms and standards. A certified management system is required for access to new markets and customers in Poland and Europe. One of the automotive industry’s most widely used international standards for quality management is ISO/TS 16949 (under revision, transition to IATF 16949 is in progress), which defines the quality management system requirements for the design and development, production and, when relevant, installation and service of automotive-related products.
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Poland is a developing country and, unlike developed countries, the number of cars per capita is growing up. Most of the Polish families own one, two or even three cars. Almost a million of passenger cars were sold in 2019. The great majority of cars are older than 10 years, which gives a constant demand for automotive parts and services. There is a large competition on the Polish market regarding above, but just like with vehicle purchase, the most important factor for Poles is price and good quality of products and services. Only competitive producers, distributors and services are able to exist on this market.
2020 was a very difficult year for the automotive industry. The automotive market ends in December with a decline of almost 30%. However, the situation of the electromobility market is different. The difficult year 2020 was for this segment a year of a turnover jump by about 80 percent. The Polish Alternative Fuels Association predicts that such a large annual growth will be the norm for the electromobility market for the next few years. At the end of 2020 there were 20 181 e-cars registered including 9,751 purely electric models (48.3% of the park), and 10,430 plug-in hybrids (51.7% share) - this is more than twice as many as in 2019. The fleets of Polish companies will be more and more electrified. Today, electric vehicles are used by 3% companies, and in three years it will be 18 percent, i.e. - according to the latest Arval Mobility Observatory Fleet Barometer.
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Market Entry
Current Market Trends & Demand