New Polish Yacht Registration Law 2026: What Changes for Owners
Quick status (10 October 2026): This is a draft bill, not a law. The Council of Ministers adopted it on Tuesday, 28 July 2026, and sent it to the Sejm (the lower house of the Polish parliament). It still has to go through parliamentary readings, be signed, and published in the Journal of Laws (Dziennik Ustaw) before it takes effect. We do not yet know the bill's parliamentary print number or the dates of its readings, and nobody can say today exactly when — or in exactly what final form — it will become law. Treat everything below as "according to the draft," not as current rules.
Officially, the proposal is the draft act amending the act on the registration of yachts and other vessels up to 24 m in length and the act on maritime safety (government work list number UD305, prepared by the Ministry of Infrastructure). Its stated goal, according to the ministry, is to improve safety and limit abuse — the government points out that tens of thousands of Polish-flagged yachts currently sail outside Polish sea areas, and wants better oversight of who is actually behind each registration.
If passed, the act would enter into force 12 months after its publication in the Journal of Laws — so, realistically, not before 2027, and we don't have (and won't guess) an exact date.
| Topic | Today (current rules) | Under the draft |
|---|---|---|
| Technical survey before registration | Not required for standard recreational registration | Mandatory initial survey on board, by an authorised classification society, at the owner's cost |
| Periodic data confirmation | No periodic confirmation requirement in REJA24 | Owner must confirm data at least every 5 years (an earlier version of the draft mentioned every 2 years) |
| Missed confirmation deadline | Not applicable | Authority may remove the vessel from the register ex officio |
| Small boats (≤7.5 m, ≤15 kW) & inland vessels | Can register under the Polish flag | Reportedly to be excluded from Polish flag registration (per prawo.pl; to be confirmed in the final text) |
| Official registration fee | 80 PLN, regardless of vessel size | Current fee structure unchanged so far; new fees for data-confirmation are planned, amount not yet known |
| Vessel name approval | Requires approval | Requirement to be abolished |
| Measurement of yachts up to 14 m | Needs confirmation by a surveyor | Self-measurement by the owner allowed |
| Register pledge (zastaw rejestrowy) | More complex procedure | Simplified |
| Filing applications | Electronically (ePUAP), at starostwo offices | Same channel, reinforced in the new text |
Several of these points — especially the exclusion of small boats and inland vessels — are reported by legal/industry press (prawo.pl) ahead of the final bill text and should be treated as likely, not certain, until confirmed.
The headline change in the draft is a mandatory initial survey for any vessel applying for Polish nationality. According to the draft:
According to the version described by the Ministry of Infrastructure, this initial survey would also apply to foreign-built vessels that already hold Polish nationality from before the new rules take effect — but the exact wording and scope of this retroactive element still needs to be confirmed once the bill's final text is public. We are deliberately cautious here: this is "according to the draft," not a confirmed rule.
The draft introduces a cyclical requirement to confirm vessel and owner data in REJA24, at least once every five years (an earlier version of the bill proposed every two years, which gives a sense of how much this detail can still move before the final text). This would apply not only to new registrations but, per the draft, also to vessels already entered in the register before the law takes effect.
New fees tied to confirming the validity of the registration document are planned, but no amounts have been published anywhere we've seen.
If an owner does not confirm their data within the required cycle, the draft allows the registering authority to remove the vessel from REJA24 ex officio — on its own initiative, without the owner necessarily asking for it. No grace-period mechanics or appeal procedure have been detailed in the information available so far. This is one of the sections we will watch most closely as the bill moves through the Sejm, since it directly affects owners who already hold a Polish registration.
Industry press (prawo.pl) has reported that the draft would remove the possibility of registering, under the Polish flag, vessels up to 7.5 metres with an engine of up to 15 kW, as well as inland vessels. This is a meaningful change if it survives into the final text, since it would narrow who can use REJA24 going forward. We flag this as reported but not yet verified against the bill's actual wording, and we'll update this section once that's possible.
Assuming the bill passes the Sejm and Senate, is signed by the President, and is published in the Journal of Laws, the draft states it would enter into force 12 months after that publication date. Since publication hasn't happened — the bill is still with the Sejm — there is no exact date to give. The earliest realistic year is 2027. We will not speculate on a month or day, and we'd treat any source that gives you one with caution.
We're not the government and we don't have a crystal ball, so here's our honest, non-alarmist advice:
No. It's a draft bill adopted by the Council of Ministers on 28 July 2026 and sent to the Sejm. It is not yet passed, signed, or published, and therefore not yet in force.
Under the draft, a mandatory initial survey by an authorised classification society would apply to vessels applying for Polish nationality — and, per the ministry's description, possibly also to vessels that already hold it from before the new rules take effect. The exact scope needs confirming once the final bill text is available.
We can't predict how the Sejm will change this bill or when it will pass. The current procedure (80 PLN official fee, no inspection) is valid today, and the draft wouldn't take effect before 2027 at the earliest. If you need registration now, there's no legal reason to wait.
Unknown so far. The draft mentions new fees for confirming data validity, and the proposed initial survey would be paid to a classification society, but no figures have been published. We'll update this page once amounts are confirmed.
According to the draft, yes — the 5-year confirmation requirement is described as applying to vessels already in REJA24, not just new registrations. This still needs to be verified against the final bill text.
The draft allows the authority to remove the vessel from the register ex officio. No appeal or grace-period details have been published yet.
Reportedly, vessels up to 7.5 m with an engine up to 15 kW, and inland vessels, would no longer be eligible for Polish flag registration — per prawo.pl reporting, not yet confirmed in the bill's final wording.
12 months after publication in the Journal of Laws — but publication hasn't happened, so there's no exact date. Earliest realistic year: 2027.
UD305 is the Polish government's internal work-list number for this bill, prepared by the Ministry of Infrastructure. It's the same proposal discussed throughout this article.
Yes. We're an independent service that helps foreign owners handle REJA24 paperwork — not a government authority. We're tracking the bill and will update our guides and, if needed, our packages (currently from €399) once the final rules and fees are known.
The current REJA24 procedure is unchanged and fully valid. We handle the paperwork, filing, and worldwide delivery of your documents — no technical inspection required under today's rules.
Start Your Registration — From €399Last updated: October 10, 2026