Imports & Customs — Poland
What travelers need to know about imports & customs in Poland. What is legal at home can be a serious crime here — each rule links to its official source.
Imports & Customs in Poland: restricted — there are real limits travelers must follow.
Buying an antique, an old book or an old photograph in Poland can require a Ministry of Culture permit before you can take it home. A permit is needed when the item meets all three tests at once - category, age and value - and some thresholds are low: manuscripts over 50 years old worth more than 4,000 zl, photographs, films and negatives over 50 years old above 6,000 zl, and books over 100 years old above 6,000 zl. Archaeological finds and architectural fragments over 100 years old need a permit at any value at all. Bringing INTO the EU cultural goods that were illegally removed from their home country is a crime carrying up to 2 years in prison.
Import side, published verbatim by the Ministry of Finance: bringing in cultural goods illegally removed from their country of origin carries "kara grzywny, ograniczenia wolnosci lub pozbawienia wolnosci do 2 lat" - a fine, restriction of liberty, or imprisonment of up to 2 years. NO penalty figure is published on this page for exporting a listed item from Poland without the required permit, so none is stated.
§ Ministerstwo Finansow / Krajowa Administracja Skarbowa - podatki.gov.pl, "Zabytki - informacje o przywozie i wywozie zabytkow", published and updated 15.12.2025, citing ustawa o ochronie zabytkowVerified Sep 7, 2026