Guides / Food supplements UK to Poland · Updated 30 September 2026

Exporting food supplements from the UK to Poland

In the EU, supplements are food. Selling them into Poland from the UK means a GIS notification with a Polish label before first sale, a possible sanitary check on arrival, and customs declarations on both sides.

This guide is also available in Polish.

Supplements are food, not medicines, in the EU

If you make or sell vitamins, minerals or other food supplements in the UK and want to sell them into Poland, the first thing to settle is what your product is in law. In the EU, food supplements are regulated as foods under Directive 2002/46/EC. The European Commission describes them as concentrated sources of nutrients or other substances with a nutritional or physiological effect, sold in measured dose forms such as tablets, capsules and pills, to complement the normal diet.

That classification decides which authority you deal with. A product presented as treating or preventing disease falls into the medicines regime, which is far more demanding. A genuine food supplement goes through the food route, and in Poland that means the State Sanitary Inspection rather than the pharmaceutical inspectorate.

The directive also sets limits on ingredients. Annex I lists the vitamins and minerals that may be used, and Annex II lists the permitted sources (the chemical forms) of those vitamins and minerals. According to the Commission, trade in products containing vitamins and minerals not listed in Annex II has been prohibited since 1 August 2005. A formula that is lawful in Great Britain is not automatically lawful in the EU, so check each ingredient form against the annexes before anything else.

Notifying the Chief Sanitary Inspector (GIS)

Article 10 of the directive allows member states to require notification when a supplement is placed on their market. Poland uses that option. According to the Polish government business portal, anyone introducing a dietary supplement, fortified food or food for specific groups onto the Polish market for the first time must notify the Chief Sanitary Inspector (Główny Inspektor Sanitarny, GIS), and this must happen before the planned date of first placing on the market.

Key points from the official Polish guidance:

The notification is made electronically, through the sanitary inspection's online system.
It includes the type of product, its qualitative composition including active substances, and the name, address and tax number of the notifying business.
A model of the labelling in Polish is one of the required documents.
Businesses from outside the EU need at least one registered office in the EU to make the notification; EU businesses do not need a Polish branch.
Notified products appear in a public register kept by GIS.

Notification is not an approval. Once notified, the product may be placed on the market on the business's own responsibility, but GIS can open an explanatory procedure and, if the product does not meet requirements, temporarily suspend it or order its withdrawal. Budget time for questions, especially for products with botanicals or unusual ingredients.

Since Brexit, a UK company on its own is outside the EU. The Polish guidance requires non-EU businesses to have at least one registered office in the EU to notify, so in practice most UK brands work through a Polish or other EU importer or distributor who takes on the notification and the food business obligations.

Polish labelling

Because the notification must include a model label in Polish, plan your Polish packaging or stickers before you ship, not after the goods land. Do not copy British label artwork across unchanged: nutrient reference wording, claims and the responsible business address all need checking for the EU market.

Registering the Polish business

The same Polish portal says that a business starting food production or trade must apply for entry in the register of establishments kept by the sanitary inspection at least 30 days before starting operations. If your Polish partner already trades in food, it may already be registered; if you are setting up your own EU entity, add this to your timeline.

Border sanitary control on arrival

Goods arriving from the UK are imports from a third country, so the Polish side may involve a sanitary check as well as customs. Poland runs a border sanitary control (graniczna kontrola sanitarna) for goods listed in a Minister of Health regulation. According to the official Polish guidance, the importer notifies the control before the goods cross the border; the check can take place at the border crossing, at a customs warehouse or at the destination, carried out by the sanitary inspector. If the goods meet EU health requirements, the inspector issues a certificate, and the importer passes that certificate to customs so the goods can be released.

The published list of goods covered focuses on plant-origin foods and food-contact materials; dietary supplements are not named as a separate category on the portal page. Whether a particular product falls under the list depends on its ingredients and classification, so confirm with the local sanitary station (sanepid) for your point of entry before the first load.

The UK side: export declaration

Leaving Great Britain, the goods need an export declaration. GOV.UK's step-by-step export guidance covers the sequence: you need an EORI number starting GB, check whether any licences apply, make the export declaration (through the Customs Declaration Service or an agent), then take the goods to the declared port or border location with the reference number, invoice and any licences. Most exporters hire a customs agent or use their transporter for this step; see do you need a broker if you are unsure.

On the Polish side, a separate import declaration is needed, where the importer of record is established. If goods move under transit to an inland office, read how T1 transit from the UK to the EU works. For pharmaceutical products or items that sit on the borderline between supplement and medicine, this guide to importing medicines and supplements from the UK explains how the GIS and pharmaceutical routes differ.

Practical sequence

Confirm the product is a food supplement, not a medicinal product, and check every vitamin and mineral form against Directive 2002/46/EC annexes.
Agree who is the EU business responsible: your Polish importer or your own EU entity.
Prepare the Polish label and submit the GIS notification before first placing on the market.
Make sure the Polish business is entered in the sanitary register.
Check with sanepid whether border sanitary control applies to your product.
Arrange the UK export declaration and the Polish import clearance.

Related guides

Moving supplements or pharma goods from the UK to Poland?

Easy Clearance is a UK–EU customs clearance agency handling import and export declarations, T1/T2 transit and UK–Poland removals. Its guide covers imports of medicines and supplements from the UK.

Read the Easy Clearance guide

Sources

General information, not legal, tax or customs advice. Rules change; confirm current requirements on gov.uk or with a registered agent before you ship.