The Fakt website reports on a situation in which inspectors allegedly photographed, through the window, the interior of a company car and the radio inside it. Shortly afterwards, the vehicle owner received a letter from the Radio and Television Licence Fee Department of Poczta Polska’s Financial Services Centre. The letter contained information about the initiation of administrative proceedings concerning the licence fee.
If the radio does not work, the owner of the vehicle in which it is located must prove this during the proceedings. Interestingly, owning a receiver at home and paying the licence fee for it does not exempt a business owner from paying for a second radio used in business activities (the fee must be paid a second time).
In Poland, radio and television licence-fee regulations apply. For car owners, this means that listening to the radio in a car costs money. A car radio must be registered at a post office. The monthly licence fee is PLN 8.70.
Fakt:
By paying for several months in advance, you can receive discounts. The fee for two months paid in advance is PLN 16.90, for a quarter—PLN 25.10, for half a year—PLN 49.60, and for a year—PLN 94. However, the regulations contain some catches. A driver does not have to pay the radio fee if they already pay the radio and television licence fee for a radio or television set at home.
The penalty for failing to pay the fee for a car radio is 30 times the monthly licence fee, or PLN 261. The Constitutional Tribunal has examined the legitimacy of such inspections several times and found no irregularities. Lawyers, however, unanimously believe that when an inspector visits, we are not obliged to let them into either our home or our car.
Exemptions from the licence fee include, among others, elderly people, people with disabilities, war veterans and the unemployed.
More information on this subject is available on the Fakt website.