Export opportunities of Warmia and Mazury voivodeship Export folder 2011 Export opportunities of Warmia and Mazury voivodeship Export folder 2011 Project co-financed by the European Union through the European Regional Development Fund within the Regional Operational Programme Warmia i Mazury 2007-2013 and from the budget of Warmia and Mazury Local Government. 2 Table of contents 1. Terms of trade with Poland 6 2. Obtaining information 8 3. Export offer of the Warmińsko-Mazurskie voivodeship 11 3.1 Food industry and agriculture 11 3.2 Wood and furniture industry, door and window (PVC) carpentry 23 3.3 Manufacture of machines, equipment, safety systems and metal processing 34 3.4 Boat and yacht construction 45 3.5 Chemical branch - packaging 51 3.6 Light industry 56 Sources 67 Contact data 68 Companies in alphabetical order 69 Food industry and agriculture Wood and furniture industry, door and window (PVC) carpentry Manufacture of machines, equipment, safety systems and metal processing Boat and yacht construction Chemical branch - packaging Light industry 3 Introduction For the second time we are pleased to provide you with this publication, which was prepared for the Government of Warmia and Mazury and designed for partners interested in establishing business contacts with companies from the Warmia and Mazury. This publication aims to present the base voivodeship export branches. It contains information about companies that are leaders in these industries in terms of export production volume. In the first part of the publication you can find basic information about the rules of intra-Community acquisition of goods. The following concepts will be described: the territory, the community, the goods, the transactors and the conditions for intra-Community acquisition of goods. We hope that this export folder containing basic information about the region will be useful in activating economic cooperation with the companies from Warmia and Mazury. Warmińsko-mazurskie voivodeship is located in north-eastern part of Poland in an attractive neighborhood - from the north it borders with the Kaliningrad Oblast of the Russian Federation, from the west, via the Vistula Lagoon, it is situated near the Baltic Sea. The distance between Olsztyn and Warsaw is 220 km, Olsztyn and Gdańsk - 180 km, Olsztyn and Toruń - 170 km, with the distance to the border crossing with Lithuania in Budzisko being approximately 222 km. Warmińsko-mazurskie is the fourth largest Polish region with an area of over 24 thousand. km 2. It is populated by almost 1.4 million inhabitants. The voivodeship is administratively divided into 116 communes from 19 districts. The regional capital is Olsztyn, inhabited by almost 180 thousand residents. Other major centers in the region are the city of Elbląg (130 thousand inhabitants) and the City of Ełk (60 thousand inhabitants). 4 5 1 | Terms of Trade With Poland Intra-community acquisition of goods The abolition of customs between Poland and the EU countries, which took place on 1 May 2004, resulted in many changes in business operations undertaken by Polish entrepreneurs within the Community. Imports of goods, defined as the acquisition of goods made outside of Polish territory, have been replaced by imports in the narrower meaning, and includes only the acquisition of goods from non-member countries, as well as the intra-acquisition of goods, which refers to transactions solely within the European Union. There is a similar situation with export goods, with exporting activities to European Union countries being defined as intra-Community supply of goods. It should be noted that these transactions always occur in pairs - intra-Community supply of goods in one Member State is always parallel to an intra-Community acquisition of goods in the territory of another Member State.1 For the acquisition of foods to be considered an intra-Community one, there are necessary conditions to fulfill: ● The subject of an intra-Community acquisition must be a „commodity”, ● The transaction has to have an “intra-Community” character – i.e. involving physical movement of foods between two EU countries, ● Intra-Community acquisition of goods must be made " in exchange for payment," both the buyer and the person supplying the intra-Community transactions are subject to the added tax in accordance with the provisions of the Community countries (such as VAT in Germany) as well as tax on goods and services within the scope of the Polish act on goods and services tax.2 In accordance with the section 9, paragraph 1 of the goods and services tax Act3, the intra-Community acquisition means acquiring the right to act as the owner of the goods, which, as a result of supply, are shipped or transported from the territory of a Member State (other than the Member State making the delivery/ transport by the supplier on his behalf). The concepts of country territory and the Community territory. Understanding the said concepts will prove important to the entrepreneurs. According to the section 2, paragraph 1 of the Polish act on goods and service tax4, the „country territory” is the territory of Poland. According to section 2 paragraph 3 of the Polish act on goods and service tax5, the „Community territory” are the territories of European Community Member States - accounting for the Principality of Monaco being a part of the French Republic, the Isle of Man being a part of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, the sovereign zones of Akrotiri and Dhekelia being a territory of the Cyprus Republic. Thus, for example, supply from the Principality of Monaco isn’t considered an import, but an intra-Community purchase. The following territories are treated as exempts from the European Community6: ● Helgoland Isle, Buesingen territory – from the Federal Republic of Germany, ● Ceuta, Melilla, Canary Isles – from the Kingdom of Spain, ● Livigno, Campione d'Italia, Italian part of the Lugano Lake – from the Republic of Italy, ● Oversea departments of the French Republic, ● Mount Athos – from the Republic of Greece, ● Aland Isles – from the Republic of Finland, ● Channel Isles – from the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, ● Gibraltar is also treated as an exempt from the European Community. Any transactions performed on the aforementioned territories are not made within the Community. These transactions are not considered intra-Community transactions – they are considered exports and imports of goods for taxation purposes. It should be noted that the Community is treated differently in terms of tax purposes and various customs duties. For example, the acquisition of goods from the Canary Islands for tax purposes is the import of goods, but in terms of customs laws it is a transaction taking place within the Community. The concept of commodity. In accordance with section 2 paragraph 6 of the aforementioned Act, the term “commodity” means movable property, as well as all forms of energy, buildings or building parts, subject to transactions, subject to tax on goods and services that are listed in the classifications issued under the provisions of the public statistics, as well as plots of land. It should be noted that there can be no effective intra-Community transactions in respect of buildings, structures and building parts as well as plots of land due to intra-Community transactions’ cross-border nature. The transactions require the need for physical movement of goods, which in these cases is impossible. 1 T. Michalik, Komentarz…, s.104. 2 M. Wystrychowski, Wewnątrzwspólnotowe nabycie…, s. 107 i n. 3 Dz. U. Nr 55, poz. 535 ze zm. 4 Dz. U. Nr 55, poz. 535 ze zm. 5 Dz. U. Nr 55, poz. 535 ze zm. 6 J. Jędrszczyk, VI Dyrektywa…, s.55 i n. 6 Referring to the Polish act on goods and service tax 7 the „commodities” are subjects fulfilling the following criteria: ● must be subject to VAT tax, i.e. goods that are "capable of being subject to taxation," and, therefore, there has to exist a free and legal possibility of commodity exchange in relation to the subjects8, ● have to be mentioned in the classifications published on the basis of the public statistics. In consequence, subjects, which not fulfill any of the requirements, cannot be taken into consideration as „commodities”, in accordance to the Polish act on goods and service tax.9 Requirements of an intra-Community acquisition of commodities. Article 5 section 1 paragraph 4 of the Polish act on goods and service tax10 states, that the intra-Community acquisition of taxable commodity has to be performed “in exchange for payment”. For the goods acquisition to be performed „in exchange for payment” the following requirements are to be met: ● there must be a close and direct link between the fact of delivery and the paid charge,11 ● the received payment must be able to be appraised economically, in a monetary quota12. Without a doubt, an essential precondition for the taxation of VAT should be taken that the transaction carried out “in exchange for payment” occurs only if there is a legal connection between the partners (supplier and buyer)13. The payment of the other side does not mean that it has a contractual basis, which reflects the desire of the party involved, and, as a result, it is involved in the transaction of singular purchase14. The trade between the Member States is not subject to customs duties, while imports from countries outside the group apply a uniform tariff. Customs duties are levied at the border of a country or a customs union with regard to the commodities transported across the border. The customs union is to eliminate all customs duties and other barriers to trade flows between members of the union (such as quantitative restrictions, charges on the same principle as customs duties, ie, only from foreign products, etc.) and to determine a common (identical for all members union) tariff and customs rules in the relations between EU Member States and third countries.15 Entities of intra-Community acquisition of commodities.