Entering Poland through distributors: specialist wholesalers, tenders on e-Zamówienia and a first contact by letter

Poland suits a manufacturer that is ready to win public contracts through a partner: the record of who wins is open, and the law sets clear rules on language, payment and the first message.

Putting it simply: Polish professional customers are served by specialist distributors and wholesalers (hurtownie), many of whom bid for public contracts. Notices and results are published in the Biuletyn Zamówień Publicznych (BZP) on e-Zamówienia, and the larger awards on TED, so the distributors that already win in your category can be found by name. Bids are in Polish, payment terms beyond 60 days need express agreement (30 days for most public buyers), and commercial e-mail needs prior consent, so the first contact is a letter, a fair or an introduction.

How the market buys

Specialist distributors, organised by trade

In technical and professional categories the manufacturer typically sells to a Polish distributor that holds stock, delivers across the country, prepares tender bids and handles service. Each trade has its own chamber or association. In medical devices, for example, the POLMED chamber describes itself as an organisation "skupiającą producentów i dystrybutorów wyrobów medycznych działających na polskim rynku". The Krajowa Izba Gospodarcza (KIG), the national chamber of commerce, builds a network of chambers across the country ("Tworzymy sieć Izb w całej Polsce") and is a starting point for finding the one for your trade.

Tenders shape the distributor's year

For a range sold to hospitals, universities, municipalities or utilities, the first order is often tied to a single tender, and the relationship widens once the product has won and been delivered. The question to ask is therefore not "who distributes in Poland" but "who wins my CPV codes, for which buyers, in which regions".

Where public demand is visible

Polish public procurement is published in layers.

• From 1 January 2026, the Public Procurement Law (Prawo zamówień publicznych, Pzp) applies to classic contracts of public contracting authorities worth PLN 170,000 or more excluding VAT (articles 2(1) and 28); below that, the Act does not apply.
• Between PLN 170,000 and the EU thresholds, notices go in the BZP, and the buyer must post a result notice there within 30 days of the end of the procedure (article 309).
• Above the EU thresholds, which for 2026 and 2027 are €140,000 for central government and €216,000 for other contracting authorities (supplies and services), notices and award notices go to TED.

The BZP is published on e-Zamówienia, the national platform of the Public Procurement Office (UZP), which provides its services free of charge and lets anyone browse procedures without logging in.

Two more records help with timing. Public finance sector bodies and other state units (article 23 with article 4 points 1 and 2) must publish, within 30 days of adopting their budget or financial plan, a plan of the procedures they expect to run that year, in the BZP and on their website; other buyers may (article 23). And award notices record contract durations, which show when a buyer will tender again (contract end dates as timing).

Joint and central purchasing

Buyers may prepare and run a procedure together, award a joint contract or conclude a joint framework agreement (article 38), a route groups of hospitals or municipalities can use to pool demand. The Prime Minister may designate a central purchasing body and instruct government-administration buyers to buy certain categories from it or under its framework agreements (article 47), and a minister may do the same for the units under that ministry (article 48). As of October 2026 we could not confirm on an official page which categories are currently bought centrally; the buyer named in the award notices for your CPV codes will show it.

Who decides and what a first meeting looks like

In a Polish company the decision on a new supplier is usually taken or signed off by the management board (zarząd), after the product manager or the person who prepares tenders has checked your documents against typical specifications; address the first letter to the board. Expect the first meeting to be about whether your product can win: the margin left after a competitive tender, project pricing, your position on price changes over a multi-year contract, territory and exclusivity, lead times, local service and spare parts, references and samples. The Poland market page lists these expectations step by step.

Language and documentation

Polish is a legal requirement in the places that matter most:

• A procurement procedure "prowadzi się w języku polskim"; a buyer may accept documents in another language only in justified cases (Pzp, article 20).
• In consumer trade in Poland, names of goods, offers, warranty terms, invoices, warnings, instructions for use and product information must be in Polish (Polish Language Act, articles 7 and 7a). Between companies, the Act requires Polish only where the trade is conducted by the public bodies listed in article 4 (article 7(2)).

Prepare technical sheets, declarations of conformity, instructions and price lists in Polish before the first meeting; a distributor needs them for a Polish-language bid.

Payment terms and invoicing

The Act on Preventing Excessive Delays in Commercial Transactions caps the agreed payment term at 60 days from delivery of the invoice, unless the parties expressly agree otherwise and the term is not grossly unfair to the creditor (article 7(2)). Where a large enterprise owes a micro, small or medium-sized one, 60 days is a hard limit (article 7(2a)). Public buyers may agree no more than 30 days, or 60 days for public healthcare providers (article 8(2)), which matters if your distributor supplies hospitals.

Poland has moved domestic invoicing to the National e-Invoice System (KSeF): issuing through KSeF became mandatory on 1 February 2026 for companies whose 2024 sales exceeded PLN 200 million including VAT, and on 1 April 2026 for the rest. According to the Ministry of Finance, a foreign company with no seat or fixed establishment in Poland is not obliged to issue invoices in KSeF, but your distributor's systems run on it.

Lawful first contact

Poland requires prior consent. Article 398 of the Electronic Communications Law (PKE) prohibits sending commercial information, as defined in the Act on Providing Services by Electronic Means (UŚUDE), to a subscriber or end user by e-mail or other electronic communication unless they have previously consented; the old ban in article 10 of the UŚUDE was repealed when the PKE came into force. End users include companies, sending without consent is an act of unfair competition and a petty offence (article 448), and the President of UKE can fine a sender up to 3% of the previous year's revenue or PLN 1,000,000, whichever is higher (article 446(5)). The lawful routes are a short letter in Polish to the management board, the sector's trade fair, or an introduction through a chamber or an existing customer; once the distributor has written to you, e-mail is fine. The Poland market page sets out the rule in full.

Where Cresques fits

Create a market for Poland, choose your CPV categories (or let the materials reader suggest them from a brochure or website), and Cresques shows the companies named in TED award notices for those categories, with personal details removed. Below the EU thresholds, Cresques also shows contracts awarded through the BZP on e-Zamówienia on the Growth and Scale plans; on other plans, search the BZP yourself. Company profiles with an AI-researched role and first messages drafted in the local language are live; e-mail alerts on new awards come with paid plans.

What this means for a manufacturer

• Find the distributors through the public trail: TED for the larger awards, the BZP for procedures from PLN 170,000 excluding VAT.
• Read the buyers' annual plans and contract end dates to time your approach.
• Prepare Polish documents first; the bid will be in Polish.
• Price for the tender: leave the distributor a margin and agree how prices move over a multi-year contract.
• Keep payment terms within 60 days; public buyers may agree no more than 30, public hospitals 60.
• Make the first contact by letter to the management board, at a fair or through an introduction. Not by e-mail.