In a series of articles to be published in subsequent issues of “Logistyka”, the authors present the current situation regarding the operation of Free Trade Zones in Poland and their links to logistics activities. They draw attention to lost opportunities for increasing the volume of logistics work resulting from the current legal status regarding customs and VAT collection, and also point out possibilities for improvement and potential benefits for enterprises and the economy.
In discussions about planning the construction of a network of logistics centers, an interesting thread is overlooked: the possibility of using free trade zones as an organizational element that enables the interception of goods streams flowing through international logistics networks and the performance of various logistics operations on the goods—during their stopover on the journey from suppliers to recipients—using the infrastructure available to logistics centers and the potential of logistics operators conducting business within their territory. Free Trade Zones can be an opportunity for realizing plans to build logistics centers in Poland. They can be, but are they?
Definition of a Free Trade Zone:
A Free Trade Zone (FTZ) is a separated part of the customs territory where domestic and foreign business entities can conduct production and trade activities, benefiting from a system of suspension of customs duties and taxes.
Advantages of a Free Trade Zone:
A Free Trade Zone is a place where processes typical for logistics take place, such as storage, warehousing, packaging, consolidation, and deconsolidation of goods intended for foreign recipients or imported by importers for domestic needs.
Storing goods in an FTZ and performing processing, refining, and logistics operations on them is associated with a number of significant commercial benefits.