OC: record penalties for drivers, but for farmers … much smaller

The national media recently reminded of another increase in penalty rates, which are imposed on the lack of mandatory civil liability of motor vehicle owners. It is hardly surprising, because these penalty fees broke another record. For a break lasting over two weeks, the driver of the passenger car will now pay PLN 9330.

Meanwhile, farmers pay much lower penalties for lack of compulsory insurance – although it must be added that the penalty fees for the lack of agricultural liability policies in 2025 also increased. The topic of penalties for not having compulsory farmers' insurance is analyzed by Unilinek experts, the largest insurance multiagency in Poland.

The farmer's insurance obligation is not only OC

In the context of compulsory insurance, it is most often talked about the required OC for motor vehicle owners (so -called PPM OC). It cannot be otherwise, because the compulsory civil liability insurance of drivers is the most popular policy in Poland. Data on the Polish Financial Supervision Authority from the mid -2024 indicate that at that time 28.4 million civil liability policies were active, which the drivers must buy. At the same time, it should not be forgotten that the Act of 22 May 2003 on compulsory insurance, the Insurance Guarantee Fund and the Polish Motor Insurers' Office also regulates issues regarding two other compulsory policies:

• compulsory
  Farmers' civil liability insurance for having a farm (farmers' liability insurance);
• compulsory
  Insurance of buildings that are part of the farm from fire and other random events (insurance of agricultural buildings).
• “It is worth knowing that in addition to compulsory insurance for farmers, optional OC policy proposals are also available, for example, addressed to village housewife circles and farmers producing food sold as part of agricultural retail trade,” he explains Maciej ŁobozUnilinek Insurance Multiagency Expert.

The aforementioned obligatory agricultural policies, like communication civil liability, are characterized by the annual duration of the contract and the presence of the so -called prolongation clause, which ensures continuity of protection. “Further similarities in relation to civil liability for drivers are related to the statutory control system of the insurance obligation and penalties for the lack of policy. We also see some differences that relate to, among others, the amount of penalty fees,” says Andrzej Prajsnar, an expert of the UNINELK insurance multiagency.

Agricultural penalties are much smaller than those for drivers

Before we pay attention to the amount of penalties for farmers, it is worth emphasizing that the head of the village (mayor, city president) competent for the location of the farm or the farmer's place of residence is obliged to carry out inspections regarding agricultural liability insurance. In addition, such inspections can be carried out by a staroste and an insurance guarantee fund. “As for the insurance of agricultural buildings, the regulations again indicate the commune head, mayor or city president as an entity obliged to control. The local staroste also has control rights,” explains Andrzej Prajsnar, UniLink expert.

If the farm is located in more than one commune, then the control obligation rests with each of the village head relevant to the territorially competent. More than one head of the village is also obliged to check when the farm is outside the farmer's place of residence (see: A. Kubiak-Cyrul
[w:] The Act on compulsory insurance, the Insurance Guarantee Fund and the Polish Motor Insurers' Office. Commentary, edited by G. Dybała, K. Szyt, Warsaw 2022, art. 84).

However, can these inspections raise farmers' concerns? They will talk about their effectiveness later. First, it is worth focusing on the level of criminal fees for the lack of the required policies, which in 2025 are:

• in the liability insurance of farmers – PLN 470 as 10% of the minimum wage for work (after additional rounding to full tens of zlotys);
• in the insurance of agricultural buildings – PLN 1170 as 25% of the minimum wage for work (after additional rounding to full tens of zlotys).

“As you can see, the legislator has foreseen very similar, as in the case of penalties for the lack of civil liability for drivers, a mechanism of valorisation of penalty rates due to the increase in the minimum wage, and indirectly due to inflation,” notes Maciej Łoboz, an expert of UniLink.

Farmers rarely pay for lack of insurance …

Sanctions for the lack of agricultural insurance, in terms of quota, seem much less severe than those regarding drivers. And what does the issue of control effectiveness look like? In legal literature there are opinions on the low effectiveness of insurance controls in relation to farmers (see, for example: A. Kubiak-Cyrul [w:] The Act on compulsory insurance, the Insurance Guarantee Fund and the Polish Motor Insurers' Office. Commentary, edited by G. Dybała, K. Szyt, Warsaw 2022, art. 84).

And what do UFG data tell us? Unfortunately, the Insurance Guarantee Fund no longer provides such detailed information regarding the lack of compulsory policies as in the past decade. “The last publicly available data from 2019 indicate that 1087 calls for payment for farmers related to the lack of required policies were issued throughout the year[1]. The similar result regarding OC for drivers was over 115 times greater! For comparison, it is worth adding that the universal agricultural list of 2020 has estimated the number of individual farms in Poland as 1.3 million[2]” – informs Andrzej Prajsnar, an expert Unilinek.

It can be assumed that the approach to the subject of insurance (not only compulsory) depends on the specificity of the farm. The results of the mentioned agricultural census confirm the large diversity of domestic farms. In addition to the still large number of small family farms, producing primarily for their own needs and run by people with low income, there is a group of professional agricultural producers. “Such farmers are interested not only in compulsory policies (including compulsory crop insurance), but also with optional policies, e.g. farm animal insurance, agricultural equipment, crops” – sums up Maciej Łoboz, UniLink expert.

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