PKD 2025 for Foodservice: New Codes, Dates

You are opening a venue and looking for a PKD code (the Polish Classification of Activities). Or you have been operating for years and heard that "you need to change your PKD". The problem is the same: half the internet gives codes that no longer apply.

Below are the codes of division 56 straight from the GUS (Statistics Poland) classification, and what nobody writes about: what a change of code means for your file at Sanepid (the State Sanitary Inspection) and for your BDO entry (BDO is Poland's waste database register).

The key points in brief

• Since 1 January 2025, PKD 2025 has applied. Codes 56.10.A and 56.10.B no longer exist. They were replaced by 56.11.Z (Restaurants) and 56.12.Z (Mobile food service units).

• Older businesses may use PKD 2007 no longer than until 31 December 2026 (§ 2(1) of the Council of Ministers regulation of 18 December 2024, Journal of Laws (Dz.U.), item 1936).

• After the deadline the codes are to be replaced automatically. In CEIDG (the Central Register and Information on Business Activity) there is a catch: where replacement is not possible, the entry is deleted ex officio.

• An application to the KRS (the National Court Register) to replace a code, filed during the transition period, is not subject to a court fee.

• A change of code will not update itself at Sanepid or in BDO. There you have separate applications and separate 30-day deadlines.

What changed and since when

PKD 2025 entered into force on 1 January 2025 and repealed the 2007 classification. It is more than renumbering. Restaurants and food trucks, which shared class 56.10, got their own classes. Catering was split into occasional and regular. A subclass for intermediation was added.

Foodservice codes in PKD 2025

Code	What it covers according to GUS	Typical example
56.11.Z Restaurants	Meals served to guests in permanent or temporary premises. Expressly listed: restaurants, cafes, fast food, milk bars, ice-cream parlours, pizzerias, takeaway food places.	Restaurant, pizzeria, takeaway point
56.12.Z Mobile food service units	Food from mobile units and portable stalls: food trucks, itinerant ice-cream sellers, market stalls, food carts.	Food truck, stall at a fair
56.21.Z Occasional catering	Food delivered under a contract, for specific events, to places designated by the client.	Wedding catering, conference service
56.22.Z Regular catering and other food service activities	Catering under a contract for a specified time. Also canteens in workplaces, offices, hospitals and schools run under a concession.	School canteen run by an external company
56.30.Z Beverage serving	Drinks for consumption on the premises: bars, taverns, cocktail bars, pubs, cafes, beer halls, tea rooms, juice bars.	Bar, pub, tea room
56.40.Z Intermediation	Matching buyers and sellers for a commission, without providing the service. Includes reservations for restaurants.	Table reservation portal

Which code for what: six cases

• A restaurant with a dining room is 56.11.Z. Where the bar is a separate, significant part of revenue, add 56.30.Z.

• A cafe. GUS lists cafes in two places at once. With cakes and lunch it is 56.11.Z, and where the core of the offer is drinks, 56.30.Z.

• A food truck is 56.12.Z, and for drinks only 56.30.Z. The remaining obligations are described in the guide to documents and permits for a food truck.

• Diet catering. Boxes on subscription are regular deliveries for a specified time, that is 56.22.Z. GUS excludes from the catering subclasses the production of ready-made perishable food and directs it to 10.89.D. Also watch the labelling of diet meals.

• A bar with alcohol is 56.30.Z, and with full dishes additionally 56.11.Z. The PKD code has nothing to do with the alcohol permit.

• A dark kitchen is 56.11.Z, because the classification covers takeaway food places there. The GUS rule: delivery by the same entity that prepared the meal stays in division 56. Delivering someone else's food is 53.20.Z, and an ordering platform is 53.30.Z, not 56.40.Z. The rest is in the article on dark kitchens, Sanepid and HACCP.

Several codes at once: when it makes sense

You enter several codes when you really run several kinds of activity. A restaurant with wedding catering needs 56.11.Z and 56.21.Z. Do not add codes "just in case", because a code alone gives no entitlements. In the KRS there is a limit of ten items, including one subject of predominant activity. The predominant code goes to REGON (the national business registry), so indicate the one from the main source of revenue.

Who must change old codes and by when

Businesses registered from 1 January 2025 enter PKD 2025 straight away. Older ones may use PKD 2007 no longer than until 31 December 2026. The deadline shortens if you earlier report a change of the subject of activity in CEIDG, KRS or REGON.

Beware of dates circulating online. You will come across 31 December 2025 and 31 January 2027. Neither is your deadline. The first concerns only code 93.29.Z. The second is the deadline for offices from the Act of 21 November 2025 (Dz.U., item 1792): the subject of activity in CEIDG and REGON is to be replaced automatically by 31 January 2027, "if possible". Where that is not possible, the entry in CEIDG is deleted ex officio.

The GUS correspondence keys are unambiguous for foodservice: 56.10.A corresponds to 56.11.Z, 56.10.B corresponds to 56.12.Z, and 56.29.Z moves to 56.22.Z. The automatic process should work, but it covers only three registers, and you have the code in several places.

How to do it in CEIDG and in KRS

CEIDG. You file the application to change the entry through biznes.gov.pl with a trusted profile (Poland's online identity verification) or in person at the municipal office. You delete the old codes, enter the new ones, and indicate one predominant one. You have 7 days to report the change.

KRS. You file the application through the Court Registers Portal or in S24 (the online company registration system), within 7 days of the event that justifies the entry. Where the subject of activity follows from the articles of association, you need a shareholders' resolution and an amendment of the articles. There is a reason not to wait: an application to delete the old code and enter the new one, filed during the transition period, is not subject to a court fee (Art. 20e(3) of the KRS Act). The exemption concerns the court fee, so confirm the notice in the Court and Commercial Gazette with the court.

What a change of code means for Sanepid and for BDO

This is where the most mistakes are made. You change the code in CEIDG, tick the topic off and go back to work. Meanwhile the PKD still sits in two places that no automatic process will touch.

Sanepid: your PKD code is in the establishment's file

The template application for approval of an establishment and for entry in the register of establishments, annexed to the Minister of Health regulation of 29 May 2007, contains a field: "Type and scope of activity, in accordance with the Polish Classification of Activities (PKD), specified in the National Court Register (KRS) or the Register of Business Activity". The code from the register therefore goes straight into the file of the poviat sanitary inspector.

Approval concerns the scope described in the application. When a restaurant starts catering, not only the code changes, but also the scope of approval. The Act then requires you to file an application for changes in the register of establishments within 30 days of the day the change arises (Art. 64(1a) of the Act on Food and Nutrition Safety). You file the first application at least 14 days before the start, which we write about in the article on when to notify Sanepid of the opening.

And the key point: the automatic reclassification covers only KRS, CEIDG and REGON. The register of establishments kept by Sanepid is not in that catalogue. If you do nothing, the CEIDG entry will say 56.11.Z, and the application in the Sanepid file will still say 56.10.A. The mismatch will come out at an inspection or at the next application.

A code alone approves nothing. Entering 56.21.Z gives no right to catering if Sanepid has not approved that scope. A new scope usually means new processes, for example transport in controlled conditions or allergens on a label instead of in the menu. The HACCP book must describe the actual state of affairs.

BDO: there is no PKD code there, and you still have 30 days

The BDO register has no field for a PKD code. Art. 52 of the Waste Act lists the information contained in the register, and the classification of activity is not among it. The entry is based on the types of activity in the registration form.

The topic still does not pass you by. The same change that forces a new code usually changes the scope of waste obligations. A restaurant that adds catering and starts handing out meals in disposable containers changes its packaging situation and its situation regarding the SUP fee (the single-use plastics fee). The Act then requires an update application through the BDO account when information in the register changes, or when the scope of activity requiring an entry changes, within 30 days (Art. 59(1)). Details are in the article on BDO in foodservice.

Both 30-day deadlines run from the actual change of activity, not from the day the code is changed in the register. The order is therefore always the same: establish what you are really starting to do, then choose the code, then update Sanepid, BDO and the documentation. If you are starting from scratch, the sequence is laid out in the guide how to open a restaurant step by step.

Frequently asked questions

What PKD code does a restaurant have in 2026?

56.11.Z "Restaurants". GUS also includes here cafes, fast food places, milk bars, ice-cream parlours, pizzerias and takeaway food places. Code 56.10.A from PKD 2007 no longer applies.

By when must I change the code from 56.10.A to 56.11.Z?

PKD 2007 may be used no longer than until 31 December 2026 (§ 2(1) of the Council of Ministers regulation of 18 December 2024, Dz.U., item 1936). The deadline shortens if you earlier report a change of the entry in CEIDG, KRS or REGON.

What happens if I do not change the code in time?

The Act of 21 November 2025 (Dz.U., item 1792) provides for automatic replacement of codes in CEIDG and REGON by 31 January 2027, where possible. Where that is not possible, the entry in CEIDG is deleted ex officio.

Does changing a PKD code in the KRS cost anything?

An application to delete the subject of activity under the existing classification and enter it under the new one, filed during the period of parallel application of both classifications, is not subject to a court fee (Art. 20e(3) of the KRS Act).

After changing the code, do I have to notify Sanepid of anything?

The automatic reclassification covers only KRS, CEIDG and REGON, not the Sanepid register of establishments. You update the establishment's file yourself. If the code change reflects a real change in the scope of activity, you file the application within 30 days of the change arising (Art. 64(1a) of the Act on Food and Nutrition Safety).

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Legal status as of: 13 August 2026
Legal basis: Council of Ministers regulation of 18 December 2024 on the Polish Classification of Activities (PKD), Journal of Laws (Dz.U.), item 1936, with the PKD 2025 annex and the correspondence keys published by GUS; Act of 21 November 2025 amending the Act on Public Statistics and certain other acts, Dz.U., item 1792; KRS Act (Art. 20e, Art. 22, Art. 40); CEIDG Act (Art. 5, Art. 15); Act on Food and Nutrition Safety (Art. 63, Art. 64); Minister of Health regulation of 29 May 2007 on templates of documents concerning registration and approval of establishments, Dz.U. No 106, item 730; Waste Act (Art. 52, Art. 59).
Last review: 13 August 2026