The Office of Competition and Consumer Protection issued a total of 196 decisions pertaining to the control of concentration in 2016. All of the decisions in question allowed the contemplated transactions to proceed; in two cases, the consent was granted on a conditional basis. The greatest number of cases pertained to the real estate sector.

Under the provisions of applicable laws, a transaction must be notified to the Office of Competition and Consumer Protection if it involves undertakings whose combined turnover generated in the preceding year exceeded EUR 1 billion worldwide or EUR 50 million in Poland. Concentration proceedings consist of two stages. The first stage takes up to 30 days to complete; all cases which give rise to no doubts as to the detrimental impact on competition are resolved during this stage. Cases which involve a greater level of complexity – for example those which require market testing – will proceed to the second phase. The time of waiting for an undertaking to correct any defects and to supplement the submitted application does not count towards the duration of the proceedings.

• In 2016, the Office of Competition and Consumer Protection issued 196 decisions pertaining to the control of concentration.
• The decisions mostly pertained to the broadly understood real estate sector (20 decisions), the food industry (18 decisions) and the motor industry (15 decisions).
• The transactions were given the green light by the Competition Authority in 194 cases, while in further two cases the consent was made conditional upon the satisfaction of specific conditions by the undertakings involved. The company involved in both of these two transactions was Eurocash, the transactions in question being the acquisition of Eko Holding and Polska Dystrybucja Alkoholi (Polish Alcohol Distribution). In 2016, the Competition Authority initiated the second phase of the proceedings in 10 cases in total.
• The average time of all of the examined cases which culminated with a decision was 38 days.
• 189 cases were examined without the need for the proceedings to be extended (average time: 30 days), while in seven cases the decisions were preceded by the second phase.
• In 6 cases, the Competition Authority stated its objections to the transactions involved. In three cases, after the objections were stated, the applicants withdrew their applications for the consent of the President of the Competition Authority.

– One notable case is that which pertained to the construction of the Nord Stream 2 pipeline by Gazprom and six other undertakings. Once the Office of Competition and Consumer Protection stated its objections, the proposed concentration was aborted by its participants. As a result, the entire transaction was unable to proceed. The company which was intended to construct the pipeline has ultimately never been formed – says Marek Niechciał, President of the Office of Competition and Consumer Protection.

Apart from examining cases pertaining to the Polish market, the Office of Competition and Consumer Protection also issues opinions on the proceedings conducted by the European Commission with regard to the impact of proposed concentrations on the Polish market. In 2016, the Competition Authority received 360 cases from the European Commission.

Additional information for the media:

Press Office of the Competition Authority
pl. Powstańców Warszawy 1, 00-950 Warszawa
Phone: 695 902 088, 22 55 60 430
E-mail: biuroprasowe@uokik.gov.pl

Twitter: @UOKiKgovPL