• Last friday, the President of UOKiK, Tomasz Chróstny, has initiated proceedings on unfair conduct of wholesalers supplying personal protective equipment to hospitals.
• UOKiK launched a hotline for hospital directors to inform the Authority immediately when they face such behaviour.

The President of the Office of Competition and Consumer Protection received information that two wholesalers terminated contracts with hospitals for supplying personal protective equipment and the Material Reserves Agency has been assigned to replenish the stock. According to the information collected by the Authority, wholesalers terminate contracts in order to obtain significantly higher prices for, e.g., surgical masks. This is the effect of false news about coronavirus outbreaks.

- In the proceedings initiated, we will check whether the wholesalers which terminate contracts with hospitals do not violate the competition law, including through abuse of a dominant position or price fixing. Termination of contracts with hospitals in order to raise the price or sell products on the market instead of supplying them to medical establishments under previously concluded contracts is not only shameful but also contrary to the law. Pacta sunt servanda - agreements must be kept. Each such case will be reported to us immediately, and from today we will publicly inform which entities do not act responsibly by withdrawing from contracts concluded with hospitals. We will take firm action against them in accordance with all mechanisms legally available to us. I appeal to retailers and wholesalers not to use fear and misinformation to raise prices of personal protective equipment, including protective masks - says Tomasz Chróstny, President of UOKiK.

The maximum fine that can be imposed in this case by UOKiK is 10 percent of the undertaking’s turnover. The questioned actions may also violate the Penal Code provisions by causing a state of widespread danger to life or health - in such situations, the Authority does not exclude notifying the prosecutor's office and the Internal Security Agency.

Additionally, we remind that the failure to fulfil or to properly fulfil a contract is subject to the regulations of Polish Public Procurement Law that allow awarding entities to exclude such a contractor from future procurement procedures. In the course of the proceedings, we will assess whether there are grounds to apply Article 24.5(4) of the Public Procurement Law - if this is the case, we will inform the Public Procurement Office about this fact each time.

UOKiK monitors product pricing and incoming signals. Hospital directors can report violations of the law to the Authority using the special hotline number which will be provided to them by the Ministry of Health.

We also recommend that consumers read the guidebook prepared by the Ministry of Health and information on the Chief Sanitary Inspectorate’s website.

Additional information for the media:

UOKiK Press Office
Pl. Powstańców Warszawy 1, 00-950 Warszawa, Poland
Phone +48 695 902 088, +48 22 55 60 246
E-mail: biuroprasowe@uokik.gov.pl
Twitter: @UOKiKgovPL