• Are you renewing or entering into a contract with a cell phone provider? Remember that you must be asked if you consent to having payable add-on services enabled.
• UOKiK  President Tomasz Chróstny has preferred charges against Orange Polska and P4 for violating the collective interests of consumers.
• The courts have also upheld decisions of the President of UOKiK regarding the activation of unwanted chargeable services by Polkomtel and T-Mobile Poland.

The inclusion of extra billed services must always follow the consumer's express and informed consent. According to the Consumer Rights Act, this should take place at the latest when the consumer expresses its intention to conclude a contract. As the Authority's experience shows, operators do not always bear this in mind. The President of UOKiK has been looking into whether and how the largest mobile operators apprise their customers of the activation of extra charged services. The President of the Office has already issued two decisions in these cases, which have been upheld by the courts, and has recently instituted two proceedings in which he has pressed charges against the entrepreneurs.

Decisions of the President of UOKiK upheld by courts

- Practices of enabling paid telecommunication services without consumers' informed consent had previously resulted in fines imposed by the President of UOKiK on entrepreneurs, later upheld by courts - stresses Tomasz Chróstny, President of UOKiK.

In June 2021, The Court of Appeal agreed with the President of UOKiK and dismissed T-Mobile Polska's appeal. The operator violated the collective interests of consumers by enabling them, without their express consent, to use additional paid services, such as „Granie na czekanie”, „Szafa Gra” or „Prenumerata” ("Caller tunes", "Jukebox" and "Subscription" respectively). The court upheld the financial penalty imposed - PLN 15 million.

Whereas in May this year The Court of Competition and Consumer Protection dismissed Polkomtel's appeal, admitting that the President of the Office was right both with regard to the practice and the amount of the fine of nearly PLN 40 million. The Presidentt of the Office of Competition and Consumer Protection recognized charging fees for the services activated by Polkomtel despite not obtaining an explicit consumer's consent as practices infringing the collective interests of consumers. These included, for example: „Czasoumilacz”, „Ochrona Internetu”, „Gdzie Jest Bliski”, „Bezpieczny Internet” ("Time Charmer", "Internet Protection", "Family Locator", "Safe Internet" respectively).

Orange Polska and P4 - legal proceedings

The court judgments described above are not the only actions taken in these types of cases. UOKiK President Tomasz Chróstny instituted two relevant proceedings against Orange Polska and P4 for practices infringing the collective interests of consumers. The allegations involve charging fees to consumers for the activation of extra services without obtaining their express consent.

- During sales calls, consultants informed consumers only about the amount of subscription fee and did not mention the cost of additional services. Please note that the activation of any services must be done with the express and informed consent of the subscriber. It should come down to at least him or her uttering the word "yes" or "no". Granting consent is not saying that the service will be turned on for free for a period of time and indicating that the consumer will be able to choose whether to turn it off. Failure to deactivate unwanted services cannot be considered as consent to collect payments - says Tomasz Chróstny, President of UOKiK. In the Authority's view, the entry of information about the activation of chargeable services in the regulations cannot be considered as consent either.

In the case of Orange Polska, the following services are involved: „Halo granie”, „Cyber tarcza”, „Nawigacja Orange”, „Orange Smart Care”, „Gdzie jest dziecko”, „Bezpieczny internet” and „Internet mobilny z zapasowym pakietem danych” ("Hello ringtone", "Cyber shield", "Orange navigation", "Orange Smart Care", "Baby Locator", "Safe internet" and "Mobile internet with backup data package" respectively).

In the case of P4, these include: „Muzyka na czekanie”, „Ochrona internetu”, „Play NOW usługi dodatkowe TV”, „Pakiet 50 min” and „50 sms/mms do wszystkich”, „Bezpieczny internet”, „Nielimitowane połączenia na numery stacjonarne”, „Nielimitowane sms/mms do wszystkich sieci”, „100/200 minut do innych sieci komórkowych” ("Ringtone music", "Internet protection", "Play NOW additional TV services", "50 min package" and "50 sms/mms to all users", "Safe internet", "Unlimited calls to fixed numbers", "Unlimited sms/mms to all networks", "100/200 minutes to other mobile networks" respectively).

The court proceedings against Orange Polska and P4 may result in the imposition of pecuniary penalties of up to 10% turnover of each entrepreneur.

Consumer assistance:

Telephone no. 801 440 220 or 22 290 89 16 – consumer hotline
E-mail: porady@dlakonsumentow.pl
Consumer Ombudsmen – in your town or county

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