UOKiK has concluded the first proceedings concerning the amendments to waste management laws. It revealed that Chemeko-System, a company seated in Wrocław and the owner of the only communal waste reprocessing installation, had abused its monopolist position on the local market, and unlawfully increased the prices for waste collection. The undertaking was imposed a fine nearly PLN 400 thousand. Moreover, the Office is taking under scrutiny 27 other cases where the antimonopoly law might have been breached

The amended Act on maintaining cleanliness and order in municipalities (gmina) drafted by Ministry of the Environment came into force in January, 2012. It introduced a number of changes in the waste management system. First of all, property owners missed the opportunity to select the entity and price at which their waste could be collected. Instead, a municipality is to select one undertaking and charge its dwellers with a due fee. Local governments were supposed to choose such undertakings by way of tender by July 1^st, 2013 – the deadline to make changes come into force. The newly amended provisions also stipulate that a municipality is obliged to arrange the whole system of waste management, including the division of a voivodeship into regions of waste management. Each of them should be equipped with the Regional Installations of Communal Waste Reprocessing (pl. RIPOK) which meet specific requirements; right there the waste collected from dwellers must be delivered.

The Office of Competition and Consumer Protection was critical of the newly amended provisions. The Office attracted attention to negative effects of the law both at the stage of interdepartmental consultations and when it already came into force. – In practice replacing effective competition with a monopoly will result in the increase in charges for collection and transportation of waste – warned Małgorzata Krasnodębska-Tomkiel, the President of UOKiK.

Unfortunately, the condition of the waste market reflects negative opinions of the Office. For this reason UOKiK, within its power, institutes proceedings against local governments and other undertakings if as a result of implementing new provisions they conduct activity infringing the provisions of the Act on competition and consumer protection. At present there are 27 pending proceedings.

The first one, concerning Chemeko-System, has already been concluded. The company is the only owner of RIPOK installation in one region of Dolnośląskie voivodeship, including Wrocław. The proceedings were initiated in April 2013, following numerous complaints of, among others, local authorities, undertakings, housing cooperatives, social organisations and consumers. It showed that the company had abused its monopolistic position on a local market and, starting from 1^st January 2013, it significantly increased the prices of reprocessing and storing of unsorted communal waste. The increase in prices was nearly 115%. It is worth noting that the antimonopoly law does not allow undertakings enjoying a dominant position on a given market to apply excessive pricing, i.e. fixing rates which under fair competition conditions would not be acceptable to clients and would result in using offers of other undertakings. In the course of proceedings, the Office looked into the pricing policy of 15 other regional installations operating nationwide under similar conditions. It became apparent that rates of Chemeko-System were the highest of all, on average over 40 % higher as compared to other RIPOK installations.

For abuse of a dominant position by applying excessive pricing, Chemeko-System was imposed a fine of nearly PLN 400 thousand (PLN 399 593.71). The decision is not final, however it must be made immediately enforceable. In fact this means that an undertaking has to cease a prohibited practice without delay, regardless of possible appeal to the court.

- The fact that decision is made immediately enforceable causes that property owners will avoid being still overcharged for the collection of waste. The new law cannot be an excuse to udertake practices to the detriment of the market – says the President of UOKiK.

Other pending proceedings regard, among other things, urban municipalities in Kraków and Sopot. These are explanatory proceedings and at this stage they are conducted in the subject matter, and not against local governments.

Additional information for the media:
Małgorzata Cieloch, Spokesperson for UOKiK
Department of International Relations and Communication
Pl. Powstańców Warszawy 1, 00-950 Warszawa
Phone: +48 22 827 28 92, 55 60 314, 55 60 430
Fax: +48 22 826 11 86
E-mail: [SCODE]bWFsZ29yemF0YS5jaWVsb2NoQHVva2lrLmdvdi5wbA==[ECODE]