Krajowa Izba Urbanistów was imposing minimum service prices on its members – stated the President of UOKiK. For applying practices significantly restricting competition, the association of undertakings will be fined with over PLN 17 thousand

Every town planner has to belong to Krajowa Izba Urbanistów (pl. KIU, The National Chamber of Town Planners). The Chamber’s main goal is surveillance over a proper exercising the profession of a town planner, i.e. designing spacial development of local and regional scale. The Office instituted the proceedings against KIU in October 2012. The President was concerned about some clauses of the Chamber’s ethical code and the resolution on the introduction of pricing urban schemes.

According to the statutes of Krajowa Izba Urbanistów, its main tasks include setting rules for pricing the works performed by members of the Chamber. KIU adopted a resolution introducing the imposed, fixed rate of a working unit as a basis for establishing prices of urban design. Moreover, it determined the admissible differences in final pricing, calculated based on this rate, and stated that offering a price lower than that indicated in the said resolution, would be treated as violation of professional ethics. What is more, performing the task at a price which is 25% lower than the calculated one, would be the act  of unfair competition. For members who according to KIU offered predatory pricing for their services, district chambers of town planners, starting from 2004, were conducting disciplinary proceedings based on the binding code of ethics, which ended up with a reprimand.

The President of UOKiK decided that by imposing minimum service prices on its members, KIU was significantly restricting the competition and prevented town planners from adjusting to the fast-moving market conditions to make the prices go in line with their costs. Under the antimonopoly proceedings, every undertaking should shape their service pricing policy themselves. The effects of prohibited practices of the Chamber mainly affected the entities using services of town planners - they were deprived of selecting a cheaper offer.

For applying competition-restricting practices consisting in fixing minimum prices, the President of UOKiK fined Krajowa Izba Urbanistów with PLN 17 625 and ordered to discontinue the contested practices. This decision is not final, KIU may lodge an appeal to the court.

Additional information for the media:
Małgorzata Cieloch, Spokesperson for UOKiK
Department of International Relations and Communication
Pl. Powstańców Warszawy 1, 00-950 Warszawa
Tel.: +48 22 827 28 92, 55 60 106, 55 60 430
Fax: +48 22 826 11 86
E-mail: [SCODE]bWFsZ29yemF0YS5jaWVsb2NoQHVva2lrLmdvdi5wbA==[ECODE]