Prime Minister Donald Tusk has appointed Bernadeta Kasztelan-Świetlik and Dorota Karczewska to the position of Vice-President of the Office of Competition and Consumer Protection (UOKiK), effective June 11, 2014.

Ms. Bernadeta Kasztelan-Świetlik is an expert on competition law and returns to the Polish competition authority after having worked in the private sector for 15 years. Most recently, she was legal counsel at the law firm of Gessel, Koziorowski, serving corporate clients in competition cases. Previously she was director of the legal department at cable operator UPC Poland. She first joined the Polish anti-monopoly office at its creation in 1990 as part of the post-communist transition to a market economy. She was among the office’s top enforcers for nearly 10 years – serving first as Deputy Director of the branch office in Poznan and then as Director of the Department of Infrastructure at the head office in Warsaw. Ms. Kasztelan-Świetlik will supervise the anti-monopoly division, including approvals for mergers and acquisitions.

Ms. Dorota Karczewska is a lawyer specializing in competition and consumer protection issues. She has been working for the Office of Competition and Consumer Protection for the past 16 years – since 2008 as Director of the vibrant Bydgoszcz branch in northern Poland. As legal counsel, she has represented the Polish competition authority in numerous court cases. She teaches competition and consumer law at the Regional Chamber of Legal Counsels in Bydgoszcz. Since 2009 she has been a Supervisory Board Member of the Lodz Special Economic Zone. Ms. Karczewska will take charge of the consumer protection division, including the trade and product safety inspectorates.

Pursuant to the Competition and Consumer Protection Act, both Vice-Presidents were appointed following an open and competitive recruitment procedure, which saw a total of nine applications for the two positions. Prime Minister Donald Tusk, acting on a recommendation of UOKiK President Adam Jasser, signed the appointments on June 9.

Mr. Jasser said of the appointments: “I am delighted that Ms. Kasztelan-Świetlik and Ms. Karczewska will head our two core lines of operation. Their experience, drive and the respect they command among anti-trust practitioners will most certainly enhance our ability to protect the welfare of Polish consumers.”  

“Their recruitment will be crucial for implementing structural changes we are making at UOKiK, which aim to put consumers even more firmly at the centre of our focus, speed up our response to abusive practices, boost the role of economic analysis in our decision-making, and enshrine procedural fairness in anti-trust enforcement.“

Additional information for the media:
Małgorzata Cieloch, Spokesperson for UOKiK
Department of International Relations and Communication
Pl. Powstańców Warszawy 1, 00-950 Warszawa
Tel. 22 827 28 92, 55 60 106, 55 60 314
Fax 22 826 11 86
E-mail: [SCODE]bWFsZ29yemF0YS5jaWVsb2NoQHVva2lrLmdvdi5wbA==[ECODE]