An amendment to Poland’s anti-monopoly law enters into force in mid-January. The changes will improve the Polish system for fighting collusion between businesses and abuse of a dominant position and will also strengthen concentration control procedures. Today, on World Competition Day, Poland’s Office of Competition and Consumer Protection (the UOKiK) would like to inform readers of the most important changes to the country’s regulations

Since 2010, World Competition Day has been organised on 5 December by a non-governmental organisation called the Consumer Unity & Trust Society (CUTS International) and the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD).

Poland’s anti-monopoly law has been in force since 1990, though it has been amended a number of times. The latest modification will go into effect on 18 January 2015, together with an amendment to the Act on Competition and Consumer Protection. Its aim is to ensure more effective detection of competition-limiting practices and thus to increase the protection of consumers.

Important changes will include the ability to impose financial penalties, of up to PLN 2 million, on the management of enterprises if they are found to have intentionally participated in a collusive competition-restricting agreement. The act includes a closed catalogue of violations of law to make it clear what practices are punishable by fines. It is expected that personal accountability will discourage managers and CEOs from entering into illegal agreements. The law may also serve as an incentive for undertakings to introduce compliance systems, or codes, principles and procedures to guide employees and managers on how to comply with the law. Effective compliance should serve two functions: to prevent violations of anti-monopoly law and to minimise the negative consequences that the company and managers face if regulations are indeed breached.

The changes will also apply to the UOKiK’s  leniency programme, and its leniency plus component, which will entitle undertakings that are the second or subsequent applicant for leniency in the Office’s leniency queue to have the fine they face for collusion reduced by 30 percent if they inform the Office of another case of collusion that they have been a party to. In the second case they will then receive the status of first applicant and avoid a fine altogether.

Remedies will be another tool at the UOKIK's disposal. In its decision that ends a proceeding, the UOKiK will be able to indicate what actions the undertaking must take to avoid the consequences of a violation or to terminate an illegal practice. These will include, first and foremost, behavioural remedies, such as granting a copyright licence on non-discriminatory terms or an amendment to an agreement. If those prove ineffective or more disadvantageous for the undertaking, the Office will be able to apply structural remedies. These may include an order to separate the undertaking’s retail and wholesale activity in order to ensure that other retailers are offered equal market conditions.

Additionally, the limitation period for competition-restricting practices will be extended to five years from the current one year, which will also help fight illegal agreements. The extension is intended to enable the detection of a larger number of collusive agreements that are disadvantageous for the economy and consumers while also functioning as a preventive measure by discouraging businesses from taking illegal actions.

Concentration control will be streamlined as well. A two-stage procedure for analysing merger and acquisition applications will be introduced, with simple concentration cases resolved within a month, while more complex ones will receive an additional four months. As a proceeding progresses, the undertaking will be informed of the Office's objections and the ruling it anticipates making in the case. The undertaking will be able to refer to them and even modify the scope of the merger or acquisition it seeks to execute to increase the likelihood of gaining the UOKiK’s approval.

Additional information for the media:

UOKiK Spokesperson Małgorzata Cieloch
Executive Office
Pl. Powstańców Warszawy 1, 00-950 Warsaw
Tel.: 22 827 28 92, 55 60 106, 55 60 314
Fax: 22 826 11 86
E-mail: [SCODE]bWFsZ29yemF0YS5jaWVsb2NoQHVva2lrLmdvdi5wbA==[ECODE]