This year has added significance for Poland’s Office of Competition and Consumer Protection, as it marks 20 years that the Office has been fighting for the rights of consumers.

Poland’s Antimonopoly Office was formed in 1990 primarily to oversee the demonopolisation of the country’s economy. Six years later it was expanded to include consumer protection.

UOKiK’s early years

Consumers initially needed protection from the companies abusing their dominant positions on the energy, water and sewage, telecommunications and postal markets. The Antimonopoly Office’s first ever decision was issued in October 1990 against the Warsaw monopolist Fabryka Samochodów Osobowych (the Passenger Car Factory), which raised prices on its Fiat 125 threefold in a single month. The Office’s actions in the case led the Council of Ministers to reduce tariffs on cars, which the following year prompted a threefold rise in automobile imports over the volume of national production.

The Office underwent its first key change in 1996, when its remit was expanded to include consumer protection. To meet the requirements of its new role, the Department of Consumer Policy was created and the Office changed its name to the one it operates under today, the Office of Competition and Consumer Protection (UOKiK). In the same year UOKiK took over the supervision of the Trade Inspection. At the time, the Office did not have the legal power to conduct proceedings on the violation of collective consumer interests. However, in 1997 it gained the right, under the provisions of the Act on combating unfair competition, to bring claims to court against enterprises violating consumer rights.

Further changes

UOKiK’s mandate was expanded a number of times in subsequent years. An important change occurred in 2002, when the Office gained the ability to conduct proceedings into violations of collective consumer interests. UOKiK decisions replaced the earlier legal action under the provisions of the Act on combating unfair competition, eliminating the unfair market practices detrimental to the interests of consumers. Five years later, in 2007, the Office gained the ability to impose financial penalties for infringement of collective consumer interests.

UOKiK’s purview was further widened when Poland joined the European Union in 2004, and a market surveillance system based on laws on product safety and a conformity assessment system were put in place. The Office gained the power to issue recalls on products deemed unsafe or which fail to meet essential product requirements. It also began managing the monitoring and control system for fuel quality and regularly publishing results on control procedures carried out at fuel stations and wholesale sites.

Amendment to enter into force in April

The most recent expansion of UOKiK’s powers is now set to take place on April 17, 2016, when the amendment to Competition and Consumer Protection Act enters into force, with a focus on providing greater protection to clients of financial institutions, among others. The amendment will grant UOKiK new tools including the mystery shopper, which will enable it to collect evidence for proceedings into practices that violate collective consumer interests. It will also now be able to express its views in individual cases before the general court, should it be in the public interest.

World Consumer Day

Last year alone UOKiK received nearly 6,500 complaints on violations of the Consumer Rights Act, including the failure to provide consumers information on the right to withdraw from a contract, a failure to make available forms facilitating that right, and the refusal to honour declarations on withdrawing from contracts. With the sheer volume of complaints in mind, UOKiK has this year set out to determine whether enterprises are honouring the legal obligations incumbent upon them.

Additional information for the media:

Press Office, UOKiK
Pl. Powstańców Warszawy 1, 00-950 Warsaw
Phone.: +48 22 827 28 92, +48 22 55 60 314, +48 22 55 60 430
E-mail: [SCODE]Yml1cm9wcmFzb3dlQHVva2lrLmdvdi5wbA==[ECODE]

Twitter: @UOKiKgovPL