• Idea Bank, ITI Neovision, Go Ride Serwis, Potenza di Lana.
• These enterprises were subject to court judgements following UOKiK’s decisions in the field of competition protection.

Idea Bank - reference number: VII AGa 1602/18

The first judgement follows the UOKIK decision of October 2014. UOKiK stated therein that the way Idea Bank informed its clients about the possibility of joining the group life and endowment insurance with the insurance capital fund was misleading to them. When entering into agreements, the company did not inform either about the product-related risk or high costs of withdrawal from the agreement before the end of its effective period. The company’s employees focused only on benefits and did not inform about possible loss. They presented the insurance as a standard deposit or as a savings product. This was confirmed by numerous complaints from clients filed to the office.

The President of UOKiK imposed a fine of PLN 4 million on the insurer and demanded that the practice be discontinued. The Court of Competition and Consumer Protection reduced the fine down to PLN 1.5 million.

In January 2019, the Court of Appeals changed the sentence of the court of first instance and increased the fine up to PLN 3 million. In oral grounds for its decision, the court pointed out that Idea Bank employees misled consumers. In its opinion, the bank clients have the right to expect professional and reliable information. According to the Court of Appeal, the fine is repressive and educational and should be severe to the company.

ITI Neovision - reference number: I NSK 4/18

The second judgement follows the UOKiK decision of April 2013. The Office decided that ITI Neovision violated consumers’ collective interests by making unilateral amendments to agreements concluded with the “n” television subscribers. UOKiK also questioned the manner of providing information on amendment to the agreement and too short a deadline to hand in resignation from automatic subscription to “nc +”.

UOKiK imposed a fine of over PLN 10 million on the company and obliged it to remove the effects of disputed actions.

After the sentence of the first and second instance courts passed on in May 2015 and November 2016, the fine imposed on the company amounted to over PLN 1.2 million.

In February 2019, the Supreme Court considered the ITI Neovision last resort appeal. The court had to decide whether introducing a new template of the agreement with consumers required it to contain a modification provision. In oral grounds for its decision, the Supreme Court stated that such a contractual provision was necessary. It also indicated that the provision must refer to circumstances authorizing an enterprise to make an amendment and its justification. The court rejected the last resort appeal. The fine imposed by lower courts did not change.

Potenza di Lana - reference number: XVII AmA 16/17

The third judgement concerns Potenza di Lana, the Poznań company selling woollen bedding. The UOKiK proceedings showed that the enterprise limited the right to return the purchased goods (the right of withdrawal) and misled about the time consumers had to withdraw from the agreement. In addition, customers could not choose how to remove the product defect. In its complaint form, Potenza di Lana forced free repair as the only possible solution.

In December 2016, the Office issued the decision in which it recognized that the enterprise violated consumers’ collective interests. UOKiK imposed a fine on Potenza di Lana in the amount of more than PLN 29,000.

In February 2019, the Court of Competition and Consumer Protection dismissed the enterprise’s appeal. The court stated that the company misled consumers about their rights and decided that the fine imposed on the company was commensurate with its violations.

Go Ride Service - reference number: VI SA/Wa 1844/18

The last judgement concerns a complaint filed by the Go Ride Serwis company against the decision of the President of UOKiK of July 2018. The Office stated that anti-pollution masks did not have the CE marking and the enterprise did not have an EC type certificate and a declaration of conformity. The negative result of laboratory tests ordered by UOKiK confirmed that the masks did not meet requirements for personal protective equipment.

UOKiK ordered the company to withdraw the product from the market, discontinue its sale and buy defective masks back from consumers. In addition, the Office requested the company pay PLN 13,000 for laboratory tests.

In March 2019, the Provincial Administrative Court in Warsaw stated that the contested decision did not violate the law. The court fully agreed with arguments put forward by the President of UOKiK, namely that anti-pollution masks are personal protective equipment and as such they should meet requirements set out in the Regulation of the Minister of Economy. The judgement of the court is not final.

We have already informed about the anti-pollution mask tests carried out by UOKiK in this press release.

Judgements and judicial decisions database

Since November 2015, the judgements and judicial decisions database has been made available on the UOKiK website. It contains information about all final decisions on competition-restricting practices, concentration control, violation of consumers’ collective interests, and decisions issued in proceeding for abusive clauses, in which the President of UOKiK was a claimant. The database is available in the ‘Judgements’ tab on the UOKiK website: http://decyzje.uokik.gov.pl/bp/wyroki.nsf. Terms and conditions governing the placement of judgements can be found in the following document: Principles governing the provision of information on court control over decisions made by the President of UOKiK.

Additional information for the media:

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