• 988 decisions in the field of competition and consumer protection, almost half a billion PLN in the imposed fines.
• We are presenting a summary of the activity of UOKiK in 2021.

- Almost a thousand decisions were issued in 2021, including the first ones concerning entities at fault for payment blockages.  The total fines amounted to almost half a billion PLN. For the first time, financial sanctions affected not only entrepreneurs but also company managers who deliberately committed infringements of consumers' collective interests. Managers responsible for concluding prohibited, anti-competitive agreements were also held financially liable. In 2021, a new area of activity of the Office was social media - I initiated explanatory proceedings as part of which we looked into the activity of influencers. We checked whether they mentioned sponsored content correctly and whether they did not promote the so-called scam. Financial issues and consumer education in that field were also very important in 2021, the social campaign "Calculate and don't miscalculate!" was launched for that purpose - says Tomasz Chróstny, the President of UOKiK.

PROTECTION OF COMPETITION

Competition-restricting practices

In 2021, the President of UOKiK initiated 50 proceedings - 38 explanatory and 12 antitrust proceedings that concerned practices restricting competition. Furthermore, 93 "soft" measures involving entrepreneurs were undertaken. Those were requests for clarification, change or elimination of the prohibited activities.

In 2021, the President of the Office issued 13 decisions in the field of competition-restricting practices, 12 of which concerned prohibited agreements and one - abuse of a dominant position.  The total fines amounted to over PLN 129.3 million. In four cases, sanctions were reduced thanks to the leniency programme, and 3 decisions were issued under the voluntary submission to the penalty procedure. In 2021, entrepreneurs submitted four applications to be included in the leniency programme.

In 2021, the highest fines for the introduction of practices restricting competition were imposed as part of two decisions concerning prohibited agreements of DAF truck dealers. As part of the first decision, the President of UOKiK confirmed entering into collusion by five companies: DBK, ESA Trucks Polska, TB Truck & Trailer, Van Tilburg-Bastianen Groep and WTC. The companies divided the market among themselves and exchanged information about the prices. In the case of four companies (excluding ESA Trucks Poland), the arrangements also concerned the exchange of information on bids submitted in tenders. The President of UOKiK imposed fines amounting to a total of over PLN 118 million on the companies. Financial sanctions - amounting to nearly PLN 1.7 million - were also imposed on eight managers who actively participated in the collusion. The second decision that concerned truck dealers involved three companies: Firma Wanicki, DBK and WTC. The companies also divided the market among themselves and agreed that each of them would take part in public tenders only in a specific territory. The total fines amounted to over PLN 2.65 million.

Concentration and investment control

Competition protection is also concentration control. The year 2021 was a record year in terms of business mergers and acquisitions. A total of 300 decisions were issued by the President of UOKiK, including 295 concentration approvals, 4 conditional decisions and one prohibition. In 2021, The President of the Office initiated 329 proceedings as part of which it was checked whether the mergers and acquisitions did not have a negative impact on competition.

The President of the Office also initiated eight investment control proceedings. The President issued three decisions, there was no objection to the transactions in two cases. One decision concerned the discontinuance of the proceedings.

State aid

State aid is an interference of the state in the mechanisms of the free market and therefore used to a limited extent. UOKiK preliminarily assesses individual support and aid programmes in terms of compliance with the EU law and monitors public aid, i.e. support granted to entrepreneurs in Poland. In 2021, the Office issued its opinion on 42 projects related to aid programmes and individual aid (including restructuring). UOKiK received 684 requests for interpretation and 561 draft government documents to assess in terms of possible state aid. Furthermore, 1,584 draft projects under the de minimis scheme were submitted to the Office, which were assessed by UOKiK in terms of transparency of the rules of granting aid.

In 2021, the President of UOKiK notified the European Commission of 32 projects providing for granting public aid, including 25 aid programmes and 7 concerning individual aid (including restructuring).  Those included 19 notification proceedings related to counteracting the negative effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, 5 of which related to successive versions of the so-called  anti-crisis shield. The EC approved 30 aid projects.

In 2021, UOKiK also coordinated the consultation process and preparation of Poland's position on 7 draft EU documents in the area of state aid.

Contractual advantage

In 2021, the President of UOKiK issued 3 decisions on unfair exploitation of contractual advantage in trade in agri-food products, including one binding decision. The President initiated 5 explanatory proceedings and 3 proper ones. Furthermore, 8 "soft" measures involving entrepreneurs were undertaken.

The total fines for unfair use of contractual advantage amounted to over PLN 200 million. The greatest fine - nearly PLN 124 million - concerned Kaufland Polska Markety. The company required its suppliers to reduce the price of agricultural and food products after they were sold, unfairly using its contractual advantage.

Apart from the issued decisions, attention should be paid to, e.g., the report on discounts obtained by large retail chains from suppliers of agri-food products.

In 2021, a change in the provisions on contractual advantage was introduced, resulting from the implementation of the EU directive. In essence, the new law is in line with the previously applied solutions but it will allow for more effective combating of unfair practices. Several changes were introduced at the initiative of the President of UOKiK. The first one was the opportunity to present a substantive view on the matter. The second change was the absolute prohibition on the unjustified reduction of the amount due for the supply of agricultural or food products after it had been accepted by the purchaser, in particular, as a result of a request for a discount.

Payment gridlocks

In 2021, first decisions of the President of UOKiK were issued against entrepreneurs creating payment gridlocks - that area has been within the competence of the Office since 2020. Last year, the Office conducted 108 proceedings, including 8 proceedings initiated in 2021. The President of UOKiK issued 21 decisions on excessive delays in monetary payments. The total fines of over PLN 1.4 million were imposed on the entrepreneurs responsible for creating payment gridlocks.

Initiating the provisions on payment gridlocks has already proven the necessity to introduce changes in the law. The act in force, among other things, defines the framework for the President's actions in an extremely rigid manner and does not allow for considering special economic conditions or specific circumstances of entrepreneurs. For months, there have been ongoing interdepartmental discussions about amending the law. The Office believes that it is necessary, first of all, to make the existing regulations more flexible, including the possibility to take into account both mitigating and aggravating circumstances of the infringement and of the entrepreneur when calculating the penalty.

CONSUMER PROTECTION

Protection of consumers' collective interests and prohibited contractual terms

The President of UOKiK initiated 49 proceedings concerning practices that infringe collective consumers' interests and revolve around declaring standard contractual terms and conditions as prohibited, as well as 171 explanatory proceedings. The President issued 59 decisions, thus imposing a total of PLN 153.8 million in monetary sanctions. UOKiK undertook numerous soft measures: 408 requests to change their practices were issued to entrepreneurs. Additionally, in 442 cases, a reasoned opinion was issued for those fighting for their rights in court.

In 2021, a new action was the interest of the Office in the activity of influencers in social media.  The President of the Office initiated 2 explanatory proceedings as part of which he looked into that area in terms of surreptitious advertising and promotion of scam, e.g. misleading consumers in terms of non-existent promotions, concealing important features of products or offering harmful products.

In 2021, the greatest fines for the violation of collective consumers' interests were imposed on: Jeronimo Martins Polska for misleading consumers in terms of the country of origin of vegetables and fruit sold in Biedronka chain (over PLN 60 million); Santander Consumer Bank for practices related to granting consumer loans (over PLN 44 million) and Open Life TU Życie for misselling of unit-linked life insurance (over PLN 20 million). In 2021, for the first time, the President of UOKiK exercised his power to impose fines on managers of companies who deliberately committed infringements against consumers. Such sanctions were imposed on the members of the management board in companies: Fundico (misleading practices in the field of investment), MAGFORTE (unfair practices during trade shows) and NTIM (promotion of pyramid-type promotional schemes). Moreover, in 2021, the President of the Office continued to impose fines on the so-called  touts, persons who persuade consumers to participate in illegal pyramid-type schemes.

In 2021, the President of UOKiK together with GovTech Polska organised  a competition to design a tool based on artificial intelligence (AI), the purpose of which was to conduct a preliminary assessment of model contracts/agreements, used by entrepreneurs in business relations with consumers, in terms of the existence of prohibited provisions. The winner of the competition was the National Information Processing Institute (Ośrodek Przetwarzania Informacji - Państwowy Instytut Badawczy).

Product safety and market surveillance

Consumer protection also includes product safety. UOKiK analyses the results of inspections performed by the Trade Inspection and incoming signals, in particular, consumer complaints and notifications from the supervisory authorities of other EU member states within the EU RAPEX system.

In 2021, the President of UOKiK initiated 114 proceedings in the field of general product safety, including 68 explanatory proceedings and 46 administrative proceedings. Those proceedings concerned mostly prams for children, bicycle seats and carbon monoxide detectors. In 2021, the Office received 326 voluntary notifications from entrepreneurs about products posing a risk, most of which (272) concerned motor vehicles. 

Furthermore, the President of UOKiK initiated 262 proceedings in the area of product compliance with the EU requirements, including 64 explanatory proceedings and 198 administrative proceedings. Those proceedings concerned mostly toys, electrical equipment and personal protective equipment

Trade Inspection

The President of UOKiK cares about product safety in Poland, also by supervising the Trade Inspection. The Office plans, coordinates and monitors inspections conducted by the Voivodeship Trade Inspection Inspectorates (WIIH) and analyses their results. In 2021, the Trade Inspection conducted a total of over 15 thousand inspections in the area of general product safety, product conformity and other inspections concerning non-food products and services (including obligations of entrepreneurs to provide information).  The Trade Inspection checked, among other things, toys, school supplies, clothes, cosmetics and tyres. The legality and reliability of leisure services and catering outlets in holiday resorts were also inspected.

UOKiK is also responsible for managing the fuel quality monitoring and control system. In terms of liquid fuels, in 2021, the Trade Inspection checked a total of 1,792 petrol stations and 53 petrol wholesalers, manufacturers and storage facilities. The quality requirements were not met by 22 out of 780 laboratory-tested diesel samples, 5 out of 786 petrol samples and 1 out of 345 LPG samples. Moreover, in 2021, the Trade Inspection carried out 487 inspections in the field of solid fuel quality, as well as 940 checks of solid fuel quality certificates.

Laboratories

Laboratory testing is used to eliminate from the market products that do not meet requirements or pose a risk to consumers. In 2021, the laboratories of UOKiK tested a total of 1,777 samples, in which 22,958 parameters were determined.

The laboratories of UOKiK were also actively involved in the educational project:  "UOKiK testuje". In 2021, the experts took a closer look at the quality of, among other things, washing powder for white fabrics, diapers, school bags, winter washer fluids. A total of 1,132 tests were performed under that project last year; 23,596 parameters were determined. The results allow consumers to make more informed purchases.

Legislation

As a central administrative body, the President of UOKiK is also involved in creating effective legal regulations. In 2021, The Office prepared draft legal acts and analysed more than 900 draft laws and regulations to issue its opinion on their potential impact on competition and the situation of consumers.

Education

The education of consumers and entrepreneurs is also an important element of UOKiK's activities. In that context, it is worth mentioning the social campaign of the President of UOKiK "Calculate and don't miscalculate!", which drew the attention of consumers to the risk of losing their savings and the need to stay cautious when making investment decisions, including in the real estate market. As part of the campaign, the Office prepared two TV and radio spots, a webinar with experts and a calculator which allows consumers to check how much the mortgage instalment will increase if the interest rate changes.

In 2021, UOKiK together with the ProPublika foundation launched the konsument.edu.pl portal. It is an interactive educational tool intended for use in schools, among other things. The website resembles a community where, apart from ordinary posts, there are offers-traps posted to show online threats that lurk for consumers online.

World Consumer Rights Day lasted a whole week in 2021. At that time, UOKiK promoted the konsument.edu.pl portal, e.g., during lessons in schools, the Office also launched the World Consumer Rights Day Facebook page and organised a series of video chats during which experts gave advice and talked about consumer rights.

In turn, in December 2021, on the occasion of World Competition Day, the "Market Collusion? Give us a Signal!" campaign was launched. The purpose of the campaign was to raise awareness of the infringements of competition law and encourage their reporting. Outreach efforts were addressed to employees in specific industries, including automotive and construction industries.

Children's Day was the occasion for the "Yes to Safe Toys" campaign, as part of which during a YouTube webinar organised by UOKiK, laboratory staff and experts in the field of  market surveillance explained how they tested toys and advised what to pay attention to when buying gifts for children. 

Consumer assistance:

Phone: 801 440 220 or 22 290 89 16 – consumer hotline
E-mail: [SCODE]cG9yYWR5QGRsYWtvbnN1bWVudG93LnBs[ECODE]
 Consumer Ombudsmen – in your town or district

Additional information for the media:

UOKiK Press Office
Pl. Powstańców Warszawy 1, 00-950 Warszawa, Poland
Phone +48 695 902 088, +48 22 55 60 246
E-mail: [SCODE]Yml1cm9wcmFzb3dlQHVva2lrLmdvdi5wbA==[ECODE]
Twitter: @UOKiKgovPL