• The President of UOKiK Tomasz Chróstny imposed a fine of over PLN 4 million on Polska Grupa Farmaceutyczna.
• This is yet another penalty imposed this year on a company in the pharmaceutical sector.
• The amendment to the payment gridlock act was sent to the Senate after it was passed in the Sejm.

Proceedings conducted by the President of UOKiK indicated that Polska Grupa Farmaceutyczna [Polish Pharmaceutical Group] excessively delayed meeting its financial obligations. The subject of activity of the penalised entrepreneur is the wholesale of prescription drugs and pharmaceuticals.

- Polska Grupa Farmaceutyczna is yet another pharmaceutical company generating substantial payment gridlock. The penalty imposed was over 4 million Polish zlotys – says Tomasz Chróstny, President of UOKiK.

It is the highest penalty imposed on a party to payment gridlock proceedings. The second highest is also an entrepreneur in the pharmaceutical sector, which points to a worrying trend of disregarding payment obligations of entities in this sector.

- In this situation, it is necessary to pay particular attention to representatives of the pharmaceutical sector fulfilling their financial obligations within the deadline - adds President Chróstny.

The proceedings conducted in regard to PGF indicated that between February and March 2020 alone, the company was late in fulfilling its financial obligations of over PLN 425 million, whereas the largest late payments towards selected contractors were: over PLN 37 million (36 invoices), over PLN 24 million (45 invoices), and over PLN 18 million (20 invoices).

PGF is an entrepreneur with a significant share in the pharmaceutical market and therefore the influence of unfavourable payment practices towards contractors may also be significant.

Payment Gridlock Act Amendment

On 29 September 2022, the Sejm adopted a new government project of an act on counteracting excessive delays in commercial transactions and the act on public finance. Next day, the project was submitted to the Marshall of the Senate, where it awaits a vote. The amendment aims to clarify and simplify specific provisions designed to prevent payment gridlocks. The new solutions are intended to speed up the investigations, thus enabling a more effective and quicker reactions to an undesirable phenomenon of delaying the fulfilment of financial obligations.

Visit the website on payment gridlocks

The President of UOKiK may intervene in cases involving payment gridlocks if, over the period of 3 subsequent months, the sum of all payments that have not been made by a given entrepreneur in due time or have been made after their deadline exceeds PLN 2 million.

Information regarding the competencies of the President of UOKiK in connection with payment gridlocks may be found on a dedicated website. What are gridlocks, when can the Authority investigate them, what are the rules of administrative proceedings, how can an entrepreneur notify the Authority that their counterparty failed to pay?

Answers to these and many other questions may be found at www.zatoryplatnicze.uokik.gov.pl

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