• Tomasz Chróstny, President of UOKiK, has issued nine decisions in payment gridlock cases.
• Three entrepreneurs had fines of almost one million zloty imposed.
• We remind you that on 8 December 2022 the amendment to the Act on counteracting excessive delays in commercial transactions entered into force.

President of UOKiK issued nine decisions in which he found excessive delays in meeting financial obligations by entrepreneurs. This means that within three months under examination each of them delayed their payments for counterparties for more than PLN 5 million. President of UOKiK imposed fines on three business entities, whereas, in the case of six entities, he found that there were reasons to refrain from imposing a financial sanction.

Fines

The first decision refers to the Agata company which is the owner of furniture chain stores. In the course of the proceedings, it was found that from June to August 2020 the entrepreneur was late with the payment of more than 15 thousand invoices for 797 counterparties. The largest sum of the delayed payment for one of the business entities amounted to almost PLN 5 million due to 223 invoices they had issued. President of UOKiK imposed a fine of more than PLN 476 thousand.

The other fine of more than PLN 280 thousand was imposed on the Bricoman Polska company running the chain of construction and refurbishment wholesale stores. In the course of the proceedings, it was found that from June to August 2020 the entrepreneur was late with the payment of more than 14 thousand financial considerations for 614 counterparties. The largest sum of delays in relation to one of the counterparties amounted to over PLN 1.2 million due to 260 invoices paid after their expiry.

The third fine of more than PLN 200 thousand was imposed on the Silvan Transport & Logistics company. This is an entity running its operations in goods freight by road industry. From February to April 2020 the company failed to satisfy the financial considerations on time for more than 3 thousand counterparties while the largest sum of delay for one business entity amounted to more than PLN 1.2 million due to 62 invoices paid after expiry.

Decisions on fine waivers

For the proceedings instigated before 8 December 2022, President of UOKiK is obligated to waive the fine if within the period under examination the law-breaching entrepreneur themselves was a victim of the payment gridlocks. Such situations occurred in the case of six entrepreneurs:

• Osadkowski and Wialan Langer i Wiatr - two business entities involved in distribution of agents for agricultural production.
• Nagel and Adampol - two entrepreneurs from the transportation industry.
• IKEA Industry Poland – the furniture manufacturer for a well-known chain.
• Sokołów - the entity from the meat-processing industry.

Despite the fact that the entrepreneurs had been making payment gridlocks, too, they were not fined. In the course of the proceedings related to those entities it was found that in the period under examination the aggregate number of financial considerations received by those business entities after the expiry was higher than the payment gridlock they had generated.

New year – new regulations – new actions

The decisions mentioned above were issued under the laws which came into effect at the beginning of December 2022. The end of the previous year witnessed the amendment to the Act on counteracting excessive delays in commercial transactions entering into force. In 2023, under the amended laws, President of UOKiK is going to take up some subsequent actions in the area of combating payment gridlocks.

-The amended laws will let us facilitate to conduct other proceedings and, with the use of a new sanction mechanism, increase the pressure on timely and fair settlements by large entrepreneurs with their counterparties - says Tomasz Chróstny, President of UOKiK.

With the framework of the new competences, President of the Competition Authority will be capable of taking so-called soft actions by sending calls for changing payment practices to entrepreneurs. Having received such a signal, an entrepreneur will be able to improve their payment culture with regard to their counterparties immediately avoiding thereby the proceedings and financial sanctions for generating payment gridlocks.

Additional information for the media:

UOKiK Press Office
pl. Powstańców Warszawy 1, 00-950 Warszawa, Poland
Phone: 22 55 60 246
Email: [SCODE]Yml1cm9wcmFzb3dlQHVva2lrLmdvdi5wbA==[ECODE]
Twitter: @UOKiKgovPL
You can also follow us on Instagram: @uokikgovpl