• The President of UOKiK has initiated proceedings against Scott Sportech Polska.
• Charges against the company relate to restricting competition by dividing the market for bicycle sales.
• As a result of the challenged practices, consumers may have been prevented from purchasing products online.

Scott Sportech Polska is, among other things, the exclusive distributor of the popular Scott bicycle brand. They are then marketed by some 90 independent dealers in Poland. Reservations of the President of UOKiK were raised by findings that the company had prohibited dealers from selling bicycles online. Vendors were allowed to post offers on their sites, but when a potential customer wanted to make a purchase online, they were to be prompted to look for a suitable traditional store. Additionally, distributors were prohibited from selling bicycles on platforms like Allegro or OLX. The online sales prohibition may have limited competition between dealers to a narrow area or even eliminated it altogether if there was only one dealer in a given area. The information obtained during the search at the company’s headquarters shows that Scott Sportech Polska monitored whether distributors were complying with the arrangements and intervened if they tried to sell the bikes online.

- The effect of the prohibition on online sales may have been to divide the market. Distributors did not have to compete for customers with competitors across the country but only with those close to the location of their own store. At the same time, having to travel long distances to buy equipment in a traditional store may have discouraged consumers from buying the best-for-you and cheaper bikes - says President of UOKiK Tomasz Chróstny.

Scott Sportech Polska faces a fine of up to 10% of its annual turnover for violating competition. This is not the first intervention by the President of UOKiK regarding the ban on online bicycle sales. For example, in 2023, the President of UOKiK imposed a fine of about PLN 2.5 million on the company Merida Polska.

World Competition Day

Market sharing is one of the forms of competition-restricting covenants that hurt consumers the most and often deprive them of the opportunity to buy products of good quality and price. We remind you of this on World Competition Day. It has been celebrated every year (since 2010) on 5 December by the non-governmental organisation Consumer Unity & Trust Society (CUTS International) and the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD). Read more about consumer protection on our website https://konkurencja.uokik.gov.pl/. Among other things, there is information on the whistleblower programme. Have you heard of any restrictive practices? Go to the website and use the simple form. The system we use guarantees full anonymity, including to the Office itself.

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