329 decisions issued concerning the breach of competition and consumer protection law as well as fines exceeding the amount of PLN 558 million – demonstrate the results of work of the Office of Competition and Consumer Protection in 2009.

The basic instrument of the President of the Office within competition protection are antitrust proceedings concerning competition-restricting practices - abuses of a dominant position and inadmissible agreements. The proceedings may result in an order to discountinue the questioned practice and imposing a financial penalty. In 2009, the President of UOKiK conducted 492 explanatory proceedings and 176 antitrust proceedings (139 regarding the abuse of a market position by undertakings and 37 - inadmissable agreements).

Last year the President of the Office issued 107 decisions concerning violation of competition law, including 65 decisions regarding applying by undertakings competition-restricting practices. Among them was the decision concerning the conclusion of an inadmissible agreement between the leading producers of grey cement: Lafarge Cement, Górażdże Cement, Grupa Ożarów, Cemex Polska, Dyckerhoff Polska and cement manufacturing plants - Warta and Odra. The proceedings revealed that since 1998, or even earlier, the undertakings had been sharing the market as well as fixing acceptable shares for particular stakeholders, establishing minimum prices of cement, extent of price rises, along with dates and the sequence of their introduction. The President of UOKiK refrained from imposing a penalty on Lafarge Cement and significantly reduced the fine for Górażdże Cement – the undertaking was imposed a fine constituting 5% of its revenue. Both undertakings cooperated with UOKiK under the leniency programme. The remaining five participants of the cartel were imposed a maximum fine amounting 10% of each undertaking’s revenue. Altogether, the financial sanctions imposed on the six participants of the agreement amounted to PLN 411 million.

The President of UOKiK shall also exercise control over implementing concentrations to prevent a situation in which, as a result of a transaction, a dominant undertaking is created in the market. Last year, the Office conducted 144 cases concerning mergers and acquisitions. Among 123 decisions issued, three prohibited the implementation of concentration and one was a conditional consent. In the two cases, financial penalties were imposed on the undertakings for failure to notify the intention of concentration. The bulk of notifications concerned the trade and food industry.

State aid monitoring is closely related to the competition protection. The President of UOKiK i.a. issues opinions on drafts of state aid granted to undertakings under aid schemes and individual decisions before their notification to the European Commission, which decides on the compliance of the aid with EU regulations. In 2009, the President of UOKiK issued 59 opinions - 44 concerned aid schemes and 15 –individual aid. Moreover, UOKiK notified 16 drafts of individual aid and 9 aid schemes.

The responsibilities of the President of UOKiK also include the protection of weaker market participants. Last year, UOKiK carried out 309 proceedings which resulted in issuing 222 decisions, including 153 decisions on practices infringing collective consumer interests.

The most important ones regarded the proceedings of the Office against PTC, Era network operator. The President of UOKiK checked whether the content of advertisement slogans, namely ”The fastest Internet connection in a mobile phone. No limits. For PLN 5” was misleading for consumers. On the basis of this message weaker market participants could have deduced that they would be able to use the Internet in an unlimited way and at a low price. However, the proceedings revealed that the regulation on providing the service determined the monthly restriction on data transmission and the promotional subscription fee was valid only in the first three settlement periods. The President of the Office stated that the advertisement of the operator’s services misled the consumers and imposed on PCT a fine exceeding PLN 8.7 million.

In many services the consumer does not have a chance to negotiate the content of an agreement – his role is limited to either accepting or rejecting it. Thus, there appears the danger of applying agreement conditions which are not always advantageous for consumers. That is why, in 2009 the Office of Competition and Consumer Protection continued the inspection of standard forms of agreements applied by undertakings, i.a. courier companies. Having carried out all the inspections, 243 orders to change the inadmissible clauses were issued; 25 lawsuits were filed to the Court of Competition and Consumer Protection and 272 provisions were entered into the Register of Prohibited Clauses. It has to be emphasised that in 178 cases undertakings voluntarily changed the questioned clauses.

Proceedings concerning general product safety also contribute to the protection of consumers, and consequently, the President of UOKiK may order a withdrawal of a hazardous product from the market and impose a fine of up to PLN 100 thousand. Last year, the Office was carrying out 284 cases related to general product safety. In 121 cases, as a result of conducted proceedings, the President of UOKiK issued decisions ordering the undertakings i.a. to eliminate the threat, warn the customers, withdraw or recall the product from the market. 25 fines were imposed on the undertakings. Additionally, the Office received 110 voluntary notifications from undertakings stating that the products they launched into the market were non-compliant with safety requirements; the majority - 65 - came from the automotive industry and the remaining ones concerned i.a. sports and communication equipment (laptops, mobile phones) as well as toys.

Since 2009, as a result of taking responsibilities of the Chief Inspectorate of Trade Inspection (CITI), the President of UOKiK has also carried out proceedings concerning the conformity assessment system. Consequently, the President may order a recall of a hazardous product from the market. Last year, UOKiK was conducting 464 cases in this respect, which resulted in issuance of 340 decisions, of which 25 ordered the products to be recalled from the market, in 218 cases the proceedings were discontinued, mainly due to the fact that the companies had undertaken measures eliminating the detected irregularities.

Having taken over of the CITI’s competencies, the Office has been responsible for performing additional tasks - planning, coordinating, monitoring and analysing the results of inspections of food and non-food goods as well as services, performed by the Voivodeship Inspectorates of the Trade Inspection. The newly-established in UOKiK Department of Trade Inspection is now in charge of the tasks. In 2009, at the request of the Office, the Trade Inspection carried out i.a. the quality assessment of basic food products, such as milk, meat, fish and their products as well as honey. To sum up these actions, the Office drew up a report, which apart from results of detailed laboratory tests, contained guidelines for consumers on what they should take into consideration when buying food products.

Furthermore, UOKiK is responsible for managing the fuel quality monitoring and scrutinising system. Provisions in force enable monitoring activities at each stage of the distribution – from fuel producers, through warehouses, wholesalers, entities engaged in fuel transportation to petrol stations – and concern all types of fuel available on the Polish market. Inspections demonstrated an increase in the quality of petrol and diesel fuel - 3.08% of the samples tested were non-compliant with the requirements (4.2% the year before). As regards LPG, irregularities were detected with relation to 0.78% of inspected petrol stations – in the previous year the share was 5.81%.

Legislative work was also an important task performed by UOKiK in 2009. The Office prepared a project concerning i.a. terms of reference to the draft Act on consumer loan, regulation on leniency programme for participants of inadmissible agreements as well as the amendment to the Act on proceedings in matters concerning state aid. Furthermore, it issued opinions regarding over 2.3 thousand other legislative acts.

Moreover, the Office undertakes many educational and information initiatives. Apart from a series of scientific and press conferences, in 2009 it also carried out a campaign promoting the leniency programme. Its objective was to inform the public opinion about harms caused to the economy by price fixing agreements and to encourage cartel participants to cooperate with the Office. The action included broadcasting an advertising spot entitled “Żart” (“A Joke”) on television and radio stations.

This year UOKiK celebrates the 20th anniversary of its operating, which is a great occasion to sum up its achievements in the area of competition and consumer protection. Today, during the international conference organized to mark the occasion at the Royal Castle in Warsaw, enterpreneurs, lawyers and institutions’ representatives will discuss on Current problems of competition policy. More information on this event will be posted tomorrow.

Additional information the media:
Małgorzata Cieloch, Spokesperson for UOKiK
Department of International Relations and Communication
Pl. Powstańców Warszawy 1, 00-950 Warsaw, Poland
Phone: (+48 22) 827 28 92, 55 60 106, 55 60 430
faks (+48 22) 826 11 86
E-mail: [SCODE]bWFsZ29yemF0YS5jaWVsb2NoQHVva2lrLmdvdi5wbA==[ECODE]