The Court of Appeal upheld the decision by the President of UOKiK as regards the abuse of a dominant position by Narodowy Fundusz Zdrowia (NFZ) when determining bid evaluation critieria in the tender for providing health care services. NFZ has to pay a fine exceeding PLN 1.14 mln

The court ruling regards the decision issued in July 2009. The President of UOKiK stated that NFZ treated its previous contractors in a privileged way  when determining the criteria for evaluating bids in the tender called for provision of health care services. This practice hindered winning the tender to entities which did not cooperate with NFZ before.

According to UOKiK, NFZ abused a dominant position that it undoubtedly enjoys on the market of organizing state-funded health care services, and thus the entity impeded the free and fair competition. NFZ was addressed to discontinue the practice and additionally imposed a fine amounting to PLN 1 145 512.

The undertaking enjoyed its right and lodged an appeal against this decision, however, the the courts of higher instance sustained the decision by the President of UOKiK - in April 2011 the Court of Competition and Consumer Protection, and on 23rd May 2012, the Court of Appeal dismissed the whole appeal of NFZ. In the read out statement of reasons to the court ruling, it was declared that under the antimonopoly law, NFZ is undertood as an undertaking and for this reason is obliged to respect the rules binding other entities. Furthermore, the court stated the criterion consisting in having contracts concluded with NFZ in the past, is not substantial, and as a result it is contrary to law to score extra points based on this criterion.

The yesterday’s ruling means in fact that the decision regarding the abuse of a dominant position by NFZ becomes effective.

Additional information for the media:
Małgorzata Cieloch, Spokesperson for UOKiK
Department of International Relations and Communication
Pl. Powstańców Warszawy 1, 00-950 Warszawa
Phone: +48 22 55 60 106
Fax: +48 22 826 11 86
E-mail: [SCODE]bWFsZ29yemF0YS5jaWVsb2NoQHVva2lrLmdvdi5wbA==[ECODE]