Mennica Polska, the sole distributor of public transport tickets in Wrocław discriminated its retail sellers. The company was fined with nearly PLN 160 thousand. The undertaking itself commited to change some prohibited practices, which worked as mitigating cicumstances in this case

Apart from producing coins, Mennica Polska is involved in operations on other markets – it is also the sole distributor of public transport tickets in the territory of Wrocław. Under such circumstances the undertaking enjoying a dominant position on a given market cannot impose unfavourable contract terms on its trading partners. The Office was concerned about contract terms concluded with retail ticket sellers (e.g. newsagents and shops). Consequently, the proceedings against Mennica Polska were instituted in February 2012.

The President of UOKiK challenged the clauses concerning mainly the unequal liability for improper contract performance. One of them provides for a sanction for delay in payment. Mennica Polska restricts then the right to block the terminal for selling tickets without any prior worning, and in the case of threefold delay and blockade, to terminate the contract without delay. Pursuant to the Civil Code, before withrawal from a contract, the creditor should indicate the debtor the time limit for repayment of financial liabilities.

The President of UOKiK challenged the clauses concerning mainly the unequal liability for improper contract performance. The President of UOKiK ordered Mennica Polska to discontinue the said practices and imposed on it a fine amounting to nearly PLN 160 thousand (PLN 159 161)

Moreover, fines are provided for in the event of disclosure of confidential information by retail sellers as regards the agreement concluded with Mennica Polska. They have a fixed amount of PLN 10 thousand and are incurred within three days from receipt of summons. UOKiK does not object to protecting the confidential information from disclosure, however, along with the principle of equality referring to all contract parties, fines should be assumed for both parties. Additionally, the sanction should correspond with the gravity of infringement, not arbitrarily fixed at a constant value. Furthermore, UOKiK questioned providing insufficiently long time limit for paying the fine.

The President of UOKiK ordered Mennica Polska to discontinue the said practices and imposed on it a fine amounting to nearly PLN 160 thousand (PLN 159 161).

It is worth noting that in the course of proceedings the company commited itself to change three other clauses of discriminatory nature to its trading partners. One of them concerned unequal fines for failure to perform the contract properly. For causing damages in this respect, the sellers had to pay the full amount of fine, whereas Mennica Polska restricted its liability to the amount of PLN 10 thousand. The President of UOKiK agreed upon the obligation undertaken by Mennica Polska and ordered the company to delete this clause form new agreements as well as draw up annexes to contracts remaining in force till the end of October 2012.

The decision is not final, it may be appealed against to the Court of Competition and Consumer Protection.

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 22 827 28 92, 55 60 106, 55 60 430
Fax: +48 22 826 11 86
E-mail: [SCODE]bWFsZ29yemF0YS5jaWVsb2NoQHVva2lrLmdvdi5wbA==[ECODE]