Consumer and competition policy - working together? The answer to this question was sought by the participants of an international scientific conference organised by UOKiK. During the conference, representatives of institutions protecting consumers and competition from entire world exchanged experiences.

The international scientific conference was devoted to competition and consumer protection. In Poland the Office of Competition and Consumer Protection, established in 1996 on the basis of the then Antimonopoly Office, for the last 10 years has been responsible for the implementation of government policy in both of these fields. Entrusting the Antimonopoly Office with tasks related to the protection of weaker market participants was primarily justified by “integrity of pro-consumer and competition protection policies as well as the previous Office activity, which had been directly and indirectly aimed at the protection of consumer interests and independence from branch interests, facilitating representing consumer interests”.

According to UOKiK’s President, Cezary Banasiński, the model adopted in Poland was analogous to the French solution. This in turn was presented at the conference by Francis Amand from the Directorate for Competition Policy, Consumer Affairs and Fraud Control (DGCCRF) of the Ministry of Ecomomy, Finance and Industry, which is competent at competition protection and economic consumer interests. The situation is similar in Great Britain where the Office of Fair Trading (OFT) is responsible for the prevention of unfair practices against entrepreneurs and weaker participants of the market. Hilary Jennings - Head of the Unit for International Affairs in the Division of Markets and Policy Initiatives of OFT - remarked that in the last year the plans of dividing the Committee had been definitely abandoned and that works are in progress in order to create a new, comprehensive approach to the market, taking into account in each case solicitude for both competition and consumer interests.

A joint institution, responsible for the protection of competition and consumer protection, is a better solution than separate bodies. This opinion prevails both among organisations representing interests of entrepreneurs and institutions protecting consumers, as results from the public opinion poll commissioned by UOKiK and conducted by Katarzyna Staszyńska from Collegium Civitas. She carried out numerous interviews with representatives of branch associations, consumer organisations and consumer ombudsmen in various regions of Poland. Respondents generally pointed to the possibility of applying experiences from the realisation of both policies in shaping the law as well as to facilitated communication between structures dealing with competition and consumer protection in one body.

A solution different from Polish was adopted in Germany. It was presented by Axel Reich, who for many years co-operated with the German Ministry of Foods, Agriculture and Consumer Protection, responsible for the government policy of supporting weaker market participants. The implementation of antimonopoly law, in turn, lies within the competence of the Federal Antimonopoly Office (Bundeskartellamt). In practice, in Germany consumer protection is realised by NGOs, supported by federal and particular states (Laender). Their efficiency is proved by data presented by Patrick von Braunmühl (Deputy President of the Federation of German Consumer Organisations - VZBV) - each year they provide approx. 3 million pieces of advice to consumers and conduct approx. 1,000 formal interventions with entrepreneurs. Half of them are completed successfully; in the remaining cases a lawsuit is necessary. It is worth mentioning that the majority of cases in the field of protection of weaker market participants in Germany are handled by way of civil procedures.

The realisation of consumer and competition protection by one institution is more and more frequently discussed on international forums. Already in 1985, the Guidelines of the United Nations pointed out that: “Governments should support honest and fair competition, providing the consumers with a wider range of goods and services at lower prices”. The relations between activities supporting the competition and consumer protection in the work of Organisation of Economic Cooperation and Development were presented at the conference by Brigitte Acoca, analyst of the Committee for Consumer Policy at the OECD. Also in the European Union, the necessity to closer bind these two areas is being emphasized more clearly. In the opinion of the European Economic and Social Committee of 31st May 2006, presented by Małgorzata Niepokulczycka, activities based on the Community competition law should also cover violations of interests of weaker participants of the market. ECOSOC postulates that also institutions protecting consumers should join the European Competition Network. The conference was also attended by Juan Antonio Rivi?re Marti - Liaison Officer for Consumers in Directorate-General for Competition of the European Commission. He presented these market areas in which consumer organisations require interventions from antimonopoly bodies. These areas are essentially energy supply, telecommunications, banking services, services provided by representatives of liberal professions and sales - mainly food.

Consumer organisations in some countries complain also about the low intensity of activities of regulatory bodies, especially in the telecommunications sector. Linda Lennard from the Centre for Utility Consumer Law of the Leicester University pointed to the need of close co-operation of regulators with institutions protecting consumers and competition. In Poland, the Office of Electronic Communications (UKE) is responsible for regulating telecommunications markets. Its activities in the field of consumer protection were presented by Renata Piwowarska, Director of the Department of Retail Electronic Communications Market. Last year, the Office conducted 364 interventions, concerning mostly issues related to the change of numbers used so far, lack of pre-selection realisation, maintaining the number with the simultaneous change of operator or the place of residence. Moreover, the UKE carries out mediations between consumers and telecommunications companies. In their result, last year over 20% telephone subscribers solved their problems, and the total amount claimed back for them exceeded PLN 100,000. Unfortunately, as Piwowarska confirmed that conciliation court at the Office is to be abolished. In the opinion of the conference participants that would be to the detriment of consumers. Only in the first half of this year, 360 subscribers turned to the conciliation court.

Additional information:
Elżbieta Anders, Spokesperson of UOKiK
Pl. Powstańców Warszawy 1, 00-950 Warszawa
Phone 22 827 28 92, 55 60 106, 55 60 314
faks 22 826 11 86

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