• The President of UOKiK has presented a reasoned opinion on a consumer loan agreement concluded online
• The reasoned opinion concerns the interpretation of the term durable medium
• In the view of the Competition Authority, in this case the user’s account on the lender’s website and the website itself are not a durable medium

According to the Consumer Credit Act (art. 30), any lender is obliged to provide consumers with reliable, true and complete information, among other things, on the total amount to be paid, actual annual interest rate (RRSO) and repayment dates. In view of the President of the Competition Authority, the entrepreneur should provide it to consumers on paper or using another durable medium.

How to understand the term durable medium? Its definition can be found in numerous provisions which regulate the rights and obligations in agreements to which consumers are parties. According to the President of UOKiK, the term in question should be understood in the same way on the grounds of all provisions aimed at consumer protection. The Consumer Credit Act says it is: material or device used for storing and reading information provided to the consumer in connection with the loan agreement, for the period which corresponds to the objectives of this information, and which allows recreating this information in an unchanged form.

The reasoned opinion concerns the term durable medium. It concerns the court dispute of a consumer who entered into a loan agreement online with Creamfinance Poland. The consumer indicated that Creamfinance did not provide him with information, among other things, on the total loan amount, fees and commission on a durable medium. At the same time, the Creamfinance customer requested the President of UOKiK to issue a reasoned opinion in this case. In the request submitted, the consumer asked if, in the view of the Competition Authority, the website and user account can be treated as a durable medium in this case.

In the reasoned opinion issued, the President of UOKiK stated that in this case the lender failed to fulfil the obligation to provide the consumer with information on paper or another durable medium. The undertaking provided the consumer with the information required by the regulations by means of the user account placed on the website. In the view of the Competition Authority, in this case the functionality of the user account on the lender’s website and the website itself cannot be considered to be a durable medium. This is due to the fact that the undertaking may change the content of the website and user account after the agreement is entered into. Furthermore, there is no guarantee that the information posted there will be available in the future.

The reasoned opinion of the President of UOKiK pertains to the case no. III Ca 529/16 – dispute between the consumer and Creamfinance Poland.

The President of UOKiK may issue a reasoned opinion in all cases pertaining to consumer rights protection, not just in cases which concern financial services.

The conclusions presented by the Competition Authority in this case may not be applied to any other cases, even where such cases are ostensibly similar. In each given case, the President of UOKiK performs an assessment of the factual and legal circumstances of the case, the applicable case law as well as the application filed by the claimants. The reasoned opinions issued so far are available online on the website of the Competition Authority.

Reasoned opinions in consumer cases – the rules

• A reasoned opinion in a given case is a written opinion of the President of UOKiK in which it presents its arguments and views which are relevant to the given dispute, based on the specific factual and legal circumstances of the case before it. For the above reason, the assessment contained in a reasoned opinion may not be applied to any other cases.
• A reasoned opinion is only issued with respect to a case pending before a court of law.
• It may only be issued where doing so is considered to be in the public interest.
• A reasoned opinion always pertains to a dispute between a consumer and an undertaking.
• The President of UOKiK may present a reasoned opinion at his own initiative, at the request of the consumer or undertaking, or at the request of the court.

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