The President of the Office of Competition and
Consumer Protection (hereinafter the “UOKiK”) has
steadily
increased
fines
particularly
for
telecommunications companies who infringe upon
collective consumer interests. As of 2008 these fines
have usually been in the millions ranges, however
late last year one fine reached a staggering amount of
21.262.842 PLN. The legal application of such high fines for practices which infringe on collective
consumer interests has been provided for directly in
the Article 106 of the Act of 16 February 2007 on
competition and consumer protection (Journal of
Laws of 21 March 2007, as amended) (hereinafter
the “Act”).
Under the aforementioned provision, the President of
the UOKiK can impose fines up to 10% of
entrepreneur’s revenue from the preceding
accounting year even when the company has
unintentionally allowed the offending practice.
Additionally, entrepreneurs can be fined with
amounts reaching the equivalent of 50.000.000 Euro
if they are found to be uncooperative during an
investigation conducted by UOKiK.
Practices which infringe collective consumer
interests include: 1/ the use of standard boilerplate
contracts that have been registered as illegal, 2/
violation of the duty to provide consumers with
reliable, truthful and complete information, or 3/
unfair market practices or acts of unfair competition.
Over the last four years a significant increase in the
amount of penalties imposed by the UOKiK for
practices detrimental to the collective interests of
consumers can be observed. Examples include:
- in December 2008 Tele2 Polska Sp. z o.o. received a penalty of 3.978.380 PLN for engaging in practices which created hardships for consumers changing the telecommunication suppliers;
- a year later, Polska Telefonia Cyfrowa Sp. z o.o. was fined in the amount of 8.729.993 PLN for disseminating false and misleading information about product features and pricing;
- in December 2010 Polska Telefonia Komórkowa – Centertel Sp. z o.o. received two multi-million fines for infringing collective consumer interests in: the first one in the amount of 4.839.375 PLN and the second one in the total amount of 16.260.300 PLN;
- finally, most recently, i.e. on December 30, 2011 the UOKiK imposed a fine of 21.262.842 PLN on Polska Telefonia Cyfrowa S.A. after it decided that the company was engaged in unfair market practices related to misleading activity undertaken in the course of its lottery.
The UOKiK is of the firm opinion that such harsh
fines will strengthen the market and make it more
secure for its participants in addition to acting as a
deterrent to collusive activities. It is noteworthy to
mention that UOKiK decisions often become the
subject of appeals in the competition and consumer
protection courts.
MILLER, CANFIELD,
W. BABICKI, A. CHEŁCHOWSKI I WSPÓLNICY SP.K.
ul. Batorego 28-32
81-366 Gdynia
Tel. +48 58 782-0050
Fax +48 58 782-0060
gdynia@pl.millercanfield.com
ul. Nowogrodzka 11
00-513 Warszawa
Tel. +48 22 447-4300
Fax +48 22 447-4301
warszawa@pl.millercanfield.com
ul. Św. Mikołaja 7
50-125 Wrocław
Tel. +48 71 337-6700
Fax +48 71 337-6701
wroclaw@pl.millercanfield.com
Disclaimer: This publication has been prepared for clients and professional associates of Miller Canfield. It is intended to provide only a summary of certain recent legal
developments of selected areas of law. For this reason the information contained in this publication should not form the basis of any decision as to a particular course of
action; nor should it be relied on as legal advice or regarded as a substitute for detailed advice in individual cases. The services of a competent professional adviser
should be obtained in each instance so that the applicability of the relevant legislation or other legal development to the particular facts can be verified.