On 10 January 2017, the Act of 23 September 2016
on the Out-of-Court Settlement of Consumer
Disputes, which introduces in the Polish legal order
measures allowing for an amicable resolution of
consumer disputes arising between nationals of
European Union Member States and entrepreneurs
established in the territory of Poland, will come
into force. This out-of-court dispute settlement
scheme will be based on a network of public and
private sector entities, which by virtue of their
statutory responsibilities or on their own initiative
will seek to resolve such consumer disputes
pursuant to that law and their internal rules of
procedure established independently. To pursue
dispute settlement activities, such entities will
need to register with a central registry maintained
by the President of the Competition and Consumer
Protection Office, which is designated as the
scheme’s supervisory authority.
It should be mentioned in the first place that taking
advantage of out-of-court dispute resolution
mechanism is voluntary, and each party will be free
not to use this service and instead refer the matter
for resolution to a common court of local
jurisdiction. Nevertheless, under the law in question it is presumed that in the absence of the
entrepreneur’s statement refusing to participate,
this may be deemed an implicit consent to the
initiation of the proceedings. In line with this
assumption, proceedings will be initiated, in
principle, on consumers’ requests, even though the
rules of procedure adopted by the entity
conducting the proceedings may provide for the
proceedings being initiated also on a business
operator’s application. A major advantage of having
a dispute resolved in this way is a relatively
informal nature of the proceedings. The
proceedings can be conducted in written or
electronic form and will not require in principle the
physical presence of the parties or their
representatives. By design, the proceedings are to
be free-of-charge for the consumer, although the
procedural rules may impose fees for conducting
the proceedings, provided however that such fees
are not so high in the aggregate as to impede
consumers from asserting their rights. Importantly,
the decision resolving the dispute will be binding
only when all parties agree to it. It should also be
noted that an effective initiation of a dispute
settlement proceedings interrupts the limitation
period for the claim in dispute, which has
important implications for the possibility of
enforcing one’s rights before the courts in the
future.
The legislation under discussion may clearly
expedite proceedings in matters where the value of
the subject of the dispute is relatively minor and
enable their expedient resolution. Currently,
seeking the resolution of any matters of this kind
through court action may not only entail long
waiting for resolution of the dispute but also the
need to incur certain costs associated with this
mode of enforcing one’s rights. The introduction of
the described mechanisms, which provide for the
resolution of disputes within a period of 90 days
from the time a complete application for the
initiation of the proceedings is filed, as well as the
principle that participation in the proceedings is
free of charge for consumers, addresses the afore-
mentioned difficulties and offers an opportunity to
assert claims of this category, while contributing at
the same time to improved performance of common
courts by reducing the inflow of cases of relatively
minor complexity. It should be noted, however,
that the law in question merely establishes a
certain general framework for proceedings,
whereas each dispute will be resolved in
accordance with the provisions of the rules of
procedure in effect at the specific conciliator. It
appears that widespread use of out-of-court
consumer dispute resolution mechanisms will crucially depend on the content of such internal
rules and the solutions incorporated in them.
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. Skarbowców 23a
53-125 Wrocław
Tel. +48 71 780-3100
Fax +48 71 780-3101
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.