In December Office of Competition and Consumer Protection (UOKiK) found T-Mobile Polska guilty of violation of the collective interests of consumers. The operator informed its clients of unilateral amendment to the terms and conditions of the contracts for provision of telecommunication services consisting in an increase of the subscription fee.
In the opinion of UOKiK, the undertaking did not have the right to make such amendments to contracts concluded for a definite and indefinite time. The content of the contracts concluded for an indefinite time did not provide grounds for such amendment as it did not include a relevant modification clause. Consumers who have concluded a contract for a definite time, meanwhile, are entitled to performance thereof under the same conditions until termination of the contract.
Therefore, as a rule such contracts should not be amended in the scope of the essential elements thereof (e.g. the price). Unilateral amendment by the company of the terms and conditions of contracts concluded with consumers violated the principles of decency as it depended on the will of the undertaking only.
The President of UOKiK imposed a fine amounting to more than PLN 4.5 million on the operator and ordered it to pay compensation in the amount of PLN 65 to each consumer who had received notification of the unilateral change of the amount of subscription fee.
In May 2018, the Court of Competition and Consumer Protection acknowledged the company’s appeal and repealed the decision of UOKiK in full. In the statement of grounds, the Court concluded that unilateral amendment to the terms and conditions of contracts by the company was permissible. In the opinion of the Court, UOKiK did not provide sufficient evidence that the actions of T-Mobile had violated the collective interests of consumers or the principles of decency.
