The Act on private enforcement of competition law entered into force on 27 June 2017. The new Act on private enforcement of competition law allows for a more robust enforcement of claims by all those who were aggrieved by any infringements of competition law. The new regulations were created by the Ministry of Justice in cooperation with the Office of Competition and Consumer Protection (UOKiK).
“Once these new regulations enter into force, the protection of competition will no longer be the exclusive domain of the Competition Authority due to the fact that a new, private route of law enforcement will become available. The Competition Authority continues to act in the public interest by imposing penalties for specific unlawful practices; from this day, however, the individual aggrieved parties will also be able to enforce their own claims in an effective manner” says Bernadeta Kasztelan-Świetlik, Vice-President of the UOKiK.
Anyone who has suffered a loss as a result of unlawful practices will be able to bring an action, including both consumers and the counterparties or competitors of the undertakings which have infringed the provisions of competition law. The claims will be examined by regional courts regardless of the value of the claim. The claims may pertain, inter alia, to the practices which the President of the UOKiK designates in its decisions as anti-competitive agreements or abuse of a dominant position as well as to infringing activities with respect to which no proceedings or decisions of the Competition Authority have been initiated or issued so far. The act shall not apply to the infringements of the provisions of the Act on combating unfair competition.
