The Office of Competition and Consumer Protection has published the Authority’s Report on Activities. In 2016 The President of UOKiK made 840 decisions concerning protection of competition and consumers. Financial penalties were amounted to nearly PLN 107 million.
– One needs to bear in mind that the Authority is tasked not only with issuing decisions and imposing financial penalties. Other activities are noteworthy too. Our major 2016 achievements included blocking construction of the Nord Stream gas pipeline based on concentration-related reservations, as well as reaching an agreement with insurers, which resulted in a reduction of cancellation fees payable by holders of unit-linked policies – says Marek Niechciał, President of the UOKiK.
Consumer protection
In 2016 the Authority concentrated its activities on the financial and telecommunications sectors. UOKiK initiated 98 proceedings related to practices that violate collective consumer interests, and 212 explanatory proceedings in this regard. President of the Competition Authority issued 79 decisions, including 29 requiring that the practices be changed. Furthermore, in 15 cases, illegal practice discontinuation orders were issued, in 28 cases it was determined that such practices were no longer applied, an in 7 cases the proceedings were discontinued. The number of soft calls was quite high: the Authority completed 633 out of 812 such interventions.
The conclusion of agreements with 16 insurers offering unit-linked insurance products was an important achievement as well. The arrangements made provided for a reduction of cancellation fees for consumers not covered by the Authority’s decisions.
Legislation
Being a governmental authority, UOKiK is also involved in creating effective legal regulations. Due to the amendment of the Act on competition and consumer protection, the Authority took over, in April of 2016, the powers of the Court of Competition and Consumer Protection as far as issuing verdicts concerned with prohibited clauses in standard contracts is concerned. Another new solution consists in the fact that the Authority is now capable of issuing reasoned opinions in cases concerned with competition and consumer protection, where this is in the public interest. In this regard, the Authority most often assumed a standpoint concerning clauses contained in mortgage contracts, as well as unit-linked life insurance agreements. 2016 also witnessed the completion of legislative work on the Act on out-of-court resolution of consumer disputes. UOKiK was also involved in the preparation of the Act on counteracting the unfair use of contractual advantage in trade in agricultural and food products. The new regulations entered into effect in 2017.
