CONSUMERS AND COMPETITON – NEW STRATEGIES
Public procurement monitoring, new tools facilitating the detection of anticompetitive
practices and the protection of weak market participants – to name the main goals of
the two strategies, for the first time presented together. Today UOKiK submits for
consultation the draft government policies – for consumer and competition protection
[Warszawa, 20 February 2014] For the first time since the establishment of the Office,
the two documents determining the government priorities within the competition and
consumer protection for the next 5 years have been made together. – Linking the
antimonopoly policy and consumer issues will allow for obtaining the synergy effect.In
fact, every action taken by the Office will consider the two aspects, which will result in
more effective protection of weak market participants. That is a new approach. The
documents have been made in parallel, will be enforced at the same time and will be in
force within the same time limit - informs Małgorzata Krasnodębska-Tomkiel, Acting
President of UOKiK. Completing works on the new strategies means the Office may now
start a new stage – interdepartmental and social consultations. Finally the documents will
be adopted by the government.
Consumer policy for 2014-2018
1165 decision concerning the violation of collective consumer interests – these are results
of UOKiK’s work under the previous Consumer policy. In the next few years, the seventh
government programme will be focused on increasing the knowledge of market
behaviours of consumers and problems they challenge. Periodical social research will
provide the information to determine these segments of market where consumers find it
difficult to pursue their rights. This will accelerate the identification of dangers which
require a quick response.
ADR (Alternative Dispute Resolution) between consumers and undertakings, such as
mediation or arbitration courts, will have to be strengthened by 2018. Directive of the
European Parliament adopted last year assumes the establishment in all EU Member States
of a harmonised system of out-of-court dispute resolution (ADR). Furthermore, to
accelerate and facilitate disputes resolution by way of conciliation, consumers will be
provided with the online dispute resolution system (ODR).
Moreover, the strategies assume facilitating the legal aspects od pursuing claims by
consumers harmed as a result of infringement of competition. The European Parliament
and the Council are currently working on the so-called public and private enforcement of
consumer claims. If the rules governing the competition law enforcement in public and
private pursue are harmonised, any persons harmed as a result of anticompetitive
practices, will have the right to seek redress on equal terms within the whole EU.
Actions under the two Policies – Competition and Consumer, in many places touch upon
different aspects of the same problems. This is especially true when achieving goals
concerning the protection of competition on liberalized markets where the changes
such as emerging new entities, or innovative solutions, usually beneficial for
consumers, may initially cause problems. For this reason, in the nearest future the
telecommunications and energy sectors as well as the markets of railway transport,
aviation, postal and payment services, will be taken under a special scrutiny.
Competition policy for 2014-2018
Within the last three years, UOKiK identified 203 cases concerning the abuse of a dominant
position and 78 prohibited agreements. The drafted Competition policy points the key
aspects in detection of antimonopoly practices and the development of effective
competition, envisaged for the next five years. A number of tools contained in the
amended antimonopoly act will support the elimination of prohibited antimonopoly
practices. Also the leniency plus programme will serve this purpose. It extends the scope
of the present programme for cooperation with the Office addressed to regretful
participants to numerous prohibited agreements. Additionally, the Office will reduce fines
to entities who provide evidence of another collusion they participated in.
The ongoing priority of the Office is enhancing the effectiveness of combating bid
rigging. UOKiK suggests increasing the level of detecting them by development of the
screening programme, based on analytical tools, collecting information on different
tenders – this will facilitate the identification of irregularities. It is vital for actions aimed
at increasing the effectiveness of detecting bid rigging to continue the cooperation
(started last year) with other state authorities, such as Agencja Bezpieczeństa
Wewnętrznego (The Internal Security Agency), Centralne Biuro Antykorupcyjne (The
Central Anti-Corruption Bureau), Public Prosecutor’s Office, the Police and Najwyższa
Izba Kontroli (The Supreme Audit Office).
Moreover, UOKiK emphasises the importance of sector inquiry and opinions of
undertakings, particularly as regards the abuse of a dominant position by strong market
players. There are assumed special and practical measures so that decisions ordering to
discontinue unfair practices by dominants would meet mainly the market demands. To
this end, mainly market tests will be used, i.e. consulting a draft decision by the Office
with market participants (prior to issuance of decisions against a dominant).
It is not possible to care about the market and its participants without increasing the
knowledge of binding laws. Therefore, to meet the expectations of mainly SMEs, the Office
will draw up guidelines on commitment decisions, settlements, or procedural issues
including business secret.
The strategies of actions presented in the two Policies for 2014-2018, were drawn up
based on the Office’s experiences and the level of implementation of priorities determined
by the Consumer policy for 2010-2013 and Competition policy for 2011-2013.
Today the draft strategies were submitted for interdepartmental and social consultations.
Any interested persons may send their comments till 7th March at: [email protected]
(Competition policy) and [email protected] (Consumer policy).
Additional information for the media:
Małgorzata Cieloch, Spokesperson for UOKiK
Department of International Relations and Communication
Pl. Powstańców Warszawy 1, 00-950 Warszawa
Tel.: +48 22 827 28 92, 55 60 314, 55 60 430
Fax: +48 22 826 11 86
E-mail: [email protected]