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Archive for: Polish Act on Protection of Competition and Consumers

Collective interests of consumers, case III SK 44/10

May 9th, 2011, Tomasz Rychlicki

Terms of Service of Domeny.pl website contained a clause that allowed Domeny.pl to introduce changes in TOS and it also included a statement that the changes take effect “from the time a new version is available on the website”. The President of the Office of Competition and Consumer Protection decided that this provision violates the collective interests of consumers as they should be always informed about amendments to the terms. Otherwise they would have to constantly check to see if TOS has not been modified. The President ordered the removal of the questioned terms of service. Domeny.pl filed a complaint against this decision. The Supreme Court in its judgment of 12 April 2011 case file III SK 44/10 dismissed the complaint.

Collective interests of consumers, case XVII Ama 125/08

November 26th, 2009, Tomasz Rychlicki

In the article entitled “Termin konkursu powinien być realny“, the Polish newspaper Rzeczpospolita reports a recent case of a buyer of CHIO CHIPS that are produced by The Lorenz Bahlsen Snack-World. He filed a complaint to the representation of the Office of Competition and Consumers Protection in Wrocław. This dissatisfied consumer argued that being in the shop, he chose CHIO chips and not the other products that were sold in a similar price because he was attracted by a draw where he could win some nice prizes. However, he became disappointed because when he did open the package and read the coupon, it turned out that the draw was already over. The date of the draw was shown on the inside part of a special bar attached to chips’ bag, but it could be difficult to read after the break of the package.

Because of the lack of a clear declaration with regard to the end date of the draw, the Company was fined 22000 PLN for the practice of contravention of collective interests of consumers. According to the Polish Act on Protection of Competition and Consumers – APCC – (in Polish: Ustawa o ochronie konkurencji i konsumentów) published in Journal of Laws (Dziennik Ustaw) No. 50, item 331, with later amendments, it was a violation of the obligation to provide consumers with reliable, true and complete information regarding the product.

The Polish Court of Competition and Consumer Protection upheld the contested decision in its judgment, case file XVII Ama 125/08. Such essential information as the period of promotion/draw or the validity date of the product cannot be hidden inside the bar of the package and thus not visible at first glance. Such information must be readily available. The Court ruled that the date of a draw should be indicated clearly on the product packaging and incomplete information is misleading. The judgment is not final yet, the company may file an appeal.

Polish regulations on prohibited contractual provisions

April 8th, 2009, Tomasz Rychlicki

I. The Law
The main sources of binding laws in the Republic of Poland are the Constitution of 2 April 1997, acts passed by the Parliament, ratified international treaties and regulations issued, for example, by the Prime Minister or the Council of Ministers – Polish government. Regulations are issued for the purpose of implementation of acts.

I.A. Substantive law

Act of 16 April 1993 on Combating Unfair Competition – CUC – (in Polish: ustawa o zwalczaniu nieuczciwej konkurencji), Journal of Laws (Dziennik Ustaw) No. 47, item 211, with later amendments.
Act of the protection of certain consumer rights and on the liability for damage caused by a dangerous product – PCCR – (in Polish: ) , Journal of Laws (Dziennik Ustaw) of 31 March 2000, No. 22 , item 271.
Act on protection of the purchasers of the right to use a building or residential unit for a specified time each year and on amendment to the Civil Code, Code of Minor Offenses,and the Law on Land and Mortgage Registers and Mortgage, Journal of Laws (Dziennik Ustaw) of 2000, No. 74, item 855.
Act on specific terms and conditions of consumer sale and amendments to the Civil Code.
Act of 16 February 2007 on competition and consumer protection, Journal of Laws – CCP – (in Polish: Ustawa o ochronie konkurencji i konsumentów), Journal of Laws (Dziennik Ustaw) of 2007, No. 50, item 331.
Act of 23 August 2007 on combating unfair commercial practices – CUCP – (in Polish: ustawa o przeciwdziałaniu nieuczciwym praktykom rynkowym), Journal of Laws (Dziennik Ustaw) No. 171, item 1206.

I.B. Case law
See “Polish case law on abusive clauses in B2C IT and IP contracts“.

II. Prohibited contractual provisions
Prohibited contractual provisions or “abusive clauses” are understood as provisions of the contract concluded with the consumer that were not agreed individually and in consequence shape consumer’s rights and obligations in a manner contrary to good customs and grossly violate consumer’s interests. Such provisions are not binding on the consumer, but the parties are bound by other provisions of the contract.

In accordance with the provisions of article 385³ of the Civil Code, if in doubt – it is considered that unlawful contractual provisions are those that, in particular:

exclude or seriously limit the liability to the consumer for failure to perform or improper performance of an obligation,
provide provisions, of which the consumer was unable to get acquaint with before concluding the contract,
impose solely on the consumer an obligation to pay a fixed sum in the case of the resignation from the conclusion or performance of the contract,
impose on the consumer, who has not performed the obligations or departed from the contract, the obligation to pay grossly inflated penalty or smart money,
exclude the jurisdiction of Polish courts or submit the matter to a Polish or foreign arbitration court, or other authority, and impose the adjudication by the court which is not locally relevant according to the Civil Code.

These are couple of examples of the so-called “gray abusive clauses”.

III. Procedure
The District Court in Warsaw, the Court of Competition and Consumer Protection decides if a given provision is prohibited and abusive. Anyone who has been or may be offered a contract containing such a clause, consumer organizations, consumer ombudsmen and the President of the Office of Competition and Consumer Protection may bring an action before the Court. Consumers may obtain assistance from the local consumer ombudsman or one of the state-funded consumer organizations.

The clauses which have been found abusive by a final decision of the Court are entered into the Register of Prohibited Clauses that is available on the website of the President of the Office of Competition and Consumer Protection and as of this moment cannot be used in relations with consumers. The application of such clauses may be regarded as an infringement of collective consumer interests and may result in a fine of up to 10% of the trader’s revenue.

Copyright law, case VI ACa 1259/06

March 17th, 2008, Tomasz Rychlicki

The Appellate Court in Warsaw in its judgment of 17 October 2007 case file VI ACa 1259/06 held that the regulations provided in the Polish Act on Protection of Competition and Consumers – APCC – (in Polish: Ustawa o ochronie konkurencji i konsumentów) published in Journal of Laws (Dziennik Ustaw) No. 50, item 331, with later amendments, define the entrepreneur very broadly. This definition will even cover such entities whose activity is not associated with a typical business. This argument was confirmed by the Supreme Court in its judgment of 7 April 2004case file III SK 22/04, published in OSNP 2005/3/46.

The Court had no doubt that ZAiKS is active in providing professional services, in a structured and continuous manner, on its behalf, in the field of collective management of assigned copyrights, and thus it participates in business transactions. In applying the provisions of the APCC, “commercial purpose” as the last of the important parameters of economic activity means to obtain certain benefits for the operator of such activities. The use of such obtained benefits is, however, indifferent.

It was undisputed that ZAiKS grants licenses for fee, and it also collects appropriate fees for the management of assigned rights. Therefore it has a measurable financial benefits from its activities. The fact that these benefits are fully allocated to the statutory objectives does not mean, in light of the abovementioned comments that ZAiKS work has nothing to do with the commercial objectives.

The Court ruled that the Society of Authors ZAiKS being a non-profit organizations, is also a legal person providing services to the public, because it is organizing public access to creative activity, and licenses the use of this creativity. Therefore, ZAiKS is an entrepreneur as defined in the APCC.

See also “Polish regulations on copyright” and “Polish case law on copyright“.

Consumer protection, case III SZP 3/06

August 8th, 2006, Tomasz Rychlicki

The Supreme Court in its judgment of 13 July 2006, case file III SZP 3/06, ruled that the application of standardized agreements which provisions are identical with the provisions deemed as prohibited contractual provisions (abusive clauses) by the District Court in Warsaw, the Court of Competition and Consumer Protection, and were entered in the register kept by the President of the Office of Competition and Consumer Protection, may be considered in relation to another undertaking as the practice detrimental to/infinging on the collective interests of consumers.