The Polish Competition Authority – the President of the Office for Competition and Consumer Protection (the ”PCA” or the “President of the OCCP”)–initiated the precedent antimonopoly proceedings against Gazprom and its international partners (Engie from Switzerland, as well as four other companies from the Netherlands: Uniper, OMV, Shell and Wintershall) related to an alleged violation…
The Act on Combating the Unfair Use of Contractual Advantage in the Trade in Agricultural and Food Products (the “Act”) entered into force on July 12th, 2017. Its essential goal is to eliminate unfair market practices from every stage of the food product supply chain. The new legislation was to be (and still is) a…
The Polish competition authority applies the principle of in dubio pro reo in the case concerning a cartel on the domestic certification market (and refuses to use lie detecting devices) On 29 December 2017, the Polish competition authority – the President of the Office of Competition and Consumer Protection (the “OCCP President”) – penalised a…
Let me get this straight from the beginning. I am not a big fan of the trend among the competition authorities to introduce whistleblowing programs. For me this seems to be rather a sign of weakness and not of strength. If other available tools (and especially the leniency program) worked well there would probably be…
The Act on Combating Unfair Use of Contractual Advantage in Trading in Agricultural and Food Products (the “Act”) will enter into force in the mid-2017. The objective of the Act is to eliminate unfair trade practices between purchasers and producers (suppliers) of agricultural food products at every stage of the supply chain. The new legislation…
Polish competition authority, the Office of Competition and Consumer Protection (UOKiK), took its stance on the Uber’s innovative business model. As it is its last important statement under President Adam Jasser, I would like to mention him at the end of this entry, especially as the way UOKiK tackled the “Uber problem” is an another…
“A strong and active antimonopoly authority is an incentive for undertakings to engage in prevention” – the President of the Polish Competition Authority presents his views on competition law compliance. Adam Jasser, the President of the Polish Competition Authority (UOKIK) has recently spoke to Bartosz Jagura of Viadrina Compliance Center about competition law compliance. It…
On 30 September 2015, the Act on Control of Certain Investments (the “Act”) enters into force. The Act aims to create mechanisms to protect against hostile takeovers of companies operating in key sectors of Polish economy. According to the Act, prior to the acquisition of shares of strategic companies (including the acquisition of proprietary interests…
The Polish Competition Authority, which is the President of the Office of Competition and Consumer Protection (the “PCA”), has announced that, starting from 1 September 2015, it will be issuing statements of objections to undertakings and will set up an internal evaluation committee. These new tools are, in PCA’s own words, designed to “strengthen procedural…
On 10 June 2014, the Polish Parliament adopted a significant set of amendments to the Polish Competition Law Act (the “Act”). Having received Presidential approval on 30 June 2014, the amended Act is now waiting for publication. The changes are expected to come into force relatively soon. The amendments will take effect 6 months after…
