• Eden Finance, Polkomtel.
• These are the undertakings that were subject to judicial decisions following UOKiK's decisions concerning consumer protection.

Eden Finance - Case No. XVII AmA 31/16

The first judgement relates to the decision of December 2015. The President of UOKiK came to the conclusions that Eden Finance, a lending company, had infringed collective consumer interests. The Authority analysed the information forms concerning consumer credit provided by the company. Eden Finance did not inform consumers, among other things, about additional fees for loan servicing, did not indicate the interest amount, annual interest rate for overdue debt, as well as other fees resulting from loan repayment arrears. Failure to provide information on loans’ costs misleads the consumer, because he can enter into an agreement on the basis of incorrect data. UOKiK imposed on Eden Finance fines amounting to more than PLN 58 thousand in total.

In its judgement of September 2018, the Court of Competition and Consumer Protection dismissed the company’s appeal. In oral statement of grounds, the Court indicated that the circumstances of the breach of the act on competition and consumer protection are indisputable. The Court informed that UOKiK had determined the amount of the fines imposed on the company correctly.

Polkomtel – Case No. VII AGa 1368/18

The next judgement relates to the decision of December 2014. The President of UOKiK came to the conclusions that Polkomtel infringed collective consumer interests by, among other things, making it difficult for its customers to terminate the agreement on provision of telecommunications services and limiting the right to reimbursement of the costs of shipping. Furthermore, Polkomtel used such a provision in its rules of service which allowed it to demand a high contractual penalty. However, according to the President of UOKiK, the conditions in which such a penalty could be imposed were not clearly and precisely described in the rules of service. The total amount of the fines imposed by UOKiK upon the operator was in excess of PLN 8.7 million.

In August 2018, a decision was handed down regarding the Company’s appeal against the verdict the Court of Competition and Consumer Protection of October 2017. The Court of Appeal upheld the decision regarding the majority of the practices indicated in it (7 out of 8 practices) and the financial penalties imposed. The Court of Appeal dismissed the SOKiK verdict regarding one of the practices and the penalty it concerned, and referred the case back for rehearing. It concerned the practice of making it difficult for consumers to terminate the telecommunication services agreement. Polkomtel demanded that the consumer included the information about the telephone number which the agreement concerned in the declaration to the effect that he was not interested in renewing the agreement for indefinite time after the period for which that agreement was entered into. It considered declarations which did not include that information as ineffective. It constitutes an unfair market practice, as such an obligation results neither from the provisions of the agreements, nor from the generally applicable law.

The Court said that it was necessary to refer the case back for rehearing due to the fact that the Court of Competition and Consumer Protection failed to examine the essence of the case. The statement of grounds of the 1st instance Court lacked the explanation of the manner in which Polkomtel considered the declarations submitted by customers as ineffective. As for the remaining part, the Court of Appeal agreed with UOKiK’s findings. The financial penalties imposed on Polkomtel after the Court’s verdict in total amounted to over PLN 1.4 million.

Appeal procedure

Undertakings have the right to appeal against decisions of the President of UOKiK to the Court of Competition and Consumer Protection, and to appeal against decisions of the Court of Competition and Consumer Protection to the Court of Appeal in Warsaw. It is also possible to file a further appeal against the Court of Appeal’s decision to the Supreme Court.

Judicial decisions database

Since November 2015, a judicial decisions database is available on the UOKiK website. It contains information on all decisions concerning competition-restricting practices, control of concentration, infringement of the collective interests of consumers and cases concerning recognition of prohibited clauses (in which the President of UOKiK was the claimant). The database is available under the “Decisions” tab on the UOKiK website: http://decyzje.uokik.gov.pl/bp/wyroki.nsf. Details on the rules for posting judgements can be found in the following document: Rules on providing information on judicial review of decisions of the President of the UOKiK.

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