• Lambii, Primax Medic.
• These are the enterprises which were subject to court judgements regarding UOKiK decisions in the area of consumer protection

​

 Lambii – file ref. no. XVII AmA 8/16

The first of the judgements concerns the Lambii company appeal against the decision from December 2015. The President of UOKiK stated that the enterprise violated the collective consumer interests. The enterprise invited consumers to participate in presentations but did not inform about the commercial purpose of the organized events. In addition, the company limited its clients’ right to withdraw from the contract concluded outside the business premises. The Office imposed on the enterprise a penalty in the total amount of over PLN 30,000.

In October 2018, SOKiK (Court of Competition and Consumer Protection) dismissed the company's appeal.

In the oral justification of the judgement, SOKiK completely agreed with the position of the President of UOKiK. According to the court, consumers were not aware that they would participate in trade shows. SOKiK also pointed out that the company was disseminating instruction sheet on the right to withdraw from the contract, while at the same time limiting this possibility in its content. This could have additionally confused consumers. The court upheld the amount of the penalty imposed by the Office.

Primax Medic – file ref. no. XVII AmA 33/16

 The second judgement concerned the Primax Medic company appeal against UOKiK decision from December 2015. The enterprise invited consumers to participate in tests evaluating the risk of acidification of the body and cardiovascular diseases, as well as the promotion of a healthy lifestyle. The company did not inform consumers that the tests were actually presentations of commercial goods on its offer. The Office prohibited Primax Medic from using this practice and imposed on the enterprise a financial penalty in the amount of over PLN 7,000.

In November 2018, SOKiK dismissed the company's appeal. In the opinion of the court, consumers were not aware that they were invited to trade presentations. The court found no grounds to reduce the penalty imposed by UOKiK.

Appeal procedure

An enterprise may appeal against the decision of the President of UOKiK to the Court of Competition and Consumer Protection (SOKiK), and against the judgement of SOKiK - 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, the judicial decisions database is available on the UOKiK website. It contains information on all decisions regarding cases of competition restricting practices, concentration control, violation of collective consumer interests and cases on the recognition of clauses as prohibited (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. Detailed information about the rules for placing judgements can be found in the document: Principles governing the provision of information on court control over decisions of the President of UOKiK.

Additional information for the media:

UOKiK Press Office
Pl. Powstańców Warszawy 1, 00-950 Warszawa, Poland
Phone: +48 695 902 088, +48 22 55 60 345
E-mail: biuroprasowe@uokik.gov.pl
Twitter: @UOKiKgovPL