UOKiK Growing more powerful, in the name of better consumer protection

Mystery buyer transactions, blocking websites and, most controversial of all, raids and searches in collective consumer interest cases – these are the new tools requested by the Polish Office of Competition and Consumer Protection so that it may counter new threats brought by development of the digital market.

The legislative and programming schedules of the Council of Ministers now make mention of amendment of the legislative Act of 16 February 2007 regarding competition and consumer protection (2019 Dz.U. item 369, last amended by 2019 Dz.U. item 1667). To go by the published premises, the amendments will – not for the first time in recent years – increase the powers wielded by the Office of Competition and Consumer Protection. The details of the amendments are to be drawn up and presented by the newly appointed President of UOKiK, Tomasz Chróstny, and to be accepted by the government by the end of March 2020.

The avowed idea is to bring the laws in line with changing market realities, especially in the realm of digital services, so as to be better placed to protect consumers from ever-more inventive alternative investments and Ponzi schemes.

Full text (in Polish) is available in Dziennik Gazeta Prawna (31.01.2020)