• Home
  • eAlerts
  • Poland: Upcoming changes to consumer law? The list goes on…

Poland: Upcoming changes to consumer law? The list goes on…

Poland
02/03/2020
Download PDF

In 2020 we will see a range of changes in consumer law. From June onwards, sole-trader businesses in Poland will be granted certain consumer-like privileges (such as protection against abusive clauses in some situations). But meanwhile lawmakers in Poland are taking steps to further boost consumer protection: a draft law amending the Act on Competition and Consumer Protection (the “Draft Law”) and granting new powers to the President of the Office of Competition and Consumer Protection (the „President of OCCP”) is on the government’s legislative agenda. According to the publicly available information, the government is planning to adopt the Draft Law in the first quarter of 2020.

Most important changes include:

  • Dawn raids in consumer-related cases (currently the President of OCCP has the power to carry out dawn raids in companies suspected of applying anti-competition practices).
  • The Draft Law broadens the scope of information which the President of OCCP may obtain from other authorities (i.e. access to data concerning cash flows, as well as about persons involved in money flows, and information about bank accounts and ownership of websites).
  • Upgrade of the “mystery shopper” mechanism: the existing legislation addressing the mystery shopper mechanism allows OCCP’s officials to undertake certain actions leading up to the purchase of a product or service but the purchase itself is not allowed. The Draft Law will allow a mystery shopper to make purchases of goods and services under a hidden or assumed identity.

For more information, please get in touch with us.

Search Filters

Advanced Search

Related content