Conducting business, especially large-scale business, requires compliance with competition law. Polish and EU competition laws prohibit certain activities in the market, including anti competitive agreements and abuse of a dominant position, as well as violations of consumer rights, on threat of heavy fines and severe sanctions.
Competition law also encompasses merger control cases, as well as (in a broad sense) EU rules on the granting and settlement of state aid.
In recent years, there has been an increase in activity from the authorities, i.e. the European Commission and the President of the Polish Competition and Protection of Consumers Office UOKiK, and we are also seeing them explore new competencies such as combating payment bottlenecks, or counteracting the unfair use of contractual advantage in the trade of agricultural and food products. Our consultancy aims to help entrepreneurs respond properly to the challenges arising from the maze of ever-expanding regulations and rules which grow more complex by the day.
What we offer
- Analysis of the permissibility of certain market behaviors, agreements, contracts, transactions in terms of their compliance with competition law.
- Advice on consumer protection rules, including prohibited clauses.
- Representation before the President of the Polish Competition and Protection of Consumers Office UOKiK and the European Commission in competition law cases.
- Representation before courts, including the Court of Competition and Consumer Protection.
- Reviewing transactions for compliance with state aid rules.
- Advice and representation before authorities and courts on combating payment congestion.
Selected experience
- Representation of a retail client in proceedings before UOKiK concerning allegations of abuse of contractual advantage in the marketing of agricultural and food products.
- Providing opinions on state aid issues and markets relevant to the aviation sector client.
- Analysis of relevant markets in the insurance industry and translation of these markets into antitrust law issues for insurance exclusive agents
- Legal advice and representation before UOKiK in a case involving payment congestion in the first proceedings of its kind in Poland.
- Opinion on competition law issues in the context of negotiation options and possible business arrangements of the airport operator with air carriers.
- Analysis on the compatibility of state aid with EU law, in particular on the basis of the block exemption (GBER), for an investment agreement in the aviation market.
Reputation
- "Reducing Payment Bottlenecks. A Practical Guide" - we are the authors of the first book on the Polish market concerning the Polish "payment bottlenecks law", as well as many press publications on the topic. Subsequently, due to our reputation in this area, we represented clients as attorneys in the first administrative proceedings conducted by UOKiK.