Practical Aspects of Protection of Collective Consumer Interests – Overview of Measures Applied by the Polish Office of Competition and Consumer Protection

Marek Niechcial, President, Poland's Office of Competition and Consumer Protection

In Poland, protection of consumer interests and protection of competition has been entrusted to one institution, the one I am in charge of. The Polish Antimonopoly Office was established in 1990. Since the very beginning, when performing its activities it took into account the impact of monopolies on consumer welfare. Courts also identified the connection between protection of competition and safeguarding interests of consumers. In a 1991 judgment, the Supreme Court indicated that competition assessment of a market practice should be preceded with an analysis of the broader context, in particular, of its impact on consumers. However, it was not until 1996 when the Antimonopoly Office was transformed into the Office of Competition and Consumer Protection, that protection of consumers’ interests was written into its mission as an indispensable element of the competitive order in the economy.

Read full paper Subscribe to the IICJ
Competition Government April 2017 Vol.10, No. 39, Spring 2017

Marek Niechcial

More

Marek Niechcial is a graduate of the University of Warsaw, where he studied economics. In the years 2007-2008 he was President of UOKiK, and from 2008 an advisor at the National Bank of Poland’s Economic Institute. In the years 2007-2012 he was a member and Deputy Chairman of the Statistical Council, an advisory body to the Prime Minister. He has been Deputy Director for Economic Affairs at the Department of the Committee of the Council of Ministers, and has worked, among others, with the Insurance and Retirement Fund Commission Office and at the Polish Academy of Sciences (PAN) Institute of Economics. He was has also worked as a journalist specialising in economic affairs. Marek Niechcial has experience in education, having been a lecturer among others at the L. Kozminski University Business School, University of Finance and Management, and Warsaw School of Information Technology under the auspices of the Polish Academy of Sciences (PAN). He has co-authored Reports on Innovativeness of the Polish Economy (Raporty o innowacyjnosci gospodarki Polski) published by the Polish Academy of Sciences (PAN) Economics Institute, and an NBP publication, currently under preparation, Innovativeness of the Polish Economy (Innowacyjnosc polskiej gospodarki). Privately he has a passion for aviation. He is involved among other things in organising meetings of the Polish Aviation Technology Association (Polska Technika Lotnicza). Prime Minister Beata Szydlo appointed Marek Niechcial President of UOKiK on 12 May 2016.

Competition Government April 2017 Vol.10, No. 39, Spring 2017