Poland's UOKiK verifying implementation of the Omnibus Directive

Poland's Competition and Consumer Protection office (UOKiK) is now monitoring compliance with the EU's Omnibus Directive. The relevant implementation legislation went into effect in Poland on 1 January 2023.

The UOKiK's compliance monitoring activities began less than two weeks after the implementation of the Directive, which introduces a number of new obligations for businesses that sell products or services to consumers, such as obligations to provide transparent information about price reductions, publish fair consumer reviews, and present offers fairly in search results.

The UOKiK reports that its officials have checked around 40 websites of e-commerce businesses, including sellers of clothing, cosmetics, footwear, electronics, sports equipment and online platforms.

As a result, many of them received "soft requests" to clarify and change specific practices.

Visits to brick-and-mortar shops are also planned by Poland's Trade Inspectorate. Inspections will initially take place in outlets of six well-known retail chains.

The UOKiK has also announced that it will check the following:

• whether and how businesses that make consumer reviews available online report on how their reliability is verified;
• whether and how sales platforms report on the main parameters that determine the order in which products appear in search results;
• whether and how sales platforms disclose if offers are paid advertising or have received a higher placement as a result of payment;
• whether and how platforms communicate that the person offering goods or services is a business or private person (and if, in the latter case, they communicate to customers the non-application of consumer protection legislation); and
• whether businesses operating on the Internet provide a telephone number making it possible to contact them.

For more information on Poland's consumer protection regulations and the implementation of the Omnibus Directive, contact your CMS client partner or local CMS experts.