Poland: Unfair practices
One year had elapsed in Poland since the Act on Counteracting the Unfair Use of Contractual Advantage in the Trade of Agricultural and Food Products came into effect. This legislation aimed to shield small Polish farmers and grocery suppliers from exploitation by large supermarkets and retail chains.
RECENT DEVELOPMENTS
The enforcing authority issued only one decision during this period. In March 2018, it ordered Cykoria SA, a food concentrate manufacturer, to implement commitments including:
- Providing advance notification regarding delivery timing and location
- Shortening payment periods to 45 days
- Eliminating supplier fees to trade organizations
This case concluded with commitments rather than penalties.
Two additional formal proceedings were initiated concerning extended payment terms with suppliers. These stemmed from exploratory investigations into soft fruit markets, where 29 purchasing centers were inspected to verify whether fruit pricing complied with regulations and whether purchasing centers had “unfairly used contractual advantage in relation to farmers.”
Investigations also examined relationships between milk processors and their suppliers, revealing practices that could constitute contractual advantage abuse, such as exclusivity requirements and termination provisions lacking notice periods.
PROPOSED CHANGES
One year after implementation, the government proposed amendments awaiting parliamentary approval. These changes would extend protections by eliminating current turnover thresholds that limited applicability. Additional proposals include:
- Protecting complainant anonymity in unfair practice cases
- Empowering the authority to issue immediately enforceable decisions
THOUGHTS
Despite issuing only one decision and launching two formal proceedings, the authority demonstrated active enforcement. Proposed threshold elimination would expand intervention opportunities substantially.