Hundreds of decisions and fines exceeding PLN 1 billion – the Office of Competition and Consumer Protection summarized last year’s activities, boasting about its effectiveness in the fight against unfair market practices.
The Office of Competition and Consumer Protection joins the annual summaries with considerable delay. For the office that guards consumer rights and competition, 2025 was a very busy year – there were several high-profile media cases, almost a thousand decisions were issued and fines exceeding PLN 1 billion were imposed. Let’s see who screwed up the most.
The biggest sinners of the consumer market
We may differ in terms of our favorite smartphone brand or preferred mobile software, but the matters dealt with by the Office of Competition and Consumer Protection concern all of us. We are all consumers, sensitive to collusion and fraud, including the technology market. The Office of Competition and Consumer Protection (UOKiK) is an entity that seems to operate beyond divisions, looking into the hands of companies that try to bend the rules – sometimes so much that in return they receive astronomical fines from the Office of Competition and Consumer Protection.
Last year, the President of the Office of Competition and Consumer Protection, Tomasz Chróstny, issued a total of 900 decisions – 369 on competition protection and 530 on consumer matters. Total fines exceeded PLN 1.15 billion, over half of which concerned restricting competition and the rest related to violations of consumer rights, including the use of prohibited clauses in contracts.
The highest fines in the financial segment were imposed on Pekao and Pekao Bank Hipoteczny banks, which, when implementing loan holidays, shortened the loan repayment suspension period and at the same time extended its repayment period – for these practices the banks paid a total of nearly PLN 119 million. In the telecommunications sector, there was a lot of talk about fines for P4 (Play), which withheld discounts from consumers who were late with payments – the fine amounted to nearly PLN 110 million. Similar actions against T-Mobile and PayPal resulted in binding decisions and the obligation to refund unduly collected fees, and consumers received real compensation.
Last year, the Office of Competition and Consumer Protection fully dealt with greenwashing cases for the first time. Allegro, DHL, DPD and InPost were in the spotlight because their marketing suggested to consumers that more expensive products or delivery methods were greener. Additionally, the Office initiated explanatory proceedings against the activities of influencers directing advertising to the youngest consumers.
Collusion and fair competition in focus
The summary states that the Office actively fought against restricting competition in sectors such as agriculture and retail trade. High-profile fines against agricultural machinery dealers, including Claas Polska and CNH Industrial Polska, exceeded PLN 500 million in total – the entrepreneurs suffered the consequences of dividing the market and customers among themselves. Similarly, the price collusion case in the Jura coffee machine segment showed that even cooperation with well-known RTV networks can result in high penalties.
The Office of Competition and Consumer Protection did not limit itself only to imposing penalties – its actions also included commitment decisions, explanatory proceedings and “soft” interventions that allowed consumers to obtain benefits worth at least PLN 160 million. The enforcement of decisions from previous years brought additional revenues to the state budget, including the Gazprom case, where the Russian company is to pay PLN 174 million.
Tomasz Chróstny announced that this year we can expect equally active activity of the office, although – as he himself admits – UOKiK is struggling with systemic problems:
“In 2026, we will not slow down – despite serious budget shortcomings and underinvestment, we intend to very actively implement our competences, with great determination to even better protect consumers and honest entrepreneurs” – Tomasz Chróstny, President of the Office of Competition and Consumer Protection.
Stock image from Depositphotos
