Recently the Polish Parliament accepted a wide-ranging series of amendments to the Act of 16 February 2007 on Competition and Consumer Protection (“ACCP”). They intend to strengthen the Polish legal system as regards the protection of competition and consumers. The most significant changes, described in the first part of this article, concern antimonopoly proceedings regarding concentrations of undertakings. Other changes, described in details in the second part, include personal liability for managers of undertakings which apply anti-competitive practices, expansion of the leniency program and introduction of procedures governing investigations and searches, just to name a few.
CONTROL OF CONCENTRATION
In general, the intention of concentration is subject to a notification submitted to the Polish regulator – the President of the Office of Competition and Consumer Protection in the case where the combined worldwide turnover of undertakings participating in the concentration in the financial year preceding the year of the notification exceeds the equivalent of 1.000.000.000 EUR, and/or the combined turnover of undertakings participating in the concentration in the territory of the Republic of Poland in the financial year preceding the year of the notification exceeds the equivalent of 50.000.000 EUR. Such an obligation refers to the intention of:
merging two or more independent undertakings;
taking over by acquiring or taking up stocks, other securities or shares, or in any other way, direct or indirect control over one or more undertakings by one or more undertakings;
creation by undertakings of one joint undertaking;
acquisition by the undertaking of a part of another undertaking’s property (the entirety or part of the undertaking) if the turnover achieved by the property in any of the two financial years preceding the notification exceeded in the territory of the Republic of Poland the equivalent of EUR 10 000 000.
