News

On October 8, 2014, at the workshop “Energy sector vs. customer – problematic aspects of relations with customer in practice” organized by MM Conferences in Warsaw, Piotr Suski presented lecture on “Distance contracts and off-premises contracts in light of the new law on consumer rights”. Its purpose was to discuss new obligations arising from the Act on consumer rights from the perspective of energy companies.

On September 14,2014, lawyers from our office, Jarosław Sroczyński and Marcin Mioduszewski, partcipated in the Katowice Busienss Run. The event was a part of the national Poland Business Run, which took place also i Łódź, Poznań, Warsaw and Cracow. The team of J. Sroczyński and M. Mioduszewski run in a charity relay race under the name “The SPRING of lawyers”. Apart from J. Sroczyński and M. Mioduszewski, also Agnieszka Węglarz, Bartłomiej Kałucki and Małgorzta Paja participated, all engaged in the acticities of the WIOSNA Association.
„The SPRING of Lawyers” is a project of the WIOSNA Association, supported by the Cracow Bar in cooperation with “Dziennik Gazeta Prawna”.

The second edition of “The Dominance and Monopolies Review”, edited by Mr. Maurits Dolmans and published by the Law Business Research Ltd. in London, appeared in July 2014. The book provides an overview of the regulations on the abuse of dominant position in chosen countries from all over the world.
Jarosław Sroczyński has co-authored the chapter on Poland, presenting the activities of the President of the Office of Competition and Consumer Protection in dominance cases, regulations included in the Polish Law of 16 February 2007 on the Protection of Competition and Consumers, and citing examples of the proceedings taking place before the Polish competition authority.

On July 23, 2014, Global Competition Review has published an article on the potential impact of the current conflict situation in Ukraine on the pending investigation of the European Commission against the Russian Gazprom on the alleged charge of an abuse of dominance. Comments on this issue were requested from several lawyers from the EU and Russia, among them from Jarosław Sroczyński. Mr. Sroczyński emphasized the need to avoid politicization and partiality in competition cases, including the Gazprom case, irrespective of the political evaluation of the role of Russia in the Ukrainian crisis and the activities of the pro-Russian lobby in the European Union itself. See

On June 19-21, 2014, ThomsonReuters and Jaguar Land Rover as a sponsor organized an Authors’ Retreat in Gibraltar, for authors of The European Lawyer Reference Series. Among the participants was Jarosław Sroczyński, who cooperates with the publisher for several years, co-authoring the Merger Control Series. One of the special points of the Retreat was the dinner at St Michael’s Cave, hosted by the Chief Minister Fabian Picardo.
During the event, the participants had the opportunity to the talk about the planned publications but could also admire the scenery and panoramic views of Gibraltar. A short video from the event is available at: vimeo.com/98780314

Jarosław Sroczyński has commented the amendment of the Polish competition law for the Global Competition Review. The aim of the new law, adopted by the Parliament on May 30, 2014, is to enable the OCCP to be more effective and quick in the elimination of illegal, anticompetitive practices. The amendment has also upgraded the leniency program, introducing a leniency-plus system. The Law also introduces fines for individuals, remedies for dominant violators, settlements with the OCCP and a two-phase merger control system.

On May 13, 2014 Jarosław Sroczyński delivered a lecture in Warsaw for the participants of the workshop on Unfair Competition Law. The lecture entitled „Charging ‘slot allowances’ as an act of unfair competition” was devoted to a qualification as so-called “slot allowances” of retroactive rebates applied in business relations between network sellers and their suppliers.