Proposed new powers for Competition and Consumer Protection Office

According to the bill, which is currently under examination in Sejm, the Competition and Consumer Protection Office (UOKiK) will be granted some wider powers to counteract monopolistic practices. One of them will be the right to inspect all assets and books of a company suspected of violating the anti-trust bill. "It must not be like this, that in case of no cooperation from the suspect, we have no possibility to punish them," said the deputy president of UOKiK Elzbieta Modzelewska-Wachal. The new law will be based on the current system, but will be widened by ideas already in practice and European Union (EU) directives. "This new right goes too far," said former Prime Minister and former Justice Minister Hanna Suchocka. (Prawo i Gospodarka, page 8)