Municipal services

Area of expertise

For years, local municipal services markets have been among those in which the interventions of UOKiK have been most frequent. Such local oversite has been possible due to the structure of UOKiK, consisting of a head office in Warsaw and several branches offices.

In view of the specific structure of municipal services markets, the President of UOKiK usually assesses whether municipal service providers have abused their dominant position. UOKiK may also challenge the activities of municipalities or other local authorities.

The obligation to notify UOKiK of an intention to make a concentration when the Competition Act’s turnover and jurisdictional thresholds are met applies as well to local authorities, e.g. in cases of creating a joint venture with an independent company. For example, the Regional Authority of Podkarpackie Province was held responsible for failing to file a notification of the intent to create a joint venture (decision no. DKK-37/09).

Experience

Our Law Firm’s services include:

representation at each stage of administrative proceedings before the President of UOKiK at all levels of judicial appellate proceedings;
representation in civil courts in cases of unfair competition and claims for damages resulting from another company’s violation of the competition law;
drafting legal opinions;
compliance seminars tailored to a client’s needs and business;
legal compliance assessments (audits) of a client’s business.

On behalf of companies who do business with municipalities, our Law Firm has drafted and submitted to UOKiK complaints concerning the abuses of dominance by the respective municipalities.

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