Enforcement and Effectiveness of Consumer Law in Poland

Abstract

Due to political and economic factors Polish tradition of consumer protection is relatively short. Effective consumer protection has been gradually recognised as a public policy objective from 1989 onwards, and particularly after the adoption of the Constitution of 1997 and Poland’s accession to the European Union in 2004. The present chapter describes the national system of consumer protection, which emerged throughout these years, and seeks to evaluate its effectiveness. After a brief account of the key substantive provisions in the field of consumer law, the focus of the chapter moves to the specifics of the enforcement framework. It discusses the role of particular actors in that regard, most notably of the administrative agencies, the courts, consumer ombudsmen and consumer organisations as well as private regulators and alternative dispute resolution bodies. Overall, Polish mechanisms of consumer law enforcement are described as comprehensive, diverse and comparably modern. Their shortcomings are often not related to legal framework as such, but rather to its practical application, which is undermined by insufficient funding. A considerable room for improvement remains as regards consumer trust in the enforcement framework along with the general awareness of consumer rights.