Polish model of judicial review of decisions taken by the President of the Office of Competition and Consumer Protection

Abstract

Aim: The research effort in the aspect of a model of a court control of a decision issued by the President of the Office for Competition and Consumer Protection is predominantly supported by significance and importance of applicable legal solutions in practice. The research was aimed at evaluating the model of court control of decisions of the OCCP President. Design / Research methods: Due to the scope of the research covered by the author, the core research methods is the dogmatic method. Because of the theoretical and legal nature of the considerations, the main method used in the research was the method of analytical and dogmatic legal research method. Conclusions / findings: The research shows that it is a complex process to assess the effectiveness of the model for court control of the OCCP President's decisions which is used, in particular in terms of ensuring full and effective guarantee and protection of entrepreneurs' rights. One should agree that the arguments raised by both proponents and antagonists of transformation of the applicable legal solutions seem justified. Observations from two systems: the model of a control exerted by common court and administrative courts in the context discussed in the paper leads representatives of case law to formulating justified demands for changing the existing model. Originality / value of the article: The unique nature of competition and consumer law cases is expressed in the hybrid nature of the proceedings run before the OCCP President and, later on, before common courts. The legislator determined the particular procedure for verifying the governance forms of the impact of the President, which is particularly justified by the nature of competition and consumer protection cases and classifying them formally to civil law cases. Proceedings before the competition and consumer protection court is the first instance proceedings with the purpose of recognising the technical aspects of the case in the light of the civil law provisions. The deliberations presented in the paper clearly lead to the conclusion that submission of the decisions made in competition protection cases to the control of common court is decisive for its scope and applied criteria and, except for legality, criteria such as usefulness, applicability or efficient management are also applied by court. Implications of the research: The deliberations presented in the paper may contribute to initiate works on the transformation of the model for controlling decisions of Polish competition bodies by court.