• For almost 10 years, Jura Poland and owners of stores such as RTV Euro AGD, Media Markt and Media Expert have been involved in a collusion.
• The entrepreneurs were jointly agreeing on prices for Jura coffee machines and thus consumers could not buy those products at a lower cost.
• The President of UOKiK has imposed more than PLN 66 million fine on entrepreneurs. In addition, a person responsible for the prohibited agreement was fined with almost PLN 250 thousand.

Jura Poland is the exclusive importer of Jura brand coffee machines. The anti-monopoly proceedings showed that the company, together with the official distributors who were retailers at the same time, had concluded an anti-competitive agreement. The President of UOKiK imposed a fine of more than PLN 66 million in total on Jura Poland and its four significant contractors, namely: Euro-net (e.g. stores of RTV Euro AGD), Media Saturn Holding (intra-mural stores of Media Markt), Media Saturn Online (Internet store of Media Markt) and Terg (e.g. stores of Media Expert).

The evidence material collected, among other things, during the search in the offices of a few business entities showed that the entrepreneurs had agreed on minimum resale prices for Jura coffee machines and their accessories. You could not buy those products at any prices lower than the ones established by the importer. The foregoing rule applied to both intra-mural and online stores. The entrepreneurs additionally colluded on the price levels used for promotions and during sales as well as the types and value of free gifts for consumers. Jura Poland was monitoring prices used by distributors and intervened if they had tried to sell coffee machines at lower prices. It then informed the sellers of possible consequences, such as withholding deliveries or contract termination. The distributors themselves also checked if other collusion participants had adhered to its rules. The information was exchanged via mobiles, e-mails, WhatsApp and text messages. Relevant price arrangements were also made by Jura Poland during its meetings with the distributors.

The prohibited agreement was in effect at least from July 2013 to November 2022. In the first year of the collusion, Media Saturn Holding and Media Saturn Online were also its participants, in addition to Jura Poland. In 2014, Terg joined, while in 2019 Euro-net became a participant, too.

- As a result of the illegal agreement, for 10 years the prices of Jura coffee machines were not set independently by sellers under the terms of fair competition. This means that consumers did not enjoy an opportunity to buy those products at prices lower that the ones set from the top. For market collusion, I have imposed fines amounting to a total of more than PLN 66 million on its participants - says Tomasz Chróstny, the President of UOKiK.

Fines imposed on individual entrepreneurs were as follows:

Terg - PLN 30,065,250;
Jura Poland - PLN 12,212,000;
Euro-net - PLN 10,500,450;
Media Saturn Online - PLN 6,772,000;
Media Saturn Holding Polska - PLN 6,549,000.

The President of UOKiK additionally imposed a fine of PLN 243,750 on Ms Joanna Luto, the CEO of Jura Poland during the term of the collusion, who had been personally responsible for the prohibited arrangements.

The decision is not final and may be appealed against to the Court of Competition and Consumer Protection.

The maximum fines for participation in an anti-competitive agreement is 10 per cent of turnover for business entity and PLN 2 million for managers. Severe penalties for participation in collusion can be avoided by taking advantage of the leniency scheme. It offers businesses involved in an illegal agreement and managers responsible for entering into a collusion arrangement an opportunity to reduce a sanction or, in some cases, avoid it altogether. It is intended for those who agree to cooperate with the President of UOKiK as a “crown witness” and provide evidence or information regarding the existence of a prohibited agreement. We encourage the parties interested in the leniency scheme to contact UOKiK at a dedicated phone number 22 55 60 555. UOKiK staff will answer any questions about the leniency programme, including anonymous ones.

We would also like to remind you that we operate a programme to obtain information from anonymous whistleblowers. Do you wish to inform UOKiK about competition restricting practices? Visit https://uokik.whiblo.pl/ or scan the QR code below and use the simple form. The system we use guarantees full anonymity, including vis-a-vis UOKiK itself.