“Unfair practices of undertakings which take advantage of elderly persons’ trust, their credulity or ignorance of consumer law are something we must eliminate. After all, consumers lose much more than just money in their disputes with undertakings. They lose their faith in the state,which is supposed to protect their security,” said
Beata Szydło, Deputy Prime Minister and Chairwoman of the Social Committee of the Council of Ministers, during the press conference following the meeting of the Social Committee last Wednesday.

The Social Committee of the Council of Ministers dealt with issues connected with the protection of consumers against unfair practices connected with goods and services for elderly persons and the proposed amendments to the act on family support and solutions concerning orphanages and foster families, among others (i.e. the foster care system).

Protection of senior consumers

The Office of Competition and Consumer Protection warns that traders take advantage of the trust placed in them by elderly persons. The most frequent unfair practices consist in persuading elderly persons to buy expensive sets of pots, blankets or paramedical devices, which are usually sold at abnormally high prices or lack the properties described at the moment of sale. Traders take advantage of credulity and ignorance of consumer law. In order to further persuade consumers into making purchases during the free medical examinations, they accentuate the poor state of health of the demonstration participants. Sale of such products and services is most frequently carried out at hotels or sanatoriums, where elderly people are invited on the pretext of being able to participate in free medical examinations.

Unfair practices of undertakings

The President of UOKiK Marek Niechciał presented to the Committee a number of impugned practices of undertakings, i.e.:

• failure to inform about the commercial purpose of a demonstration at the moment of invitation (e.g. by inviting to free medical examinations);
• misleading consumers about their state of health (e.g. by “revealing” a health problem during the examination);
• misleading consumers about product properties (e.g. by telling demonstration participants that the presented bedding boasts rehabilitation properties and pots enable preparation of dishes which lower cholesterol);
• exerting unacceptable pressure at the time of conclusion of agreements (e.g. referring to responsibility for the state of health of other family members);
• failure to deliver documents connected with the concluded agreement (e.g. by providing to consumer only the documents related to the credit agreement without the part describing terms of withdrawal from the agreement);
• hindering agreement termination (e.g. by unduly demanding high additional charges);
• preventing contact with the trader (e.g. by providing of false email addresses or failing to answer phone calls or emails).

In order to reduce irregularities, UOKiK is considering introduction of the requirement to report each demonstration to a relevant institution, as well as the obligation to clearly inform the consumers being invited about the commercial purpose of the meeting, among others. Agreements would terminate automatically in the event that a demonstration should not be reported to a relevant institution, the obligation of clear information should be breached or the prices should be abnormally high in comparison with the market prices. UOKiK also calls for strengthening the legal provisions connected with agreements concerning medical services. The existing provisions are not precise, which is why unfair traders invite elderly persons to free medical examinations aimed solely at selling expensive medical care packages.

Educational campaign of UOKiK

The President of UOKiK informed the members of the Social Committee of the Council of Ministers about the educational campaign aimed at warning consumers against unfair commercial practices and informing about consumer rights (e.g. the 14-day period for withdrawal from agreements concluded during demonstrations free of charge). It will be inaugurated on 15 March, which is the World Consumer Rights Day. The campaign is supported by the Polish Radio (Polish: Polskie Radio), which will broadcast educational materials of UOKiK until the end of March.

Role of consumer ombudsmen

The Social Committee of the Council of Ministers also acquainted itself with proposals aimed at strengthening the position of consumer ombudsmen. Furthermore, the President of UOKiK called attention to understaffing, meaning shortage of specialists involved in helping consumers, and shortage of finance for court cases and training. “The ombudsmen have worked in Poland for nearly 20 years; however, consumers do not enjoy the same level of protection or even access to legal advice across the country. We want to change that. It is important to us that the comfort of work of ombudsmen and the safety of citizens should be increased,” said Marek Niechciał, the President of UOKiK.

Proposed changes to the act on family support and the foster care system

The Social Committee also dealt with family-related topics. For five years now, the system of care for children who cannot grow up in their natural families has undergone transformation in Poland (transformation of the foster care system). The aim is to base this system on foster families and foster-family orphanages (i.e. family-type forms of care) while reducing the role of conventional orphanages (care and education institutions). In order to accelerate positive solutions, the following changes were proposed:

• greater support for families in need of help, so that fewer children are sent to orphanages than now;
• support of family-type forms of child care, i.e. foster families and foster-family orphanages. Owing to this, children who cannot be cared for by their parents, especially the youngest ones, will be able to grow up in a more favourable environment;
• decrease of the number of conventional orphanages and development of family-type forms of child care;
• support for the children in care who come of age in their transition to independent living, so that they can enter into adulthood in a good and safe manner;
• limitation of international adoptions.

Foster care system in Poland

In 2016, nearly 75,000 children were placed in orphanages, foster families or care institutions. The vast majority, meaning more than 56,000 of children, were sent to foster-family orphanages and foster families. Approximately 18,000 children were sent to care and education institutions. In Poland, there are more than one thousand institutions of this type.

Additional information for the media:

UOKiK Press Office 
Pl. Powstańców Warszawy 1, 00-950 Warsaw
Phone: +48 695 902 088
Email: biuroprasowe@uokik.gov.pl
Twitter: @UOKiKgovPL