• UOKiK President Tomasz Chróstny imposed two fines for payment gridlocks totalling over PLN 650 thousand.
• The fined entities are mineral water producer Bewa and paint shop owner Zacisze.
• The President of the UOKiK also issued three decisions in which he waived the imposition of a fine.

Bewa from Ruszczyn (Łódzkie Province) and Zacisze from Warsaw are another companies fined for causing payment gridlocks. The former entrepreneur is a producer of mineral waters – Evita and Polaris, among others. The latter deals with wholesale trade of building materials and runs paint shops under the name of Patio Color. The investigation showed that the amount of payment gridlocks generated by the companies amounted to PLN 75 and 25 million respectively.

The President of UOKiK imposed penalties on entrepreneurs in the total amount of over PLN 650 thousand – PLN 567 thousand on Bewa and PLN 101 thousand on Zacisze.

Pursuant to the regulations, the amount of administrative fine is calculated according to a formula and, in addition to the amount of the monetary considerations not paid on time, it also depends on the statutory interest for delays in commercial transactions applicable at the time of the decision and the length of the delay itself. Thus, the penalty imposed closely reflects the benefits that specific entrepreneurs have gained by causing payment gridlocks. 

"Our actions target entities that take advantage of their position in order not to pay their counterparties on time for delivered goods or provided services. We want to protect entrepreneurs who, faced with a situation of not receiving payment from a contracting party, struggle to maintain liquidity and suffer the consequences of such delays. Eliminating payment gridlocks is one of our priorities," says UOKiK President Tomasz Chróstny.

Penalty waiver – three decisions

In addition, the President of UOKiK found excessive delay in the fulfilment of monetary payments by the following three entrepreneurs:

• Fresh Logistics Polska from Robakowo (Wielkopolskie Province) – a company specialising in logistics services involving fresh products.
• Pekaes, based in Błonie (Mazowieckie Province) – an entity operating in the transport, forwarding and logistics industry.
• Przedsiębiorstwo Handlowe Alfa-Electro from Katowice – a distributor of electrical engineering articles for professionals.

Although the companies also generated payment gridlocks, no fine was imposed on them. The current wording of the Act on combating excessive delays in commercial transactions obliges the President of UOKiK to refrain from imposing a penalty if, during the period under examination, the sum of monetary payments received by companies after the expiry of the time limit exceeds the payment gridlock generated by them.

Powers of the President of UOKiK in combating payment gridlocks

In cases concerning payment gridlocks, intervention of the President of UOKiK is possible if the total amount of all monetary payments not made by an entrepreneur to its contractors or monetary payments made by an entrepreneur after the expiry of the time limit exceeds the amount of PLN 2 million.

Notify UOKiK of payment gridlocks

UOKiK monitors the market to identify those entities that violate payment discipline and encourages those with information about entrepreneurs who are the most late in paying micro, small and medium-sized businesses to notify the Office. 

Anyone who suspects that they have become a victim of payment gridlocks can notify the UOKiK. The notification should include, among other things, the name of the suspected entrepreneur, description of the facts, probability of the occurrence of the gridlocks, data of the notifying entity and any documents that may constitute evidence in the case.

The notification may be:

• sent as an electronic document via the ePUAP electronic platform for public administration services,
• sent by email to: [SCODE]emF0b3J5QHVva2lrLmdvdi5wbA==[ECODE]
• sent by post to the following address: Office of Competition and Consumer Protection, pl. Powstańców Warszawy 1, 00-950 Warsaw,
• submitted in person at the general department of the Office of Competition and Consumer Protection,

Visit the website dedicated to payment gridlocks

Examples of penalty calculation concerning specific debt amounts and the most important information about the powers of the President of UOKiK in the area of payment gridlocks can be found on a dedicated website. What is a gridlock, when can it be addressed by the President of UOKiK, how to report that an entrepreneur is not paying the remuneration due, and who can do it? These, as well as many other questions and answers can be found on zatoryplatnicze.uokik.gov.pl

Additional information for the media:

UOKiK Press Office
Pl. Powstańców Warszawy 1, 00-950 Warszawa, Poland
Phone +48 695 902 088, +48 22 55 60 246
E-mail: [SCODE]Yml1cm9wcmFzb3dlQHVva2lrLmdvdi5wbA==[ECODE]
Twitter: @UOKiKgovPL