• The Supreme Audit Office (NIK) thoroughly examined the activities of UOKiK in the years 2020–2025.
• Auditors analysed more than 20,000 pages of documents, confirming the reliability of the Competition Authority’s actions.
• The President of UOKiK received a positive assessment, among others, for efforts in identifying negative market phenomena and detecting violations.

The Supreme Audit Office (NIK) provided UOKiK with the results of an audit conducted from October 2024 to March 2025. The ad hoc audit covered a period of five years and concerned all areas of UOKiK’s activities. The NIK Board, chaired by President Marian Banaś, gave a positive evaluation of UOKiK’s activities.

The Supreme Audit Office confirmed that the President of UOKiK, acting as the central government administration body responsible for shaping and implementing competition and consumer protection policy in Poland, carried out its tasks in the field of detecting violations in compliance with the applicable regulations. The elimination of unfair market practices was conducted on the basis of both reactive methods, i.e. intervening in cases of business conduct infringing competition rules, and proactive methods, by implementing measures to strengthen fair competition in the market.

“The NIK Report not only assesses the Competition Authority’s activities in recent years but also reflects the positive changes that, together with the Competition Authority’s experienced team, have been implemented with respect to competition and consumer protection in Poland. We are increasingly effective at identifying and eliminating violations, the scale and nature of which have a significant impact on consumers and competition in the markets. Moreover, our decisions are upheld by courts. During the audit period, we issued 679 decisions imposing fines. In that time, revenues from final and binding decisions amounted to over PLN 603 million paid into the state budget”, said President of UOKiK Tomasz Chróstny.

The auditors verified every aspect of UOKiK’s activity, from document circulation procedures to issues concerning the Competition Authority’s resources. They meticulously examined the rules governing: the processing of notifications and other submissions received by the Competition Authority, the initiation of preliminary investigations and regular proceedings, communications sent to businesses, as well as the conduct of analyses and market research. They reviewed compilations concerning, among others, signals received by the Competition Authority, court cases, and the content of internal documents. NIK conducted a detailed examination of the activities of the President of UOKiK between 2020 and 2024.

“The audit lasted nearly five months and covered a very wide range of UOKiK’s activities over the last five years. I appreciate the enormous amount of work carried out by the NIK auditors, at whose request we prepared and submitted over 20,000 pages of documents, not to mention hundreds of pages of explanations, summaries, and statistics. During this time, as the UOKiK team, we did not slow down our work on ongoing cases”, emphasised President of UOKiK Tomasz Chróstny.

In the area of large-scale retail chains, NIK auditors looked at the actions of the President of UOKiK with regard to practices such as unagreed discounts and sales-related fees imposed on suppliers, as well as irregularities in product country-of-origin labelling. They also analysed proceedings concerning discrepancies between shelf prices and checkout prices. They also reviewed interventions directed at franchise network organisers and what corrective measures were taken as a result, such as issuing instructions for franchisees, conducting audits, and organising training sessions.

In the agri-food markets, the audit covered activities related to, among others, the pork market. NIK specifically investigated practices related to so-called contracted fattening – including two commitment decisions issued by the President of UOKiK in December 2023 – and the monitoring of trade conditions in connection with the spread of ASF. The evaluation also included President of UOKiK’s interventions in the milk and dairy processing markets, as well as rapeseed, oilseed, and legume markets, along with the issue of the sale of so-called “alcotubes”.

The audit also covered the automotive market and the media market, including cases concerning the concentration of PKN Orlen and Polska Press, as well as Agora and Eurozet.

NIK found that the actions of the President of UOKiK involved mechanisms that identified negative market phenomena and contributed to detecting violations. In each case, they related to a specific market and the verification of the conduct of businesses operating within it.

The Supreme Audit Office emphasised that the President of UOKiK made use of various tools in his activities, including by issuing so-called “soft calls” to businesses in matters concerning competition and consumer protection. This type of practice allowed for swift action upon receiving signals about potential irregularities and obtaining additional information or explanations from the business concerned. Thanks to this, the Competition Authority was able to efficiently verify incoming signals in situations where the significance of the case and the scope of available data did not justify initiating preliminary investigation, yet still raised concerns.

“I am pleased to hear about the positive evaluation of the Competition Authority’s activities issued by the Supreme Audit Office, headed by President Marian Banaś. Given the comprehensive scope of this audit and the number of issues and materials examined, the NIK evaluation can be regarded as a kind of approval for UOKiK’s activities over the last five years. This is very important since it strengthens confidence in the Competition Authority as a strong and competent institution, effective in combating irregularities in the market”, emphasised President of UOKiK Tomasz Chróstny.