Home

Global

Contact

de|en|pl

49 countries – 110 offices – 5.800 colleagues – 1 firm |

Worldwide

We use cookies to personalise the website and offer you the greatest added value. They are, among other purposes, used to analyse visitor usage in order to improve the website for you. By using this website, you agree to their use. Further information can be found in our data privacy statement.

New year to bring greater consumer protection

by Damian Dobosz

9 December 2022

The Civil Code and the Consumer Rights Act are going to be amended on 1 January 2023. These legislative changes transpose the EU directives regarding consumer protection into national law.

Key changes

regulations on supplies of digital content and services to consumers;
new product liability regime (e.g. the notion of defect in consumer contracts will be replaced with the notion of non-conformity with contract);
new information obligations of enterprises in dealings with consumers;
new consumer rights (e.g. to suspend payments);
regulations on expiry dates of liability against consumers;
regulations on consumer rights and claims when goods, digital services or digital content do not conform to the contract;
regulations on consumer use of their rights and claims;
regulations on deadlines for removal of non-conformities of goods, digital services or content with the contract and deadlines for cash refunds to consumers;
regulations on issues concerning goods with digital elements (e.g. smart watches, smart refrigerators or smart TVs);
new fines for enterprises for non-compliance with consumer protection laws;
regulations on consumer recovery of digital content from enterprises free of charge;
new deadlines for legal presumption of existence of non-conformities with contract;
new model instruction about the consumer right of withdrawal and modified model consumer withdrawal form;
new requirements regarding publication and moderation of product reviews;
new requirements regarding price labelling of goods and services;
new requirements regarding labelling of promotions and discounts;
new requirements regarding advertisements of goods and services;
new warrantor obligations.

Who is covered by the new laws?

The amended legislation affects mainly sellers and service providers who enter into contracts with consumers as well as digital service providers (e.g. music files, e-books, computer games, cloud files).

How to get ready for the changes?

Before 1 January 2023, enterprises should:

update their general terms and conditions;
expand information provided to consumers before concluding the contract;
establish practices enabling the fulfilment of obligations imposed by the new laws.

How can we help you?

We can update your terms of sale.
We can design new mechanisms for price and promotion labelling.
We can train your personnel in requirements concerning consumer service, after-service and complaint processing.
We can work out new practices when it comes to sale of goods and services to consumers.

What are the penalties for non-compliance?

The Provincial Trade Inspector may impose a fine for a failure to fulfil the new obligations up to 40 thousand zloty or the President of the Office for Competition and Consumer Protection may launch an investigation into violation of collective consumer interests and impose a fine of up to 10% of the enterprise's sales.

If you have any questions or doubts about the upcoming changes, please contact our experts.

Contact

Contact Person Picture

Damian Dobosz

Lawyer (Poland)

Send inquiry

Profile