UOKiK has imposed penalties on three companies in connection with payment congestion

The President of the Office of Competition and Consumer Protection (UOKiK) has issued nine decisions finding excessive delays in monetary payments by businesses, the authority said. This means that each of them delayed payments to their counterparties by more than PLN 5 million during the three months under investigation. The president of the UOKiK imposed financial penalties totaling almost PLN 1 million on three companies, and in the case of six entities, he found grounds obliging to waive the monetary sanction.

The first decision concerns the Agata company, owner of a chain of furniture stores. In the course of the investigation, it was established that from June to August 2020, the entrepreneur was late in paying more than 15,000 invoices to 797 contractors. The largest sum of delays to one of the entities amounted to almost PLN 5 million on 223 invoices issued by him. The President of the UOKiK imposed a penalty of more than PLN 476 thousand on the company, it was announced.

The second penalty of more than PLN 280 thousand was imposed on Bricoman Polska, which operates a chain of construction and repair wholesalers. In the course of the proceedings, it was established that from June to August 2020, the entrepreneur paid almost 14 thousand monetary benefits to 614 contractors after the deadline. The largest amount of delays to one contractor was more than PLN 1.2 million for 260 invoices paid late.

The third of the fines, over PLN 200,000, was imposed on Silvan Transport & Logistics. This is an entity engaged in road freight transport. From February to April 2020, the company failed to fulfill monetary services to more than 3,000 contractors on time, and the largest sum of delays to a single entity amounted to more than PLN 1.2 million for 62 invoices paid late, it was also indicated.

In the case of proceedings initiated before December 8, 2022, the UOKiK president is obliged to refrain from imposing a monetary penalty if, during the period under review, the entrepreneur violating the provisions of the Act was itself a victim of payment congestion. Such situations occurred in the case of six entrepreneurs:

Osadkowski and Wialan Langer and Wiatr - two companies distributing agricultural inputs;
Nagel and Adampol - two entrepreneurs in the transportation industry;
IKEA Industry Poland - a manufacturer of furniture for the well-known chain;
Sokołów - an entity operating in the meat processing industry.

The decisions described were issued under legislation in effect until early December 2022. At the end of last year, an amendment to the provisions of the Law on Prevention of Excessive Delays in Commercial Transactions came into force. In 2023, on the basis of the amended regulations, the UOKiK president will take further action in the area of combating payment congestion.

"The amended regulations will make it possible to streamline the conduct of further proceedings and, through a new sanction mechanism, to increase the pressure for timely and honest settlement of large businesses with their counterparties," said UOKiK president Tomasz Chróstny.

As part of its new powers, the UOKiK president will also be able to take so-called soft actions, addressing calls to entrepreneurs to change their payment practices. Receiving this kind of signal, the entrepreneur will have the opportunity to immediately improve the payment culture towards its counterparties, thus avoiding proceedings and financial sanctions for generating payment bottlenecks.

Source: UOKiK and ISBnews