Part One. General Remarks

The System of Consumer Protection in Poland

Beata Pachuca-Smulska

1. Introduction

Consumer protection was first provided for in the Polish legal system in the 1970s. Nevertheless, first attempts to strengthen customer protection were made in legal literature already in the late 1960s. The Polish Constitution of 1952 (adopted in the period of a centrally-planned economy) indirectly referred in Chapter VIII to a guarantee of protection for citizen-consumers. Pursuant to Art. 3, "the Polish People's Republic ensures a continual rise in the level of the prosperity, health and cultural standards of the people". As rightly indicated by Agnieszka Malarewicz, the political system granted to citizens a constitutional guarantee securing their rights within the scope of consumer protection.1 The social and economic transformation initiated in Poland in the 1980s was also of crucial importance for fostering interest in consumer protection issues. The Council of Ministers adopted first resolutions on consumer contracts in the early 1980s. An example may be the Resolution of the Council of Ministers of June 13, 1983 on General Terms and Conditions for Retail Sales of Goods and General Warranty Conditions for Durable Goods.2 Also, the Act on Prices3 was adopted, which introduced different types of prices in the Polish economy (i.e. official prices, regulated prices and contract prices). The purpose of this act was to prevent any abuse by manufacturers when they set prices for goods. However, as the consumers were generally not aware of their rights, those reforms were visible only in the wording of legal provisions and failed to be implemented in practice.4 It was only after 1989, the year that saw the beginning of a radical transformation of the Polish social and political system, that the situation of Polish consumers began to change. The abandonment of socialism and adoption of a democratic political process and a market economy resulted in the necessity to amend normative acts in many areas of economic life, including consumer rights.5

2. The EU accession

Consumer rights were subject to a radical revision after Poland had signed the Europe Agreement.6 Poland was obliged to adopt legal solutions conforming to EU regulations, which also facilitated a consumer policy. Art. 69 of the Agreement listed law harmonization priorities. These may be broken down into two groups: (i) norms on legal standing and operation of commercial enterprises; and (ii) norms on commercial transactions. The latter group includes consumer protection regulations.7

The European Community and (subsequently) European Union law has been implemented into the Polish legal system primarily by means of acts (ustawy) and government ordinances (rozporządzenia). The formation process of modern consumer law in Poland started in the 1990s, and was closely related to the process of bringing Polish law in line with EEC regulations in force at that time. Under Art. 68 of the Europe Agreement8 Poland was obliged to gradually adapt its existing and future legislation to the legal system in force in the EEC countries. Mira Malczyńska-Biały has indicated that this adaptation process of Polish consumer law to EU requirements should be considered in four aspects9: (i) health and safety; (ii) economic interests; (iii) information and education; and (iv) self-organization.

The first transposition measures in the consumer protection system were implemented starting already in 1996 by broad amendments in the Act of February 24, 1990 on Counteracting Monopolistic Practices10 to the powers and legal standing of the President of the Antitrust Office. After the 1996 central administration reform, the Antitrust Office was renamed as the Office of Competition and Consumer Protection (abbreviated to "UOKiK" in Polish; this name is still in force), and became a key guardian of protection of consumer interests.

As of January 1, 1999, as part of implementation of EU law, the Polish lawmakers introduced regulations which created and have governed the activities of powiat and municipal consumer ombudsmen.11 This new institution reinforced institutional protection at the local government level.12

The obligation to amend the consumer protection law in line with the EC and (later) EU regulations, which had been taken upon by Poland when it signed the association agreements in 1992/1993, was in fact realized within several years prior to full membership in 2004. The most important period of implementation of the acquis communautaire from the perspective of the Polish lawmakers was that of 1998-2002.13 It was then that many regulations thus unknown to the Polish legal system were introduced.14 Examples of such regulations include Civil Code provisions on liability for a hazardous product15 and an institution of prohibited contract clauses.16 Within this implementation framework, public law provisions were adopted, which introduced inter alia special proceedings on practices infringing collective consumer interests.17 It was also the time when new solutions were put into effect on the provision of (broadly understood) tourist services, including time-sharing contracts. The newly enacted Consumer Credit Act18 was the first regulation in the Polish legal system protecting consumers of financial services. The solutions provided have given rise to effective enforcement of rights by consumers themselves, but also by administrative bodies and consumer organizations. Growing consumer awareness was closely related to an obligation by the traders to provide better protection. The latter started attaching increasing importance to ensuring compliance with information obligations towards consumers, as imposed by the regulations in force.19 The measures employed to implement the acquis communautaire included both adoption of new regulations and amendment of the existing ones (including those concerning contracts concluded under unusual circumstances). In particular, it was necessary to put in order regulations inter alia on distance and off-premises contracts, contracts concluded by means of distance communication, especially via the internet, including also financial services provided at distance.20 The solutions contributed to strengthening of the position of the weaker party to a contract, and had a fundamental significance to consumers using the internet to conclude an ever growing number of transactions.

Most recommendations indicated by the community law were implemented prior to Poland's accession to the EU on May 1, 2004. It should be emphasized that regulations on consumer protection have been subject to considerable dynamics. If only for this reason, the EU member states are obliged to systematically introduce new regulations. Since 2004, the European regulations have been extensively amended due to new economic realities, new technologies, and the most recent financial crisis. In this publication, the authors have focused on the most recently enacted regulations. The perspectives brought to bear on the discussion will range from the most general (e.g. definition of a consumer) to specific ones (e.g. dealing with individual markets).

3. Consumer in the Polish legal system

In the EU member states there is no uniform regulatory model for consumer protection. However, it is possible to identify two principal types of protecting the weaker party to a (consumer) contract. The first type/model - used in Germany, Poland, and the Netherlands - is dispersed. The provisions relating to consumers can be found mainly in the Civil Code, and are supplemented by separate detailed regulations. The other model is characterized by a separate, orderly set of rules set forth in a Consumer Code - this solution was adopted inter alia in Spain, France and in 2005 also in Italy.21

The Polish consumer protection system is based on private and public law regulations. In describing the Polish system, one should start with the Polish Constitution of 1997 which in Art. 76 states that "Public authorities shall protect consumers, customers, hirers or lessees against activities threatening their health, privacy and safety, as well as against dishonest market practices. The scope of such protection shall be specified by statute". According to verdicts of the Constitutional Tribunal, the purpose of the aforementioned Art. 76 is "the necessity to provide certain minimum statutory guarantees to all the entities, particularly to natural persons, who in spite of the fact that their relations are formed on the principle of autonomy, are at a disadvantaged position mostly, but not limited to, their economic standing, in relation to professional market players". Therefore, the Constitutional Tribunal employs a broad interpretation of the aforementioned article.22

Consumer protection is regulated in several, higher and lower ranking legal acts, starting from the Constitution through statutes to secondary legislation, both in the private law and public law system. Some regulations are general - universally applicable to the entire legal system, and some are very detailed, regulating a specific market area, for instance financial services,23 tourist services (packages and timeshare),24 energy markets,25 and electronic media.26 The primary act providing public law protection of consumers' collective interests in Poland is the Act of February 16, 2007 on Protection of Competition and Consumers.

Principles of private law protection of weaker market participants are laid down in a group of statutes, the most important of which are: the Civil Code and the Act of May 30, 2014 on Consumer Rights,27 repealing the Act of March 2, 200028 on the Protection of Certain Consumer Rights and on the Liability for Damage Caused by a Hazardous Product and the Act of July 27, 2002 on Specific Terms and Conditions of Consumer Sale and Amendments to the Civil Code (which was a transposition measure for the Directive 1999/44/EC of May 25, 1999 on Certain Aspects of the Sale of Consumer Goods and Associated Guarantees). Another element of this system is the Act of August 23, 2007 on Combating Unfair Commercial Practices (Journal of Laws of 2007, no. 171, item 1206) Directive.

4. The concept of a consumer

4.1. The origin

The notion of a consumer in Polish law providing for consumer protection has significantly evolved over the last 25 years. The source of this evolution was implementation of EU law, the necessity to adapt national regulations to EU law, as well as social and economic changes that have taken place in Poland.

Interestingly, safeguarding consumer protection stems from different motivations under the Polish and EU laws. In Polish law the chief reason has been the necessity to protect the weaker party to contractual relationships. The necessity to protect consumers results from their relationship with traders-professionals. In this relationship, it is the consumer who is deemed to have less competence, less information, and a weaker economic standing. Therefore, the regulatory purpose is to diminish this imbalance. Under the EU law, however, the chief aim of protection is to enable a consumer to undertake proper market decisions, and to strengthen the customers' role in the single European market. In other words, what prevails under the community law is protection of market functions, while under the Polish law - protection of compensatory functions.29 EU law focuses on consumer rights rather than on consumer protection as such. The EU lawmakers have decided that consumer protection should be built upon consumer rights with consequence for both EU and domestic legal systems. Different models of consumer protection result from the fact that this protection does not have a general character, but rather is specific to an individual regulation and thus fragmented. As a consequence, consumer protection extends to specific situations which means that the scope and methods of protection are not uniform. Protection methods and scope in tourist services differ from those in financial services or food industry.

In Polish regulations, a normative notion of a consumer was defined for the first time in § 3 item 2 of the Regulation of the Council of Ministers of May 30, 1995 (no longer in force) on Detailed Terms and Conditions of Concluding and Performing Consumer Contracts for the Sale of Goods.30 Pursuant to this regulation, a consumer was deemed to be any person who purchased goods for non-business purposes. This definition was criticized since it employed imprecise terms such as "any person" and "non-business purpose". As delineated by the legislator, the subject here was wide-ranging and could encompass natural persons, legal persons and persons with a limited capacity to enter into legal transactions. An analogous definition was implemented in the Antitrust Act of February 24, 1990 (no longer in force): an amendment from 1996 defined a consumer as "any person" who purchases goods and services for non-business purposes.

4.2. The definition of a consumer in the Civil Code

In 2000 the definition of a consumer was introduced in Art. 384 § 3 of the Civil Code by way of the Act on Protection of Certain Consumer Rights and on Liability for Damage Caused by a Hazardous Product (Journal of Laws of 2000, no. 22, item 27131) pursuant to which "A consumer shall mean a person who enters into an agreement with a trader for a purpose which is not directly related to the former's business or trade". The Civil Code did not include, however, any definition of "business" or "trader", although it used them. It was assumed in the legal doctrine that the definition of a consumer from Art. 384 § 3 of the Civil Code applied generally. Although it was placed in Book Three of the Civil Code on Obligations, Title III "General Provisions on Contractual Obligations", in provisions on contract models, the definition was considered a fundamental one. However, the definition of a consumer from Art. 384 § 3 of the Civil Code was inconsistent with Directive 93/13/EEC, and as such it was not possible to use it to interpret provisions on prohibited contract clauses. Directive 93/13/EEC, as most of European Directives, defined a consumer as a natural person who enters into an agreement "for purposes which are outside his trade, business or profession".

It uses the terms of "seller" and "supplier", and not that of a "trader". The Act of 2000 was of major significance to the creation of the system of consumer rights because it implemented provisions of several directives into Polish law.32 The act implemented into the Civil Code the regulation from Council Directive of July 25, 1985 on the Approximation of the Laws, Regulations and Administrative Provisions of the Member States Concerning Liability for Defective Products (85/374/EEC),33 amended by Directive 99/34/EC. As it was rightly pointed out by Bogusława Gnela, provisions on product liability (Art. 4491-44911 of the Civil Code) are recognized as part of consumer law, although they lead to tortious liability (a prevailing view). However, I am not going to discuss them here in more detail.34 Nevertheless, one should note that the product liability regulation adopted in Poland is not compliant with Directive 85/374/EEC.35 The definition from Art. 384 § 3 of the Civil Code was found to be inconsistent with the community law due to a broad definition of its subject, which included also legal persons as consumers.

4.3. The definition of a consumer in the general part of the Civil Code

Art. 384 § 3 of the Civil Code was repealed by the Act of February 14, 2003 (Journal of Laws no. 49, item 408) which entered into force on September 25, 2003 and introduced Art. 221 to the general part of the Civil Code, which incorporated a new definition of consumer.

Art. 221 initiated an extensive discussion on the definition of a consumer among Polish legal scholars.36 This discussion confirmed that the notion of a consumer was crucial for the entire system of the Polish law. It should be noted that this notion is a functional one, and its boundaries depend both on the type of the market to which it applies and on the scope of protection provided by the legislator. Doctrinal disputes have proven that it is not straightforward to define this notion: consumer protection is not uniform and different legal acts feature different definitions of a consumer. The definition from Art. 221 of the Civil Code is based on three criteria - a substantive one, limiting the category of consumers to natural persons; a material one - referring to execution of a legal action; and a functional one - highlighting that it is not directly related to the consumer's trade or profession.37

Pursuant to Art. 221 of the Civil Code, a consumer was understood to be "a natural person performing a legal act which is not directly related to his business or professional activity".

Hence in the Polish legal system, the definition is narrow, limiting consumers to natural persons. However, this has not been a requirement of the community law. Numerous EU regulations provide for a similar limitation, but there are others which do not introduce it.38 Further, in domestic legal orders of countries such as France, the United Kingdom, Austria or Spain, the definition of consumer has not been limited to natural persons.

The material criterion refers to execution of a legal action. Following Germany's lead, the Polish lawmakers adopted a broad approach here. The definition includes also unilateral legal actions. At the same time, the law did not specify the other party to a contract. Clearly, if the other party is also a consumer, no protection should be required. Consequently, both legal scholars and practitioners have criticized this solution on the grounds that it required a reference to the systemic and teleological interpretation (wykładnia celowościowa) to limit legal actions only to those undertaken with a trader-professional.39

The third criterion is the most significant one. First of all, it provides for an absence of an immediate relation between a legal action performed by "a natural person" and his or her trade or profession. The lawmakers emphasized that the purpose of the said legal action is to satisfy own, personal needs of "a natural person". Its foremost aim was to attend to private needs of a natural person and/or those of his or her family.40 The negative formula used in the definition gives it a general character, and takes exception to any relation between the legal action and a trade or profession. Therefore, under this legal solution a trader or a professional (in their professional capacity) cannot be consumers.

In Polish law an entrepreneur is deemed to be any entity (a natural person, a legal person and a non-corporate organizational unit which is not a legal person, but has legal capacity under a separate legal act) conducting an economic or professional activity on its own behalf. The entrepreneur has been defined in Art. 431 of the Civil Code41 and in Art. 4 point 1 of the Act of July 2, 2004 on Freedom of Business Activity (consolidated text, Journal of Laws of 2016, items 1829, 1948, 1997, 2255).

A clear attribute of a trader (an entrepreneur) is his business activity. The Civil Codes does not define this term. The legal doctrine commonly makes use of the legal definition in Art. 2 of the Act of July 2, 2004 on Freedom of Business Activity (consolidated text, Journal of Laws of 2016, items 1829, 1948, 1997, 2255),42 which refers to a profit-making activity conducted in an organized, continuous fashion and of professional character. Nevertheless, the "professional" aspect of this definition raised certain doubts in the doctrine.43

By exclusion, the definition of a consumer underscores that a consumer may only be an entity which is not an entrepreneur, the legal transaction he undertakes is not related to a business or a professional end, and the other party to this legal transaction is an entrepreneur/trader.

4.4. Definition of a consumer in the Act of May 30, 2014 on Consumer Rights44

Until implementation of the Consumer Rights Directive45 (the "CRD"), a "consumer" had been defined as a natural person undertaking a legal transaction which was not directly connected with his or her business or profession. After the CRD was implemented, a consumer has been deemed to be a natural person undertaking a legal transaction with a trader which is not directly connected to the former's business or profession (changing accordingly Art. 221 of the Civil Code46). The new regulation clearly indicates that a consumer may only be a person concluding a contract with a trader (an entrepreneur) and not with any other entity. In spite of the fact that the definition from 2003 had been roundly criticized by legal scholars, it was made more precise only after 11 years of use.47 The definition from 2003 resulted in quite astonishing opinions in academic publications allowing even for consumer-to-consumer (C2C) relationships under Art. 221 of the Civil Code.48 Not surprisingly, this point of view met with strong objections and criticism from legal scholars.

The legal doctrine is also critical of the omission to extend the definition of a consumer to include entities other than natural persons. In some EU countries, such an extension has been made to include micro- and small enterprises which are legal entities or entities without the status of a legal person.49

The CRD definition of a consumer (in Art. 2(1)) was extensively discussed in the Polish Parliament (Sejm) when the act was being drafted. The definition adopted from the CRD would have allowed to apply the provisions of the Act on Consumer Protection to natural persons undertaking an activity within their trade, business, craft or profession, acting also for the purpose outside their trade, business, craft or profession (a mixed legal transaction) with the non-business purpose predominating. However, the CRD definition was not adopted after all. The discussions led to (reasonable) doubts as to the ability to distinguish between business and non-business scope of every legal transaction undertaken by an entity expecting consumer protection. In the end, it was decided that the definition of a consumer as set forth in motive 17 of the CRD would not be implemented into the Polish legal system. Nevertheless, it can always form a basis for interpretation in particular cases. As an aside comment, one should note that implementation of the CRD into German law is consistent with motive 17. The German law thus broadened the definition of a consumer by introducing the word "prevailing" in response to demands from the doctrine. This has resolved the problem of legal actions of mixed character. Only practice will show if this path is the correct one.50

Amendments to the definition of a consumer in Polish law have been subsequently suggested on numerous occasions. One such proposal was made inter alia in 2009 during proceedings of the Civil Law Codification Committee. The proposal was to extend consumer protection to include "minor enterprises" (mikro i mały przedsiębiorca). However such a category does not exist in EU law,51 which was the reason why this proposal was rejected in the end.

A fast evolving marketplace, in particular due to new internet technologies and platforms to conduct business, may in the future upend the traditional definition of a consumer. Ever more often consumers use electronic media to conclude transactions that best suit their needs and offer a best price. The web-based portals selling products and services, such as eBay, Amazon Marketplace (goods), Uber, BlaBlaCar (passenger transport services), Airbnb (accommodation), Zopa (financial services) are growing very dynamically.52 From the legal standpoint, this growth is based on three parties: the buyer, the seller, and the intermediation platform. The Digital Single Market53 will require that adequate roles be delineated for each of these parties, as well as a new definition of consumer.

5. The model of the average consumer

Notwithstanding the discussion on the notion of a consumer, the Polish system of law also defines the average consumer. This latter term was introduced with the implementation of Directive 2005/29/EC Concerning Unfair Business-to-Consumer Commercial Practices (OJ L 149 of June 11, 2005) to the Act of August 23, 2007 on Combating Unfair Market Practices (Journal of Laws of 2007, no. 171, item 1206, as amended).54 Art. 2 point 8 defines the average consumer as the one who is reasonably well-informed, observant and circumspect. The model of the average consumer adopted in Poland corresponds fully to the model which has been framed by verdicts of the European Union courts.55 In light of verdicts of both Polish and EU courts, the predominant view holds that in evaluating a model of the average consumer one should take into account social, cultural and linguistic factors specific to a given consumer or a particular group of consumers. A consumer or a particular group of consumers is therefore understood to be a uniquely identifiable group of consumers particularly susceptible to a commercial practice or to the underlying product because of certain characteristics such as age, physical or mental infirmity or credulity. Further, an evaluation of the average consumer should in each case take into account real social and economic conditions.56

6. Summary

Starting in the 1990s, the Polish lawmakers begun to amend domestic regulations adapting them to EU requirements. The changes introduced have not always been direct transpositions of the community or EU law. However, these legal steps have always been in the direction of the single market.

The creation of the Digital Single Market raises new legal challenges, which may necessitate and eventually lead to full harmonisation. Nevertheless it should be highlighted that creation of uniform consumer protection in the EU and strengthening protection of consumers in the digital single market as well as financial markets will necessarily lead to a full harmonisation in these areas. Such changes may also modify, and perhaps finally make uniform the definition of a consumer under EU law.

From the Editor

The beginning of international development of consumer protection may be credited to John F. Kennedy, who in his 1962 speech to the United States Congress asserted the significance of consumer protection regulations and recalled that we are all consumers, and as such deserve legal protection based on the right to be informed, the right to choose, the right to safety and the right to be heard. In their relationship with entrepreneurs-professionals, consumers are always the weaker party in terms of their economic capacity, competence and access to information. Because of these disadvantages, they require extended legal protection. A dynamic development of consumer protection in Poland started in the early 1990s and was marked by two circumstances, i.e. Poland's transition from a centrally-planned economy to a  market economy, and conclusion of the Association Agreement with European Communities and the subsequent process of integration with the EU (at that time the EC) member states. In the Agreement, Poland committed itself to systematically amend its legal system, including consumer protection law, and to adapt Polish regulations to those in force in the European Communities (European Union). It was undoubtedly the EU (EC) law that has revolutionized consumer protection in Poland. Since Poland's accession to the EU on May 1, 2004, both public and private law provisions have been amended several times. Numerous regulations of the broadly understood consumer law - including those of civil law (the Civil Code) as well as those of business, administrative, antitrust law (the Act on Competition and Consumer Protection) - were adapted to EU law requirements. Consumer protection in the EU is a recognized area of the internal market policy that has been a significant aspect of European integration from the very beginning due to the development of the single European market. Economic freedom and a dynamically developing internal market necessitated a high level of safety on the one hand, and consumer protection on the other. Protection of consumer interests in EU member states has been possible due to multiyear and pan-European consumer protection strategies and programs.

This monograph entitled Consumer Protection Law in Poland from the Perspective of EU Law undertakes the subject of Polish consumer protection regulations seen from the perspective of the most recent developments both in Polish and EU law in this area. In addition to texts of general character, this volume also includes legal analysis of pertinent issues in (selected) sectors of the economy of special significance to consumers such as the foodstuff market, financial services, and travel services. Each chapter addresses not only current, oftentimes vigorously debated academic issues, but also strives to provide insights of importance to practitioners.

The book presents the Polish consumer protection model, and provides analysis of the most important and the latest legal acts on consumer protection in Poland. In order to keep the publication compact, the editor and the authors did not aim to review the entire Polish consumer protection system, but instead focused on current problems and referred to the most recent EU directives and Polish regulations.

The basis for legal analyses undertaken by most authors are core consumer protection acts, including especially legal mechanisms seen from the perspective of the Act of May 30, 2014 on Consumer Rights (Journal of Laws of 2014, item 827) which implemented Directive 2011/83/EU.

The book is divided into three parts and is composed of thirteen chapters.

Part One is the starting point for the analyses and includes five chapters.

Chapter One - The System of Consumer Protection in Poland - written by Beata Pachuca-Smulska is an overview which introduces the reader to the Polish consumer protection system and its principle legal acts by discussing its evolution, the notion and model of a consumer, legal institutions and solutions as implemented pursuant to EU regulations. This chapter sets forth a common theme underlying all subsequent chapters, which develop it in more specific directions.

The next three chapters: Prohibition of Practices Violating Collective Consumer Interests under Polish Law (by Anna Piszcz), Unlawful (Abusive) Terms in Consumer Contracts (by Anna Franusz) and The Customer on the Advertising Market (by Agnieszka Malarewicz-Jakubów) provide further insights into the regulatory model.

In Chapter Two, Anna Piszcz discusses consumer protection under the public law system, with the focus on prohibition of practices infringing collective consumer interests, included for the first time in the Act on Competition and Consumer Protection of 2000, and then in the new regulation of 2007 under the same title. The existing mechanisms in Polish law that counteract these practices were developed within the framework of transposition of Directive 98/27/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of May 19, 1998. However, these regulations have been since amended. The chapter covers also the latest amendments that entered into force on April 17, 2016.

Chapter Three addresses the issue of abusive clauses in consumer contracts. The issue is presented by Anna Franusz, who discusses new solutions introduced to Article 23a of the amended Act of February 16, 2007 on Competition and Consumer Protection in its Section III entitled "Prohibition on Unlawful Clauses in Standard Contract Forms" with reference to provisions of Art. 3851 of the Act of April 23, 1964 - the Civil Code. The first part concludes with a chapter on advertising, which due to its unquestionable significance for the economy and consumers requires adequate legal regulation. The author of Chapter Four The Customer on the Advertising Market is Agnieszka Malarewicz-Jakubów, who focused on regulations both of general character and those pertaining to markets requiring special consumer protection, such as the pharmaceutical market.

Part One closes with Consumer Protection in International Private Law Regulations by Michał Mariański. The author recognizes the significant problem of conflict-of-law provisions related to consumer protection. Due to the principle of free choice of the law applicable to contractual obligations, as laid down in the Rome I Regulation, the Author analyses the theoretical possibility of limiting consumer protection by way of choosing the law of a country that has not implemented Directive 2011/83/EU. Upon description of the selected conflict-of-law provisions of this Directive, Rome I Regulation, and the Act of February 4, 2011 on International Private Law (Journal of Laws of 2011, No. 80, item 432), it is possible to assess the actual risk of excluding consumer protection on the grounds of private international law.

Part Two of the monograph undertakes the most important issues raised by the Act of May 30, 2014 on Consumer Rights (Journal of Laws of 2014, item 827) which implemented Directive 2011/83/EU.

The opening chapter Harmonisation Level and Regulatory Choices under the Directive 2011/83/EU on Consumer Rights was prepared by Agnieszka Jabłonowska. This text is of major significance for further deliberations on implementation of Directive 2011/83/EU. The author highlights the problems that arose in member states as a result of full harmonisation when implementing Directive 2011/83/EU. She also recognizes the importance of provisions for which minimum harmonisation is required, and the way it affects the development of the single European market. The primary focus of Directive 2011/83/EU and the provisions implementing it is off-premises sales. Marketing and sales activities by business undertakings are frequently very aggressive, which may lead to consumers receiving unsolicited goods or services. This crucial problem is analyzed by Ewa Lewandowska in Legal Consequences of Inertia Selling under the Polish Civil Law, where she provides an in-depth analysis of Article 5 of the Act on Consumer Rights in connection with Article 27 of Directive 2011/83/EU. This regulation - even though it was designed to provide consumer protection against unsolicited provision of goods and services, as referred to in Art. 9 sec. 6 of the Act of August 23, 2007 on Combating Unfair Commercial Practices - is assessed critically by the author. The following chapter Guarantee and Warranty, written by Sylwia Łazarewicz presents amendments regarding the issue of liability for the quality of the goods sold to the Act of May 30, 2014 on Consumer Rights. Amendments to this act did not result from changes to EU law on the so-called consumer sales, where it is still regulated in Directive 1999/44/EC. Nevertheless, the Polish lawmakers, taking into consideration ten years of experience when the Act of July 27, 2002 on Specific Terms and Conditions of Consumer Sales had been in force, decided to amend it with a view to standardize and simplify existing regimes of liability for the seller and guarantor. The regulations introduced by means of the Act constitute, therefore, a re-transposition of Directive 1999/44/EC on the sales of consumer goods. The Polish lawmakers availed themselves of the opportunity created by implementation of Directive 2011/83/EU to eliminate problems that became apparent as a result of the original transposition of Directive 1999/44/EC in 2002 (involving, first of all, weaker consumer protection inter alia by introducing a hierarchy of legal remedies available to the consumer). The Act on Consumer Rights, following Directive 2011/83/EU, emphasizes the special character of financial services, which require a higher level of consumer protection. Consumer protection in the financial services market is discussed by Edyta Rutkowska-Tomaszewska. The author takes a broad view on this significant issue: The paper is not limited to the provisions of the Act on Consumer Rights, but also presents key consumer protection solutions available in Polish law in the area of financial services from the perspective of EU law. This chapter forms a link between Part Two and Part Three of the book. It connects with Chapter in this book written by Wioleta Baranowska-Zając, which opens Part Three of the monograph.

Part Three of the monograph is dedicated to consumer protection in (selected) individual markets. These are markets whose regulations affect the greatest number of consumers.

The issue of consumer protection in the financial services market is elaborated in The Legal Situation of Consumer of Insurance Services in the Light of the Act of August 5, 2015 Concerning Consideration of Complaints by the Entities of Financial Market and the Financial Ombudsman. Wioleta Baranowska-Zając considers two aspects: The first one is the insurance market, while the other - the Act of August 5, 2015 on processing of complaints by the entities in the financial market and on the Financial Ombudsman1, which entered into force in October 2015. The following Chapter Consumer Protection in the Polish Food Market in the Light of Selected Legal Regulations by Irena Ozimek and Julita Szlachciuk - discusses consumer protection and its key legal acts: the Act on Food Safety, the Act on Marketable Quality of Agri-Food Items and the Act on Products of Animal Origin. The Polish and EU regulations in this area aim at granting high level of protection to consumers in the food market. The next chapter Protection of the Travellers in Polish Law in View of the Need for Implementation of Directive 2015/2302 written by Katarzyna Frączak concerns the dynamically developing travel services market. The author refers to the Act on Tourism Services of August 29, 1997 (Journal of Laws of 2016, item 187), and presents it through the lens of Directive 2015/2302/EU. In her view the new EU regulations provide an impetus for member states to amend and improve national regulations on travel packages (package travel, package holidays, and package tours) and linked travel arrangements (LTAs). From the perspective of consumers, the most significant changes concern protection of tourists should an organizer become bankrupt or insolvent. It should be noted, however, that discretion of Polish lawmakers is restricted here due to the maximum harmonisation requirement.

In next chapter entitled Inspector General for the Protection of Personal Data as a Safeguard of Consumer Personal Data Protection, Agnieszka Korzeniowska-Polak deals with the topical subject of consumer personal data protection. Consumers in Poland enjoy protection of their personal data under the Personal Data Protection Act of August 29, 1997. The author discusses the ways in which personal data are protected in the Polish legal system, and considers to what degree this protection is real or illusory.

The fourth and last part of the book entitled Selected Polish Legal Provisions on Consumer Protection is a collection of Polish regulations of basic importance to the system of consumer protection in Poland. The goal here is to shed more light on idiosyncrasies of analyzed legal acts, help the reader better understand presented papers, and facilitate a comparison of Polish and foreign regulations. Please note that the selection covers only fragments of legal acts or provisions and does not cover their full wording.

The volume is addressed to a wide group of readers and researchers of the broadly understood consumer law, in particular to lawyers, economists, entrepreneurs, academic teachers and students.

Beata Pachuca-Smulska

Warsaw, November 2017