Competition law

Competition law grows in significance and thus, its impact on the strategic aspects of business activity is also gradually increasing. Considering the threat of sanctions and the rise in the activity of the authorities responsible for protection of competition, ensuring compliance of your company’s business dealings with the requirements laid down in the competition law seems more and more important for the legal security of your company.
A dedicated competition law team of Deloitte provides high-quality services in the scope of domestic competition law (protection of competition and consumers, counteracting unfair competition and dishonest market practices) and EU competition-related regulations.

Services

Control of competition

Legal services provided by Deloitte include legal support in the scope of concentration, specifically verification of fulfilment of the requirements creating the obligation to make a notification of proposed concentration, legal advice on the concentration-linked issues, preparation of notifications of proposed concentration, monitoring the proceedings before the Polish and EU competition protection authorities and negotiations with those authorities of the potential terms of concentration.
In case the permit for concentration is refused, we offer our support in appellate proceedings.

Legal advice

Deloitte provides legal advisory services on all aspects of the widely understood Polish and EU competition law, especially the so-called competition restricting agreements, issues linked with abuse of the dominant position, acts of unfair competition (also advertising), dishonest market practices and the state aid law. We also advise our Clients on practices that infringe collective consumer interests.

When the Client presents the contractual provisions or the practices it applies for our review, we evaluate them from the perspective of their compliance, then point out any potential contraventions of the law and give recommendations. We always keep in mind that our opinions and advice must be practical – if we indicate exposures, we make sure that they are quantified and specific solutions aimed at mitigating them are suggested.

We also take part in developing market strategies for our Clients (especially with regard to modelling the distribution network, shaping the pricing policy and advertising strategies) and preparing agreement samples (also on distribution activities) to ensure that they are consistent with the competition law.

Where anti-competition practices affect our Client, we advise on the optimum strategy to be followed, we participate in any potential negotiations and – if requested – we draft documents that may help initiate anti-monopoly proceedings. We also provide support in situations where other parties to transactions foster unfair competition that jeopardizes our Clients’ interests.

Our services also include assistance linked with state aid, especially, legal analyses in respect of the elements of the aid under projects co-financed by the State Treasury or local government units, support in contacts with authorities granting the state aid, support in proceedings for statement that the state aid has been granted in contravention of the law, legal support for services of general economic interest.

Litigation

Deloitte legal represents clients in proceedings before both domestic and EU competition protection authorities. In each case we indicate the optimum procedure strategy, also including the so-called leniency procedure.

We conduct appellate proceedings, if the decisions issued by competition protection authorities are unfavourable for our Clients.

In addition, we can also take part in negotiations that precede court hearings in cases related to unfair competition acts.

Training

The best way to limit the probability of breaching the competition law is to become familiar with it so as to be able to identify any problematic issues. Deloitte experts conduct practical training courses and workshops, also at our Clients’ premises, in respect of all areas of Polish and EU competition law and anti-monopoly controls. 

If you decide to use our services, you can expect:

• Comprehensive legal analysis in the scope of competition law;
• Identification of legal risks attendant upon competition law;
• Indication of feasible solutions that will increase the Client’s legal security;
• commitment of our experts and high professional quality of services supported by our broad experience;
• knowledge and experience that you can rely on.

Selected projects

Below we present a brief description of selected competition law projects that have recently been carried out by Deloitte Legal:

• Analysis and evaluation of template agreements for one of the largest coal mining companies in Poland.
  Our services included analysing the templates of key agreements from the perspective of competition law, identifying the relevant market and support in assessing the Client’s share in that market, identifying the legal risks linked with the planned cooperation models and suggesting legal solutions that make it possible to exclude or mitigate such risks.
• Training courses on competition law aimed to identify the risks associated with competition restricting practices.
  Our training courses are designed for companies that conduct business in various sectors of economy (such as mining, automotive, energy or FMCG). We provide training to companies that are engaged in production, distribution, commerce and service provision. We quantify the risk of the authorities’ claiming that the applied model of co-operation / distribution limits competition, and we present recommendable solutions.
• Examination of the legal standing of companies from the perspective of anti-monopoly law.
  Under such projects we reviewed contracts executed by entities representing various market sectors (foodstuffs, industry, mining) from the perspective of the anti-monopoly law. Our reviews also covered verification of the commercial policies applied, inclusive of the mechanisms of cooperation with other entities (also using discount systems).
• Analysis whether the transaction falls within the scope of the obligation to notify anti-monopoly authorities.
  We conducted analyses whether, considering the object of the transaction and the market positions of the parties to the transaction, it was required to notify the competent Polish or EU competition protection authorities about the transaction, in particular, we indicated what economic data ought to be obtained in order to clearly determine whether the notification obligation was in place.
• Representing the Client in notification of intended concentration to office of Competition and Consumers’ Protection.
  As part of our support provided in respect of acquisition of a production plant operating in the machine and equipment sector, we represented the Client before domestic authorities for protection of competition in respect of preparation of notification of intended concentration. Our advisory focused on the doubts linked with defining the object of the notification, the notifying entity and the scope of data to be disclosed to the competent authorities because of the specifics of the transaction.
• Evaluation of the contract entered into by the Client on co-operation in the scope of IT project.
  We evaluated the cooperation contract that was binding at the time and that concerned granting a licence to use software as part of the multistage project including computerisation of public services. We indicated the risk areas arising from contractual provisions, we examined the possibilities to apply the so-called block exemptions and the impact of concentration carried out at the global level on the legal status of the parties to the contract.
• Analysis of the applied pricing policy from the point of view of its compliance with competition law
  We analysed the pricing policy applied by the Client during the period when prices slumped in the relevant market, from the perspective of its compliance with the competition law, we also prepared a draft application to the European Commission for informal guidance as to the correctness of the practice followed.