The President of the Office of Competition and Consumer Protection (UOKiK) has imposed penalties on Allegro sp. z o.o. (Allegro PL) a penalty of (i) PLN 1,221,747 for violations of the Allegro Regulations and (ii) PLN 2,748,930 for violations of the Smart! Regulations, i.e. a total penalty of PLN 3,970,677, Allegro.eu reported.
The penalties relate to violations of the Act of February 16, 2017 on Competition and Consumer Protection (Journal of Laws of 2019, item 1145) by Allegro PL’s use of modification clauses in the Terms of Service governing the Allegro.pl trading platform and in the Terms of Service of the Smart! program, which allow Allegro PL to unilaterally change the given Terms of Service.
According to the decision, Allegro PL’s application of the provisions that have been declared as prohibited contractual provisions consisted in Allegro PL’s ability to unilaterally amend the terms and conditions of the agreement in the Allegro Rules and Regulations and the Regulations of Smart! According to the decision, Allegro PL’s action consisted in taking advantage of its stronger position in relation to consumers by using prohibited contractual provisions in its contract templates, which consequently introduced a disproportion of rights and obligations to the disadvantage of consumers, it was announced.
The decision concludes the proceedings on the potential recognition of prohibited contractual provisions through Allegro PL’s use of modification clauses, which was initiated by the OCCP against Allegro PL in September 2020.
Allegro PL will analyze the reasoning behind the decision and take steps to overturn it. Allegro.eu points out that at this point the decision is not final, and the penalty imposed by it is not due. Allegro PL has the option of appealing the decision to the Court of Competition and Consumer Protection within a month from the date of delivery. The decision will become final only in the absence of the aforementioned appeal, or after the legal proceedings have become final, it was further announced.
Allegro is the No. 1 shopping platform in Poland. Sales are mainly made by companies through the e-commerce marketplace platform Allegro.pl. Since October 2016. Allegro is owned by Cinven, Permira and Mid Europa funds. The company debuted on the WSE in 2020.
Source: Allegro and ISBnews
