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The article presents key developments in Polish antitrust legislation and jurisprudence of 2011. Its legislative part focuses on the renewal of Polish Group Exemption Regulations for vertical agreements, specialization and R&D agreements as well as cooperation agreements in the insurance sector. Noted is also the sole amendment of the Competition Act introduced in 2011 which concerns the financial liability of the Polish competition authority. The article covers also the new Guidelines of the UOKiK President on the criteria and procedures of merger notifications. Presented in its jurisprudential part is a number of 2011 rulings, mainly those rendered by the Supreme Court and the Court of Appeals, divided according to their subject matter with respect to particular types of restrictive practices and other problems related to the decision-making process of the UOKiK President. Michał Mijal

The article presents key developments in Polish antitrust legislation and case law in 2009. Regarding legislation the article focuses on a new leniency regulation and legal acts amending the Polish Competition and Consumer Protection Act, adopted in 2008, that entered into force in 2009. The article provides a general characteristics of antitrust cases, mainly ones ruled by the Supreme Court and the Court of Appeal in Warsaw. A description of cases is divided into thematic parts referring to particular kinds of practices restricting competition, identification of relevant markets, relationships between the Competition Act and other legal acts and problems related to adopting and implementing decisions by the UOKiK President. Michał Mijal

This article deals first of all with the most important characteristics, in terms of volume and quality, of all of those decisions issued by the Polish competition authority that were the basis for vertical consolidation of the Polish electricity sector, for which the authority gave unconditional or special approval between 2003 and 2007. This article also deals to a limited extent with the decision issued by the Polish competition authority prohibiting unconditionally the concentration of PGE and ENERGA, and which was referred for judicial review. This article attempts to verify the theory that the legal institution of special (exceptional) approval of a concentration, in the form in which it is created in Polish merger legislation (i.e. based mostly on the public interest test, but issued by the competition authority), is not the best formula for assessing whether there are legitimate grounds for consolidation, in particular consolidation of the Polish electricity sector. Michał Mijal

This article presents the main difficulties surrounding private enforcement of antitrust law in Poland, currently the key implementation problem in the field of antitrust law. Whereas the basic standards concerning the public pillar of antitrust enforcement have already been established, either in the European Community (EC) or in its Member States, the private pillar of antitrust enforcement has not yet been fully developed. The fact that private enforcement of antitrust law is possible, and in fact equal, to public enforcement is not yet commonly recognized. In response to the European Commission’s White Paper on Damages actions for breach of the EC antitrust rules, private enforcement of antirust law is presently under intense discussion in EC Member States. This article should be considered as one of the contributions to this debate. It presents the main legal framework of private enforcement of antitrust law in Poland. In order to do so, it directly refers to the Polish Act on competition and consumer protection, the Civil Code and the Civil Procedure Code. This article also discusses Polish case law in this area. It aims to assess whether existing Polish legal provisions are, in fact, sufficient to ensure effective private enforcement of Polish as well as EC antitrust law. The article refers to the main proposals of the European Commission’s White Paper. It is concluded that private enforcement of antitrust law is indeed possible in Poland on the basis of currently applicable procedural rules, even if there are no special instruments designed to facilitate it. However, it cannot be expect that in the current legal climate, private parties will eagerly and frequently apply for damages in cases of a breach of Polish antitrust law. Antitrust cases are special in many aspects and, thus, they require specific solutions in procedural terms. This article aims to pinpoint those areas, where the Polish law needs to be changed in order to develop and promote private enforcement of antitrust law in Poland. Michał Mijal