- The President of the Office of Competition and Consumer Protection, Tomasz Chróstny, initiated 10 proceedings against companies that do not pay their suppliers on time.
- He had previously addressed so-called soft speeches to them, which aimed to signal the problem and recommended immediate improvement of the payment culture towards contractors.
- Payment defaults are particularly severe for micro, small and medium-sized entrepreneurs who cover their liabilities from current capital.
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Soft speeches
Before initiating the proceedings, the President of the UOKiK first issued so-called soft notices to these entities. Their purpose was to signal to the companies any irregularities they had noticed in the area of payment practices and to discipline them to immediately improve them.
– Late payments from larger contractors disrupt the financial liquidity of SME companies, destabilizing their operational activity, limiting investments and development. Therefore, it is unacceptable for large companies not to pay their smaller contractors on time. All the more so because during soft speeches we informed entrepreneurs that failure to improve their payment discipline may result in initiating proceedings and, consequently, a financial penalty – says the president of the Office of Competition and Consumer Protection, Tomasz Chróstny.
What penalties can entrepreneurs face?
The President of the Office of Competition and Consumer Protection will calculate fines for entrepreneurs based on the Act on Counteracting Excessive Delays in Fulfilling Monetary Benefits, amended in 2022. He will take into account not only the value of overdue payments and the length of delays, but also the gravity and circumstances of the violation, actions taken by the entrepreneur on his own initiative to stop the violation, and cooperation with the Office during the proceedings.
