Polish Confederation Lewiatan and the Polish Chamber of Information and Telecommunications sent a letter to the Minister of Justice, the President of the Office for Competition and Consumer Protection and the Secretary of State in the Chancellery of the Prime Minister with comments on the forthcoming amendment of the laws on consumer rights.
According to the authors of the letter, the law can be considerably simplified. Some changes are also needed, which are not taken into account.
Synchronizing work on projects
As we read in the letter, a thing would improve the connection in one Act of Independent Projects two set UC numbers[53] and UC[86] having, as a replacement, the same title (amendment of the Consumer Rights Act and some other laws).
Both parallel draft laws provide for significant changes to Act dated 30 May 2014 on consumer rights, both projects deal with digital content and services to a significant extent, and the effect of both projects may be to change contractual relations on the business line – the consumer, in particular in the wider area of digital services and content.
Without such a connection, legal chaos will be greater.
Despite the requests of both laws, they provide for a vacatio legis of 14 days. In the opinion of the authors of the letter, this time is inadequate and insufficient to implement the changes
Providing an appropriate vacatio legis
Polish Confederation Lewiatan it consistently draws attention to the need to give entrepreneurs adequate time to prepare and implement changes and requirements arising from draft UC laws[86] and UC[53]. Despite the requests of both laws, they provide for a vacatio legis of 14 days.
In the opinion of the authors of the letter, this time is inadequate and insufficient, given the extent of the changes required and the specificity of the area in which the required changes will be introduced.
The proposed laws will require changes in information systems, documents and procedures relating in principle to all stages of the relationship between the entrepreneur and the consumer, starting with advertising and presentation of the offer, by carrying out information obligations and contracting, by performance of the contract, to after-sales service.
At the same time, the proposed laws concern widely understood electronic relations, services and digital content, namely the area in which IT software and infrastructure plays a key role, i.e. resources very often acquired by entrepreneurs (in different models) from external suppliers.
It is not possible to make major changes to software, documents and processes within 14 days counted from the date of publication of the laws in the Official Journal of the Acts.
Draft UC laws[86] and UC[53] a bill – Law on electronic communication
Regardless of the need to connect in one Act two draft UC laws[86] and UC[53] and the need to ensure adequate vacatio legis, the letter's authors highlight the specific challenges and needs of the market and subscribers of telecommunications services.
The law firm of the Prime Minister conducts work on the bill - Law on electronic communication and laws introducing the Act - Law on electronic communication (hereinafter the ‘PKE project’) to replace the current law - Telecommunications law.
The PKE project brings far-reaching changes for both entrepreneurs and subscribers of telecommunications services, in particular in the area of offering and contracting electronic communications services. At the same time, the telecommunications sector is one from the most important addressees and recipients of the Consumer Rights Act.
Therefore, fundamental changes resulting from the PKE project intersect and overlap with the changes introduced by the proposed UC laws[86] and UC[53] to the Consumer Rights Act.
Lack of coordination of the moment of entry into force of the PKE project and amendments to the Consumer Rights Act (in particular those provided for in the draft UC law[86]) may require telecommunications operators to change processes and contractual patterns and other documents relating to contracts for the provision of electronic communications services several times, in particular those concluded at a distance or outside the undertaking's premises, in view of the different dates of entry into force of changes in the rules.
This will generate higher implementation costs and reduce transparency in the communication of the changes implemented for consumer subscribers.