Bonus sales in Polish and European law against the background of the jurisprudence of the ECJ

Bonus sales is the act of unfair competition, which can be referred to as an illegal activity infringing or threatening the interest of another entrepreneur or customer. Law Against Unfair Competition prohibits the sale of consumer goods or services associated with the granting of all or some of the purchasers of goods or services free bonus in form of goods or services different from those covered by the sale. The exceptions are bonuses in form of either 1. goods or services of low value or samples or 2. promotional winnings in lotteries or contests, the outcome of which does not depend on the case. Committing the act of unfair competition results in a civil liability under section 3 of Law on Unfair Competition standards. Sales bonus is an offense penalized in paragraph 25. 2 Law on Unfair Competition and is also pursuant to paragraph 24 of Law on Protection of Competition. President of the Office of Protecting Competition and Consumers may issue decisions in cases of practices infringing collective consumer interests. The directive of the European Parliament and the Council concerning unfair market practices was issued on the 11th of May 2005. In the directive's appendix I a comprehensive catalog of practices regarded as illegal in all circumstances was enclosed, which means that there is no requirement to control them pursuant to paragraph 5 to 9 of Directive 2005/09. Since bonus sale was not listed in this Annex, the establishment of the general rule, which was enforced by State and prohibits the use of such offers, does not meet the requirements of the Directive. European Court of Justice in cases C-261/07 and 299/07 held that the interpretation of directive 2005/09 indicated its discrepancy with paragraph 54 of the Belgian Trade Practices Act, an act that enforces a general prohibition of the market practice, not mentioned in the directive. This ruling proves that conformity of paragraph 17a Law on Unfair Competition with directive 2005/09 raises serious doubts.