Do you sell outside the Polish market or plan to expand? Find out what legal issues are worth considering to safely conduct your business. This article will help you understand whether translating documents like terms and conditions and privacy policies is sufficient, or whether it's worth paying attention to the details. You'll also read about differences in the laws of member states, including those related to regulatory options.

1. Regulations in the EU – are they really uniform?

Consumer law in the EU is only harmonised to a certain extent. This means that many issues, such as complaint handling (and even the very concept of "consumer"), still vary from country to country. The EU primarily sets basic standards that are intended to be uniform across the entire community. However, individual States may adopt solutions that differ from each other.

This is especially true given that member states have the ability to use regulatory options, or "space," to regulate specific issues separately. Examples of regulatory options can be found in section three.

As for non-EU countries, in the case of sales in these markets, the differences between Polish law and the law of the target market are even greater.

2. Is it worth referring to Polish regulations when directing an offer to consumers from another country?

The seller and the consumer may choose Polish law as the law applicable to a given contract. However, at the same time EU consumers cannot be deprived of the protection provided by the mandatory rules of the law of the consumer's habitual residence. So, to answer the question posed in the introduction to this article – translating documents used in the Polish market is necessary, but in itself it will not always be an optimal solution. To ensure that the seller meets all obligations imposed by the law of the target market and informs consumers in a given market in a transparent manner, it is worth considering preparation of documents relating to consumer regulations in accordance with the law of a given country. Especially when the choice of law other than Polish may be slightly more advantageous for the seller.

3 . Examples of differences in Member States – regulatory options.

Referring to the Omnibus Directive, which requires information on the lowest price from the period of 30 days before the reduction, it should be noted that Poland has not made use of an important regulatory option that is beneficial to entrepreneurs.

According to this option, in case of gradual promotion (i.e. a continuous promotion that is gradually deepened), as information about the lowest price in the period of 30 days before the discount, you can indicate the price before the first discount (and consequently show a higher % discount).

For example, if we discount an item from PLN 100 to PLN 90, and then to PLN 80, the lowest price in the 30 days prior to the discount will remain PLN 100. This regulation applies in countries such as the Czech Republic and Hungary, and is also included in draft legislation currently being processed in Slovakia, where the directives have not yet been implemented.

In Poland, planning a promotional strategy must be done differently, as any price reduction is considered a "discount." This means that if the price is reduced from PLN 100 to PLN 90, the lowest price in the 30 days prior to the reduction will be PLN 100. However, if the price is reduced from PLN 90 to PLN 80, the lowest price in the 30 days prior to the reduction will be PLN 90, and the seller will be able to show the discount based on this lower amount.

As regards the new provisions on complaints arising from the Goods Directive, it introduces a presumption that a lack of conformity with the contract that becomes apparent within one year of delivery of the goods existed at the time of delivery of the goods. Poland exercised a regulatory option to extend this presumption to two years. This is a significant difference from the perspective of handling complaints – if the country to which we are addressing our offer has not used this option and has stuck with the one-year period, it is certainly worth knowing about it.

Poland, however, did not make use of the regulatory option under which Member States may maintain or introduce provisions providing that, in order to exercise consumer rights, the consumer must inform the seller about the lack of conformity with the contract within a period of at least two months from the date on which the consumer discovered such lack of conformity with the contract . Knowing that a given country has exercised this regulatory option is also very important.

In our country, however, reference was made to a particularly long general limitation period for claims, which is as long as 6 years (in other countries this period is often shorter – e.g. 3 years).

It is also worth remembering that Poland has gone a step further in the past and extended (contrary to the critical opinions of the Office of Competition and Consumer Protection) some consumer rights to so-called privileged entrepreneurs (individuals running a sole proprietorship making a purchase related to their business activity but not related to their professional activity). This does not mean, however, that similar categories exist in other Member States .

The above examples show that in many situations, a seller can improve their situation by analyzing the regulations in force in a given market . Individual countries may balance the interests of sellers and consumers differently. Referring to the example of incremental promotions related to the Omnibus Directive – adapting promotional and marketing strategies (Omnibus also applies to advertising) to the possibilities arising from regulations may increase the competitiveness of a given entity on the market.

4. Appropriate adjustment of the organizational structure

Expanding or strengthening your presence in foreign markets usually means business growth. It's worth considering this. optimization opportunities . For example, a good solution may be to transform a sole proprietorship into a limited liability company in order to separate one's own assets from those related to running the business, or to expand the company structure.

5. Permits and other administrative decisions

When operating on a foreign market, you should also analyze the requirements arising from administrative law and make sure that you have all decisions needed to safely conduct business . As an example, the German register can be mentioned. LUCID being the equivalent of Polish BDO . The notification obligation applies to all entrepreneurs who introduce the packaging covered by the notification into the market and must be completed before the packaging enters the German market.

The above information does not constitute legal advice, which should always be individualized and tailored to your specific needs. However, we encourage you to pay attention to the issues mentioned in this article and consider seeking the support of a lawyer specializing in e-commerce. This will allow you to better comply with consumer law and, on the other hand, to run your business more efficiently.

If you are interested in services related to legal support for foreign markets, please contact us. contact.