Yearbook of Antitrust and Regulatory Studies (Nov 2008)
The economic approach in Polish courts: permitted agency agreements or prohibited price fixing? Case comment to the judgment of the Appeal Court in Warsaw of 13 February 2007 – Roche and Hand-Prod (Ref. No. VI AcA 819/06)
Abstract
By the decision of 29 June 2004 (no. RWA-18/2004), the President of the Polish Office for Competition and Consumer Protection (hereafter, UOKiK) found that the agreement between Roche Polska Sp. z o.o. (hereafter, Roche) and Hand-Prod Sp. z o.o. (hereafter, Hand-Prod) fitted the definition of a competition restricting practice. The President of UOKiK stated that the agreement restricted Hand-Prod’s right to freely decide the selling price of two of Roche’s medicinal products containing Erythropoietin: Recormon and NeoRecormon (hereafter, the Products). As a consequence, these products would be offered for sale, by way of centrally organised tender proceedings, at fixed prices agreed upon by the two parties. The President of UOKiK ordered the companies to cease the practice and imposed on them the following fines: Roche – PLN 235,850 (EUR 50,000) and Hand-Prod – PLN 70,755 (EUR 15,000).
