POLISH DIGITAL ECONOMY! PACKAGE OF CHANGES

: As part of the activities of the Chamber of Digital Economy, which aims to develop the Polish digital industry, the organisation’s experts have developed a proposal for legislative solutions entitled “POLISH DIGITAL ECONOMY! PACKAGE OF CHANGES” and including a ready-made draft law with provisions to strengthen consumer protection and enable Polish small and medium-sized businesses to compete on an equal footing with entrepreneurs from third countries, as well as a justification for the legislative changes.

The mission of the Chamber of Digital Economy is to develop the Polish digital industry through cooperation, legislative initiatives, and the representation of the common interests of entrepreneurs operating in the Polish digital economy market. We pursue our mission through dialogue with the Polish government administration bodies while attaching considerable importance to protecting the interests of Polish consumers, whose confidence in the digital industry is a key condition for the quick growth of this part of the economy. E-commerce in Poland is developing rapidly and gaining the confidence of consumers and entrepreneurs alike. For both groups, buying and selling online was also a convenient and supportive solution during the COVID-19 pandemic, when access to services and goods was limited. The success and popularity of e-commerce are also evidenced by numbers: over 90 per cent of Polish Internet users buy online, with the estimated value of the B2C market amounting to over PLN 100 billion and the B2B market – approximately PLN 747 billion. The widespread use of e-commerce has revealed that several key legislative barriers in Polish law weaken the position of consumers and entrepreneurs, particularly bearing in mind the activity of sales platforms originating from outside the EEA (European Economic Area). Furthermore, the inability to effectively control the safety of products that come from third-country platforms is also a significant problem – as a result, the Polish consumer is exposed to receiving products that do not meet EU safety standards, and public administration authorities cannot effectively enforce the platforms’ compliance obligations. Trading via online platforms, therefore, needs to be effectively regulated to prevent potential violations hitting consumers in particular, as well as small and medium-sized businesses. Currently, the issue of unfair competition in the e-commerce market is being addressed by two key projects under development at the European Union level: These are the Digital Services Act (DSA), regulating the operation of the digital single market in terms of platforms’ liability for published content as well as additional obligations pertaining to the enforcement of the new requirements, and a second draft, the Digital Markets Act (DMA), providing a catalogue of prohibitions and requirements concerning business activities of particularly large platforms called “access gatekeepers”. The date of both documents’ entry into force is still unknown, but it is estimated that it will not be earlier than 2023. The postponed entry into force date of the EU regulations means that Poland lacks – and will continue to lack in the nearest future – effective instruments for the enforcement of third-country platforms’ obligations as well as legal tools adapted to the specific nature of digital platforms’ business. This is important because, as in the case of the COVID-19 pandemic, now in the face of the war in Ukraine and related economic problems, e-commerce can be a factor mitigating the negative consequences of the war for the Polish economy.

As an organisation concerned with the growth of e-commerce, we believe that there is a need to urgently introduce solutions that will speed up the process of regulating the Polish e-commerce market. This would secure the interests of Polish consumers by obliging third-country service providers to provide a level of consumer protection in line with EU law, tighten the existing regulations, adapt the existing regulations to the realities of today’s electronic economy, and protect Polish businesses operating in the e-commerce sector from unfair competition from third countries. Experts from the Chamber of Digital Economy have developed a proposal for legislative solutions under the project named ” POLISH DIGITAL ECONOMY! PACKAGE OF CHANGES” including a ready-made draft law with provisions to strengthen consumer protection and enable Polish small and medium-sized businesses to compete on an equal footing with entrepreneurs from third countries, as well as a justification for the legislative changes. The e-Chamber’s partnership and our participation in the Economic Forum in Karpacz is a natural part of our activities that contribute to building a strong position for Polish e-commerce” – says Patrycja Sass-Staniszewska, President of the Chamber of Digital Economy