Institutional framework of competition protection in Poland – history and present

This article focuses on the presentation of the origins of Polish antitrust law and its first authorities: Cartel Court and the Minister of Industry and Trade. Further attention has been devoted to the issue of the contemporary model of competition in Poland. Particular emphasis has been placed on the status of the antitrust authority and the question of its political neutrality. Despite the introduction of the President of the OCCP election by open competition and providing its guarantees of independence in 2000, seven years later legislator returned to the previous solutions. The present regulation does not allow to a complete separation of antitrust office from the current government's policy. Only full independence would secure interests of all, allow for the realization of the system based on competition and would leave no room for political interference by successive Polish governments. Leaving such weighty issues in the mainstream of the current policy is too much risk and for which – in the light of the theory and practice of competition – there is no justification.