At a meeting on 16 July 2024, the Warsaw Court of Appeal dismissed in its entirety the appeal of the President of the Office of Electronic Communications (UKE) against the judgment of the Warsaw District Court, Competition and Consumer Protection Department, dated 6 June 2023. Thus, the UKE President’s decision of 17 January 2018 was validly revoked.
A 2018 decision by the UKE President found that the wholesale markets for the provision of radio and TV broadcasting services in Poland were not competitive, and recognised Emitel as an entity with significant market power (SMP). Accordingly, a number of regulatory obligations were imposed on Emitel, Under this decision, Emitel was obliged, among other things, to provide other telecommunications undertakings with access to its infrastructure and to treat all telecommunications undertakings equally.
The Reference Offer was amended and approved by the UKE President, but Emitel decided to appeal all these decisions.
The Warsaw District Court, Competition and Consumer Protection Department, on 6 June 2023 overturned the 2018 decision of the UKE President, finding most of the allegations raised by Emitel to be justified. The UKE President appealed to a higher instance.
The judgment of the Warsaw Court of Appeal upheld the decision of the District Court, dismissing the appeal of the UKE President and confirming the final revocation of the 2018 decision. This ruling means that the UKE President’s decision can no longer be the basis for imposing any regulatory obligations on Emitel S.A. with regard to radio broadcasts.
– The judgment of the Court of Appeal is in line with our expectations. Emitel’s regulation of both the radio and television markets is unjustified. We are counting on UKE to carry out a market study and, as a consequence, lift the regulation,” said Andrzej J. Kozłowski – President of the Management Board of Emitel S.A.
Two more cases are currently before the courts:
- Before the Competition and Consumer Protection Court on the appeal of Emitel S.A. against the SMP decision in the TV broadcasting market.
- Before the Warsaw Voivodship Administrative Court on the appeal of Emitel S.A. against the UKE President’s decision on the amendment and approval of the Reference Offer
