At the beginning of October 2023 a fine of almost PLN 5.2 million was imposed by the Polish Office of Competition and Consumer Protection on the Scandinavian distributor of supplements and PLN 110,000 on its president of the management board for using dark patterns in e-commerce.
The regulator found seven such practices in the activities of the company selling dietary supplements. The regulator assessed that consumers could be misled by the first contact with the company’s offer, boasting “over a million satisfied customers” of a given product, while this information concerned the total number of the entrepreneur’s customers. Some marketing materials also referred to alleged recommendations of the European Food Safety Authority. Above all, the manipulation of the fined company consisted in offering a free sample of a dietary supplement. When the consumer clicked to confirm his willingness to receive it, a new window opened – with a message similar to the previous one in terms of graphic form and content, but it did not concern a free sample, but an annual paid supply of a given product along with a subscription.
On 31 November 2023 – 1 December 2023 our lawyers will take part in LIFE SCIENCE OPEN SPACE 2023. Collaboration and Innovation Summit for Health and Quality of Life.
This is an important and prestigious event of the life science community in Poland and beyond.
For the first time the event is organized in cooperation with three organizations – LifeScience Cluster, Sano Center for Computational Medicine and Krakow Technology Park.
As we informed on our blog in the publication of November 20, 2023, our lawyers took an active part in the Investor and Exporter Service conference organized on November 17, 2023 by one of the largest economic zones in Poland, which is managed by a public agency called Krakowski Park Technology. Two lawyers were present on behalf of our law firm: colleague Martyna Sikora and colleague Krzysztof Wilk, lawyers from our local office in Krakow. Link to the article below:
Below we present detailed information about the Conference and a photo report.
The event began with a lecture entitled “The labor market and the growth of the economy. Challenges for companies due to the demographic situation and responses to these challenges”. The lecture provided information on the current structure of the employee market and presented a vision of the upcoming changes that will affect both entrepreneurs and employees in the light of current trends in the economy.
Current demographic conditions and the forecast for the next several months indicate an increase in demand for employees, who, as shown, will be in short supply due to the reduced birth rate. In addition, the issue of growing pressure on employers was raised, especially in the context of increasing wages in the exporting sector, which will strive to equalize employee rates compared to countries neighboring Poland, in particular Germany. Such equalization may never occur or in the very distant future, but real wages in Poland will continue to increase.
On November 22, 2023, an interview with one of the managing partners of our law firm was published on the website of The Legal 500 ranking. We cordially invite you to read the text published below.
1) What has been your greatest achievement, in a professional and personal capability?
I succeed in predicting and eliminating clients’ problems to the greatest extent possible. Me and my colleagues pursue the goal for which I act both as a litigator and managing partner of our Polish law firm advising foreign businesses in the IT, technology, defence, life science, energy and investment sectors. I identify with the vision of creating real support for foreign entities in Polish jurisdiction. We are always interested in creative, practical solutions. I have always been fascinated by the epic of pillar, aid and development from productive hard work and commitment, such as Ayn Rand’s Atlas Shrugged.
When I represented my law firm at the ABA Conference in New York this year, I passed by this Atlas sculpture at the Rockefeller Center at the Fifth Ave., the Midtown Manhattan, and I realized how important the responsibility in the implementation of entrusted cases is in the hands of lawyers who want to operate internationally. I think that is why people become lawyers and it is a universal value, regardless of where you are from or where you operate.
That is why we have recently created a separate legal project called ISTART1, a platform dedicated to cross-border venture capital and private equity transactions.
