Under the Act of July 31, 2019, amending certain acts in order to reduce regulatory burdens, certain entrepreneurs were to be treated similarly to consumers. The amendment, adding new Articles 3855, 5564, 5565, and 5765 to the Civil Code, was originally scheduled to enter into force on June 1, 2020, and apply to contracts concluded after that date. However, the epidemiological situation related to COVID-19 has resulted in a postponement of the entry into force of these provisions – in accordance with the Act of March 31, 2020, amending the Act on special solutions related to the prevention, counteraction, and combating of COVID-19, other infectious diseases and the resulting crisis situations, and certain other acts, it is scheduled to take effect on January 1, 2021.
These provisions will apply to contracts concluded after this date, i.e. 1 January 2021.
As a reminder, the changes coming from January 2021 will mean that individuals running a business will, in some cases, be treated as consumers and therefore be covered by consumer protection despite being entrepreneurs. For this to happen, one important condition must be met: the contract the entrepreneur enters into must not be of a professional nature. This means that the contract cannot directly relate to the entrepreneur's industry. When it comes to defining such an industry, the CEIDG entry regarding the entrepreneur's business activity will be crucial.
Example: a dentist who concludes a mandatory insurance contract with an insurer for his business activity will be treated as a consumer, because the conclusion of such a contract, although related to his business activity, is not of a professional nature.
Importantly, entrepreneurs benefiting from such consumer protection will not be covered by institutional consumer protection provided by the President of the Office of Competition and Consumer Protection and district ombudsmen.
You can already prepare for the new regulations, in particular by analysing contracts and preparing customer verification procedures.
If you would like to learn more about the issue of treating certain entrepreneurs as consumers, please check the alert available on the Law Firm's website at the following address: http://kglegal.pl/przedsiebiór-jak-konsument/ .
