Poland - Tourism - UOKiK's Report

Fewer and fewer travel agents violate the rights of consumers - according to the inspection of tour organizers conducted by UOKiK. 171 standard forms of agreements, applied  by 87 undertakings operating in Poland, were the subject of inspection.

The Office regularly monitors the market of tourist services. Of over 2.4 thousand clauses entered in the Register of Prohibited Clauses, 709 are associated with tourism. It is the largest group in the register of one industry decisions. This year the nationwide inspection of the activities of tour organizers was conducted, the fifth since 2003. In the course of inspection conducted from February to June, UOKiK examined 171 standard forms of agreements, regulations; it also examined advertising materials - brochures, folders, leaflets, and the agreements that were concluded with consumers.

Unlawful practices were applied by 63 percent of the examined undertakings. As compared with the results of the previous inspection of 2008, when irregularities were found in up to 96 percent of undertakings - this year's survey shows improvement. It is optimistic that in the case of up to 32 undertakings there were no objections to the standard forms of agreements

Among the 87 surveyed tour organizers - 52 were the undertakings inspected by UOKiK for the first time. They were selected from various Voivodeships based on the largest amount of bank or insurance guarantee. The others were selected from among the undertakings where many irregularities were discovered during the previous inspection.

Unlawful practices were applied by 63 percent of the examined undertakings. As compared with the results of the previous inspection of 2008, when irregularities were found in up to 96 percent of undertakings - this year's survey shows improvement. It is optimistic that in the case of up to 32 undertakings there were no objections to the standard forms of agreements. In relation to the rest of the group – UOKiK questions mainly the use of provisions in breach of the law on tourist services, and identical to those listed in the Register of Prohibited Clauses.

In the documents inspected the Office found, among others, the provisions important for the tourists from the economic point of view - the unlawful exclusion or limitation of a tourist event organizer’s liability, hindering the complaint placement, changes in tour price. The objections relate to, e.g.:

In the documents inspected the Office found, among others, the provisions important for the tourists from the economic point of view - the unlawful exclusion or limitation of a tourist event organizer’s liability, hindering the complaint placement, changes in tour price. The objections relate to, e.g.:

• limiting the liability of the organizer - most, as many as 42 provisions questioned by UOKiK related to unlawful limitation or exclusion of liability of the tour organizer, mostly in situations such as aircraft delay, change of hotel or loss of valuables. The organizers informed tourists in the agreements or regulations that – the travel office is not responsible for items left in the bus while traveling and while staying in the place of accommodation. Meanwhile, in accordance with the law, the organizer of the package cannot exclude its liability for damage to belongings of tourists that took place during the trip. The exception is when the injury is caused by action or omission of the consumer, third party or force majeure;
• hindering the complaint filing - another large group of irregularities - 25 contested provisions - were the conditions for the enforcement of rights in the event of improperly performed agreement. Due to a change in the past year of provisions regarding, e.g., the date and manner of complaint filing in tourist services, UOKiK drew particular attention to the observance of the law is in this regard. Detected irregularities included application of the provisions of shortening the statutory deadline for the submission of the complaint. For example, travel agencies informed their clients that - any complaints on services should be made individually but not later than 7 days after the event. Meanwhile, in accordance with the law, we have 30 days from the end of the tour to lodge a complaint. In every agreement on tourist services there should be the information on how to file complaints;
• price modification before the event - for consumers, the price is one of the most important factors, by which they are guided in selecting a specific trip. The law allows for the possibility of its change only in specific cases, i.e. the increase of official fees, including taxes, transport costs, exchange rates. Also the price change cannot be introduced later than 20 days before the beginning of the tour. In the case of a price change, the organizer must immediately inform the consumer about it, who in this case is entitled to terminate the agreement and receive his/her money back. As the inspection has shown, the tour operators did not respect these rules and reserved the right to change prices for reasons other than statutory, such as climate fees;
• irregularities in content and structure of the agreements - Tourist Services Act sets out exactly what the service agreements, as part of tourist packages, should contain. Unfortunately, the inspection conducted confirmed that not all undertakings remembered about this. The irregularities identified related to the lack of information about food provision conditions, contact with the insurer from whom the travel agency purchased the obligatory insurance policy to protect the tourists, or the lack of an organizer registration number in the register of tour operators and travel agents. It should be emphasized that placement of the information about the undertaking in the agreement, including registration number, allows the consumer to check whether the agency operates legally, and also facilitates pursuing prospective claims.

In consequence of the inspection, 41 proceedings were initiated in case of violation of the collective consumer interests, three of which have already been completed by two commitment decisions and one ordering to discontinue the prohibited practices. In addition, preparations are being made to initiate the next seven such cases. Part of the clauses was regarded as unlawful, but they are not entered in the Register of Prohibited Clauses. In relation to 22 undertakings, UOKiK will bring an action to the Court of Competition and Consumer Protection for recognition the applied clauses as abusive.

At the same time, the Office would like to remind that the tourists may receive free assistance in enforcement of their rights from poviat or municipal consumers ombudsmen or at the phone number 800 007 707, Monday to Friday, 9:00 to 17:00.

Read the press release.