On October 9th 2019 the Supreme Court dismissed a complaint, filed by an entrepreneur who runs a chain of franchised restaurants, regarding imposing a fine by the President of the Office of Competition and Consumer Protection. The fine was imposed due to the pact concerning fixed prices in all the restaurants in the chain.
In the reasons for judgment the Supreme Court has stated that the need for public interest protection regulated in Article no. 1 of the Competition and Consumer Protection Act does not exempt from assessing of this interest in case of horizontal agreement in franchise agreements. According to the Supreme Court the result of elimination of competition is not necessary to occur, in order for the ban premise in the illegal agreement to be fulfilled. Each behavior which infringes on the mechanisms of competition protection violates the public interest.
This judgment is to be considered as restrictive for entrepreneurs, as the common behavior standards are a key to running a business in the form of franchise. According to the Court entrepreneurs who work within a franchise are not allowed to commonly determine product and service prices or the consumer.