• On 19-21 February 2024, UOKiK hosted a study visit of 6 experts representing the Ministry of Industry, Entrepreneurship and Trade, the Consumer Protection Council and the Office of the Prime Minister of the Republic of Kosovo.
• It's purpose was to learn about the practical aspects of the functioning of the consumer protection system in Poland.

The Kosovo institutions were particularly interested in the Polish experiences of the integration process with the European Union, which is due to the need to meet the requirements of the Stabilisation and Association Agreement (SAA) concluded by Kosovo and the EU.

Meetings of the experts from both institutions were held at the Office's headquarters in Warsaw and at its branch offices in Poznań and Bydgoszcz. At the beginning, the competences of UOKiK and the cooperation with other institutions of the consumer protection system in Poland were presented, moreover, the issue of out-of-court dispute resolution (ADR) and the activity of the European Consumer Centre dealing with cross-border cases was discussed. The discussion also covered the communication and educational activities of the Polish authority.

During the visit to the UOKiK branch office in Poznań, Kosovo representatives were introduced to the Office's system for managing consumer complaints, and then to the nature and examples of practices infringing collective consumer interests. The Office's experts also introduced the practical aspects of obtaining evidence of infringements, including, among others, the institution of the mystery shopper and digital tools supporting the conduct of proceedings. The meeting in Bydgoszcz was an opportunity to address the topic of unfair terms in consumer contracts and their detection by means of artificial intelligence tools.

The study visit of Kosovo representatives initiated cooperation between the two institutions. In the Western Balkans region, UOKiK has so far been present in Serbia, where it implemented a twinning project in the area of consumer protection for the Ministry of Internal and Foreign Trade from 2021 to 2023.