The Polish Competition Authority, by condemning a town for abusing its dominant position, restates that competition law applies to practices of local government units (Commune of Kielce)

The present decision, rendered on December 2, 2005, concerns the practice of the Municipal Administration of Roads in the city of Kielce (the organizational unit of the commune of Kielce) consisting on the refusal to give access to the municipal transport bus stops to operators other than the Municipal Company of the Public Transportation. In the past, the President of the Office of Competition and Consumer Protection (hereafter, “OCCP President” or “President of the Office”) had many times an occasion to examine the practices committed by the units of the local governments in Poland (See: J. Faruga and V. Metonidze, “The Polish competition authority established that the commune W. has abused its dominant position by limiting the number of resellers for public transportation”,