By: Flurry Serbu
On August 25th, the Polish Office of Competition and Consumer Protection (Urząd Ochrony Konkurencji i Konsumentów or “UOKiK”) accused Netflix of increasing subscription fees without the explicit consent of its users.[1] The regulatory body claims that in August of last year, the corporation unilaterally raised monthly fees for some subscribers by as much as 7 złotych, or roughly $1.92 USD.[2] UOKiK president Tomasz Chróstny was quoted in a statement, saying, “[t]he price of the service, like any provision, should not be changed unilaterally, without the explicit and informed consent of the user.”[3]
Under Polish regulatory law,
“if a platform operates under a subscription-fee model where a fee for a subsequent period is charged from a consumer automatically, from a payment card attached to the account, then every change to a price, price schedule or material elements of a contract must be held upon an informed consumer consent.”[4]
This newer regulation was enacted to provide a modern interpretation of Article 6a of the European Parliament’s Directive 98/6/EC and of the Act of 9 May 2014 on the Indication of Prices of Goods and Services that implemented the Directive on the national level.[5] The Parliament Directive obligates sellers “to indicate the selling price and the unit price” of goods for the purpose of “enabl[ing] consumers to evaluate and compare the price of products in an optimum manner and hence to make informed choices based on simple comparisons.”[6] Article 6 itself deals with an exemption where the indication of the unit price might constitute an excessive burden, but limits this exception to small retail businesses and only allows the exemption’s use for “transitional periods.”[7] The Polish Acts themselves greatly expand consumer rights and protections, primarily by increasing regulations surrounding the offer and provision of digital content and services.[8] In 2023, UOKiK issued guidelines and explanations for complying with the required notification for price reductions, though these do not cover price increases directly, they merely serve as ancillary proof that the regulatory authority is acting in good faith.[9] In effect and intention, these measures, on the whole, make efforts to prohibit corporations from misleading consumers.[10] Indeed, they seem to be working, at least on paper, as UOKiK has already fined Amazon 31 million złotych for irregularities in the provision of services.[11] Amazon caved to another one of UOKiK’s demands earlier this year to revise the pricing terms for Amazon Prime and Prime Video.[12]
The United States, for its part, has no comparable legislation. In 2022, Representative Janice D. Schakowsky of Illinois introduced a bill to the House Energy and Finance Committee that sought to make the practice of price gouging unlawful federally and allow the Federal Trade Commission “to seek permanent injunctions and equitable relief,” in those circumstances.[13] This bill appears to have died in committee.[14] Regardless, it is not likely that price gouging necessarily encompasses the sort of price rises that are now being targeted by UOKiK. The bill specified that the unlawful price raising could only occur “during an exceptional market shock.”[15] This is defined as
“any change or imminently threatened . . . change in the market for a good or service resulting from a natural disaster, failure or shortage of electric power or other source of energy, strike, civil disorder, war, military action, national or local emergency, public-health emergency, or any other cause of an atypical disruption in such market.”[16]
Though some states have certain protections against price gouging, it appears that none have found a means—or perhaps basis— to regulate unilateral price increases on subscription services.[17]
As some professionals have noted, the Polish Regulation is certainly different from both the European standard under Article 6 and broader foreign regulation, such as those in the United States; it is far more rigorous in its consumer protection regulations, certainly.[18] It may well be that these broader consumer protections are the future of commercial regulation. Poland is, after all, one of the largest economies and the single fastest growing economy in Europe, and this growth is supported in good part by private consumption.[19] It thus makes good sense that internationally minded businesses, such as Amazon, would kowtow to be allowed to continue, lawful access to the market.[20]
Having proven its might thus far, it seems UOKiK possesses a rare sort of leverage over these tech giants, though it remains to be seen what answer Netflix will give to this accusation. If the Polish market is able to hold its own against these industries, one needs only imagine what effect the passage of similar legislation in the United States might have.
[1] Polish Consumer Watchdog Accuses Netflix of Unauthorized Fee Hikes, Reuters, Aug. 26, 2025, https://www.reuters.com/sustainability/boards-policy-regulation/polish-consumer-watchdog-accuses-netflix-unauthorised-fee-hikes-2025-08-25/ [on file with the American University Business Law Review]).
[2] Id.
[3] Ananya Gairola, Netflix Maybe Basking in the Success of ‘KPop Demon Hunters,’ But it’s in Trouble with a European Country, Benzinga (Aug. 26, 2025, 2:17 AM), https://www.benzinga.com/news/entertainment/25/08/47324604/netflix-maybe-basking-in-the-success-of-kpop-demon-hunters-but-its-in-trouble-with-a-european-country [on file with the American University Business Law Review].
[4] Press Release, Urząd Ochrony Konkurencji i Konsumentów, Price Hikes on Autopilot – Netflix to Raise Fees Without Users’ Clear Approval (Aug. 25, 2025), https://uokik.gov.pl/public/en/price-hikes-on-autopilot-netflix-to-raise-fees-without-users-clear-approval [https://perma.cc/PR3Y-BBQ7].
[5] Monika Hughes & Cezary Opalinski, Rules on Price Reductions Stricter in Poland Due to Latest Polish Regulator’s Guidelines, Bird & Bird (May 19, 2023), https://www.twobirds.com/en/insights/2023/poland/rules-on-price-reductions-stricter-in-poland-due-to-latest-polish-regulators-guidelines [https://perma.cc/HK4T-RDRE] (citing Act of 1 December 2022 amending the Consumer Rights Act and Certain Other Acts (Journal of Laws 2022 item 2581) which introduced changes in the Act of 9 May 2014 on the Indication of Prices of Goods and Services (Journal of Laws 2014 item 915).
[6] Directive 98/6 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 16 February 1998 on Consumer Protection in the Indication of the Prices of Products Offered to Consumers, 1998 O.J. (L 80) 27, 27, https://eur-lex.europa.eu/eli/dir/1998/6/oj?uri=CELEX:31998L0006 [https://perma.cc/3N2N-DHMR].
[7] Id. at 29.
[8] Press Release, Rymarz Zdort Maruta, A Zmiany w prawie ochrony konsumentów od 1 stycznia 2023 roku (Jan. 3, 2023) (on file with author) (translated from its original) (citing Ustawą z dnia 1 grudnia 2022 r. o zmianie ustawy o prawach konsumenta oraz niektórych innych ustaw (Dz.U. 2022 poz. 2581); Ustawą z dnia 4 listopada 2022 r. o zmianie ustawy o prawach konsumenta, ustawy – Kodeks cywilny oraz ustawy – Prawo prywatne międzynarodowe (Dz.U. 2022 poz. 2337)), https://rzmlaw.com/en/alerts/amendments-to-the-consumer-protection-law-from-1-january-2023/ [https://perma.cc/C8VK-GCC7].
[9] See generally Guidelines, Urząd Ochrony Konkurencji i Konsumentów, Informacja o obniżce ceny (2023), https://uokik.gov.pl/download.php?plik=27128 [https://perma.cc/P9GU-TUYD] (nowhere within are direct price increases discussed; rather this serves as guidelines for the notice that must be given to consumers when prices are marked down or reduced, so as to not mislead them with false markdowns).
[10] Cf. Press Release, Urząd Ochrony Konkurencji i Konsumentów, Pln 31 Million Fine for Amazon (2023) (on file with author), https://uokik.gov.pl/en/pln-31-million-fine-for-amazon [https://perma.cc/5YHG-5SBM] (herein, UOKiK issued Amazon EU a 31 million złotych fine for misleading customers generally through irregular provision of services and obscure information around product availability and delivery dates).
[11] See id.
[12] See Gairola, supra note 3.
[13] See H.R. 7736, 117th Cong. (2022).
[14] See id.
[15] Id.
[16] Id.
[17] See e.g. Ala. Code § 8-31-1 (2024), Colo. Rev. Stat. §§ 6-1-730, 6-1-112 (2024), N.Y. Gen. Bus. Law § 396-r (2024) (all providing for means of regulating and punishing price gouging activities).
[18] See Hughes & Opalinski, supra note 5.
[19] See Katherine Mansfield, Poland’s GDP Set for Growth in 2025 as EU’s Fastest Economy, European Capital Insights (Nov. 29, 2024), https://europeancapitalinsights.substack.com/p/polands-gdp-set-for-continued-growth [https://perma.cc/P5L5-3J24].
[20] See Gairola, supra note 3.
