The Ministry of Justice is currently working on a draft of the so-called “Anti-collusion Act” providing several key changes for the entire lending industry in Poland.
According to the draft, in particular, non-interest costs of granting consumer credit will be lowered again. Thus, lower limits on these costs would be restored. They were introduced in March 2020 in connection with the COVID-19 pandemic and were intended to exist only for a crisis period. They expired, as specified in the bill, on June 30, 2021. The bill provides for reinstatement of the limits and placing the activities of lending institutions under the full supervision of the Financial Supervision Commission (FSC). The introduction of the aforementioned supervision results, in turn, in the planned extension of penal provisions addressed to the activities of the lending industry.
The above draft amendments to the provisions on consumer credit are generally negatively assessed by experts. In particular, attention should be paid to the already difficult financial situation of the lending industry. In addition, there is no justification for placing the activities of lending institutions under the supervision of the FSC. Inadequate identification of problems affecting the lending industry is also negatively perceived.
It should also be emphasized that works on the above project are conducted in parallel with activities undertaken by the European Commission within the framework of revising the provisions of the Directive on consumer credit agreements. Therefore, this project is not related to the European initiative in this area, on the contrary, it may collide with it.
Under the terms of the draft, the new provisions introducing lower limits on non-interest costs of consumer credit would take effect on the day the law is promulgated. The FSC’s supervision of credit institutions would take effect 6 months after the bill’s promulgation.
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