Embracing and Nurturing the Free Market: Lessons from Poland through the Lens of Competition Law and Policy

In the period 2017-2018 Dr Marek Martyniszyn, in collaboration with Dr hab. Maciej Bernatt (University of Warsaw), undertook a critical investigation into implementation and development of competition law system in Poland. In this framework Dr Martyniszyn developed a methodology of availing of in-depth semi-structured interviews and working with a variety of data and statistics. In particular, this research benefitted from nearly 30 interviews with individuals who shaped the competition law system over nearly 30 years of its existence (including all former heads of the Polish competition agency, judges, leading practitioners, and agency advisors). Moreover, while relying on broader scholarship on new competition regimes and doctrinal research, this work drew on under-explored and newly collected data and statistics. It is the first such study of the Polish competition law system, or indeed of a recently matured competition law regime.