The subject of the master’s thesis was “Nowy ład dla konsumentów” a maiori ad minus. Ocena projektu reformy prawa ochrony konsumentów ze szczególnym uwzględnieniem powództw przedstawicielskich i roli rzeczników konsumentów [“New Deal for Consumers” a maiori ad minus. Evaluation of the draft reform of consumer protection law with particular emphasis on representative actions and the role of consumer ombudsmen]. Dr hab., prof. UL Monika Namysłowska was the thesis supervisor.
One can read in the justification of the competition Jury: The author has performed a thorough analysis of source materials, which makes the thesis extremely up-to-date. In the Jury’s opinion she analyses selected rulings efficiently, often referring to the position of a doctrine.
- The thesis pertains to the the 2018 communication of the European Commission "A New Deal for Consumers", which includes a draft directive on representative actions, i.e., simplifying actions brought to court by qualified representatives of consumers collective interests – says mgr Anna Urbanek.
She also adds:
- The essence of this procedure is to combine in a single procedure an order to cease harmful practices by an entrepreneur and the pursuit of collective consumer claims. Currently, cases can take years, because only after issuing an order, consumers can individually bring damages actions. Thanks to the solution proposed in the draft directive, the court in its judgment will order an entrepreneur to cease harmful activities and at the same time will oblige him to pay financial compensation. I have analysed the Polish institutional model of consumer protection. Using the example of consumer ombudsmen, I present the possible ways of applying the procedure for representative actions in Poland.
Anna Urbanek was also nominated for her master’s thesis to the 21st edition of Prof. Jan Kodrębski Contest, which is granted every year by the UL Faculty of Law and Administration to its best graduates. Currently she is a doctoral student at the UL Department of European Economic Law, Faculty of Law and Administration.
Anna Urbanek completed law studies at the UL Faculty of Law and Administration. She is a graduate from the School of French Law organized at the University of Lodz in cooperation with Université de Tours in France as well as graduate from the European Information Technology Law course at the Academy of European Law (ERA) Trier/ Germany. As a mentee of the President of the Lodz Agency of Regional Development, she has participated in the 5th edition of the Mentoring Project. In the academic year 2018/2019, she held a Student Research Grant of the Rector of the University of Lodz. Anna Urbanek is the winner of the 3rd Prize of the President of the Office of Competition and Consumer Protection in the competition for the best master's theses on consumer protection for her master's thesis entitled “New Deal for consumers and maiori ad minus. Evaluation of the draft reform of consumer protection law with particular emphasis on representative actions and the role of consumer ombudsmen", prepared at the Department of European Economic Law under the supervision of dr hab., prof UL Monika Namysłowska. Currently she is a doctoral student of the University of Lodz Doctoral School of Social Sciences.
University of Lodz is one of the biggest universities in Poland. Its mission is to educate top-class scientists and specialists in numerous fields of humanities, social sciences, natural and exact sciences as well as health sciences. UniLodz cooperates with business, both at the staff level by providing qualified employees as well as at the scientific level, by offering its know-how to enterprises from various areas of economy. University of Lodz is an academic institution open to the world – the number of its international students is constantly growing, while its Polish students, thanks to Exchange programmes, get to know Europe, Asia and travel overseas. The University is a part of Lodz, it operates for and with the community of Lodz by getting involved in many socio-cultural projects.
Source: UL Faculty of Law and Administration
Edit: Promotion Centre, UL