POLAND Trends and Developments Contributed by: Szymon Gogulski, Marek Oleksyn and Damian Ludwiniak, Sołtysiński Kawecki & Szlęzak
mental claim”, or “sustainability label”) and expanding the list of unfair market practices to include those spe - cifically related to greenwashing. The new regulations envisaged by the Greenwashing Directive are to be transposed into national laws by member states by 27 March 2026 and will take effect from September 2026. Online tagging of advertising content by influencers As a rule, every promotion (including self-advertising) of a product or service made by influencers online in exchange for any benefit (remuneration, products, services, discounts or invitations to a given event, etc) must be tagged. This is also for information purposes towards the consumer. In previous years, advertising signage was poorly regulated, and clear guidelines were lacking. Con - sequently, influencers and marketing agencies have labelled online collaborations arbitrarily. The President of the OCCP has now published recommendations on labelling advertising content by influencers on social media. Among others, the basic rules are as follows. Advertising material must be labelled in a clear, unam - biguous and comprehensible way to each recipient, which means that it should: • be displayed in a prominent position – eg, at the beginning of a description or recording; • stand out from the rest of the content; • be written in a clear and sufficiently large font; • be in Polish, if the profile is in that language; • use terms that clearly indicate the profile is con - ducted in that language; and • use terms that clearly indicate the commercial nature of the publication. It is recommended to use “two-tier labelling” – ie, using both the functionality of the platform as well as self-marking. The recommended terms for advertising materials are: • #advertising or [advertising]; • #advertising material or [advertising material]; • #AdvertisingCollaboration or [advertising collabo - ration]; • #PostSponsored or [sponsored post];
• #SponsoredMaterial or [sponsored material]; • #PaidCollaboration or [paid collaboration]; • #video #report #post #material + #advertising; • #sponsored = eg #VideoRelationship; • #SponsoredRelation; • XYZ brand advertising; or • paid collaboration with XYZ brand. The recommended terms for self-promotion are: • #autopromotion or [self-promotion]; • #self-promotion or [self-promotion]; and • #own-brand or [own-brand]. Non-recommended terms are those provided in lan - guages other than Polish (except when the entire pro - file is in a foreign language) or in abbreviation form, such as #AD, #promo or #spons, as well as those provided in a form that does not emphasise the fact that the influencer benefits from it (eg, #collaboration or #material produced in co-operation with). Incorrect labelling of advertising content can have legal consequences for the influencer, the advertising agency, and the advertiser. The President of the OCCP may declare the use of a practice that infringes on the collective interests of consumers by an entrepreneur who commits unfair market practices. This applies to misleading consumers in connection with the label - ling of advertising materials or the use of surreptitious advertising, among others. In such a situation, the President of the OCCP may order the entrepreneur to: • pay a fine of up to 10% of turnover; • abandon the practice that is infringing the collec - tive interests of consumers; • remove the ongoing effects of the infringement, including placing statements in the form and con - tent indicated in the decision of the President of the OCCP; or • publish the decision of the President. Consumers who have been affected by a trader engaging in an unfair market practice relating to the labelling of advertising material may:
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