Polish Contracts

Are Polish large companies obliged to provide contracts in English under any EU law. If yes can someone provide a link.
I have recently been advised by a well known Polish company, they are not responsible to provide me with correspondence/ Contracts in English, I have no ability in Polish whatsoever, they wish to sell me something and have informed me to bring a translator with me at my own expense. Any similar experiences from anyone and how did you handle it?

If they wish to sell you something tell them that you can't evaluate their proposal UNLESS they use English in communication with you. It has nothing to do with law, just plain common sense (regardless what law says).

There was something mentioning this on the EU regulations website, concerning consumer law and "unfair contracts" but it seems to have been removed? I actually used it to get my mobile phone contract cancelled but I never kept a copy of the regulation. I think perhaps they got ridof it because it was unreasonable to ask (say a ) Polish retailer/service provider to keep printed contracts in 27 languages.

You should always get someone you trust to read and explain the contract to you. If the supplier/service provider deviates from the contract in any way then the contract is void. Pre-printed contracts with the amounts of money involved and time limits (ie: 24 months) are not legal, these must be spaces left on the pre-printed form, filled in by hand and initialled by the customer.

Told them that if they wanted my business they would make sure the staff dealing with me spoke English and that all documentation and communication was in English or with an English translation. Only one company failed to do that (I didn't do business with them).

Thanks Avalon and Harry for the feedback, the issue here is ‘Protection of the economic interest of consumers ‘
Aggressive commercial practices
Consumers’ transactional decisions must be made freely. They cannot be taken following the use of harassment, coercion or undue influence *.
Several elements must be taken into consideration in order to determine the penalties:
 The nature and the duration of the aggressive practice;
 The possible use of threatening or abusive language or behavior;
 The exploitation of any specific circumstance affecting the consumer in order to influence his/her decision; the non-contractual conditions imposed on the consumer for exercising their contractual rights.

If a Polish company (large/State) is unwilling to provide contracts and instructions in English it must be considered “Aggressive commercial practice” under EU directive, as the foreign consumer is unable to make an informed decision.

I think you're living in cloud cuckoo land with that interpretation, personally. The cost to the State and business to provide information in all 27 (soon to be 28) EU languages would be astronomical and unaffordable. It's not unrealistic to expect companies to do business in their native tongue. i can imagine the reaction if you expected a contract in Polish from a UK company!


No. But you, as the consumer, can walk away if they don't provide it.


That's fair enough. They don't value your business enough to provide a translator, so you're free to walk away.

Quite honestly, why would you bother with a company that doesn't want your business? In my experience, companies are generally happy to source an English speaker if they want to sell you something.