The conflict of values in antitrust proceedings before the President of the Office of Competition and Consumer Protection

The decisions of the President of the OCCP in antitrust cases usually resolve the dilemma as to which (constitutional) value should be given priority: economic freedom or fair competition. The purpose of the present article is to examine what considerations and factors guide the President of the OCCP when there is a conflict between the values indicated and what decisions and of what content can potentially be made. The present paper focuses on the proceedings in cases of restrictive practices and approvals for mergers and acqiusitions of entrepreneurs. The study has indicated the reasons why the President of the OCCP, at the ex-pense of competition protection, allows the existence of agreements between entrepreneurs or approvals of the concentration of entrepreneurs. The research has used the dogmatic legal and formal-legal method, based on the Polish law and EU law; in addition, the content of existing decisions of the President of the OCCP has been analysed.