What Trade Inspection Checks in a Salon

In a beauty salon the Trade Inspection (Inspekcja Handlowa) may check fairness towards clients: the price list, prices and price reductions, information about the service and, if you sell cosmetics, the rules on cosmetic products. Treatment hygiene and sanitary procedures are a separate area covered by Sanepid, so in your salon you may meet both inspectorates, and each looks at something different. Below we describe what the rules we checked say about a Trade Inspection control and how to prepare for it.

We do not describe Sanepid, labour inspection (PIP) or data protection authority (UODO) controls here. You will find a comparison of five other inspection bodies in the article on salon inspections, and the course of a sanitary inspection in the article on what Sanepid checks in a nail salon.

Key points

• The Trade Inspection is a control body established to protect the interests and rights of consumers and the economic interests of the state (Art. 1(1) of the Trade Inspection Act). It checks the legality and fairness of how businesses operate in production, trade and services, and the services themselves (Art. 3(1)(1) and (2)).
• In a salon the price list is a duty that is easy to verify. Displaying the price at the place where services are provided is a duty under the Act on informing about the prices of goods and services. For failing to comply, the voivodeship inspector imposes a fine of up to PLN 20,000, and for a third violation within 12 months up to PLN 40,000 (Art. 6).
• As a rule a control is preceded by a notice of intent to start it, and it is started no earlier than 7 days and no later than 30 days after the notice is delivered (Art. 48 of the Entrepreneurs' Law). There are exceptions to this rule.
• The inspector may check the fairness of service by buying a service (Art. 16(1)(11) of the Trade Inspection Act).
• We did not check the practice of the inspectorate in salons or inspection statistics. We describe what follows from the rules.

What the Trade Inspection checks in a beauty salon

The Trade Inspection Act (consolidated text: Journal of Laws 2026, item 656) contains no list of checks for salons. It gives general tasks: checking the legality and fairness of how businesses operate in production, trade and services, and checking products on the market and services (Art. 3(1)(1) and (2)). In the Act, services are activities provided by businesses to the public for individual or collective consumption (Art. 2(3)). The Act excludes from its scope, among other things, health and social care services (Art. 4(11)). Whether a given treatment is a health care service, the Act does not settle, and neither do we.

The table below lists consumer protection rules that concern your services. It is our selection of rules we checked, not a list taken from the Trade Inspection Act.

Area	What the rule says	Our article
Price list	The price is displayed where services are provided, unambiguously and in a way that allows comparison (Art. 4(1) of the Act on informing about prices); the price list must be in a publicly accessible and clearly visible place, and prices are given with a precise description of the type and scope of the services (Section 10(1) and Section 11(1) of the regulation)	Salon price list
Services only at the client's place	When you provide services only at the consumer's place, you present the price list to her in writing or electronically before the service is performed (Section 11(2) of the regulation)	Mobile salon
Reductions and promotions	With information about a reduction you give the lowest price in the 30 days before the reduction; for an offer shorter than 30 days, the lowest price since the offer began (Art. 4(2) and (3)); the same applies to advertising with a price (Art. 4(5))	Promotions and the 30-day rule
Price discrepancy	Where there is a discrepancy or doubt about the price, the consumer may demand the service at the price most favourable to her (Art. 5)	Salon price list
Online booking	For a contract concluded at a distance, the business informs the consumer, at the latest when she expresses her will to be bound, among other things about the main characteristics of the service, its own details, address, email and phone, the total price, and the manner and time of performance and the complaints procedure (Art. 12(1)(1), (2), (3), (5) and (8) of the Consumer Rights Act)	Beauty service complaint
Terms and conditions	Provisions not individually negotiated that grossly infringe the consumer's interests contrary to good practice do not bind her (Art. 3851 § 1 of the Civil Code); in case of doubt, provisions that, among other things, exclude liability for personal injury are considered prohibited (Art. 3853(1))	Salon terms and conditions
Cosmetics on sale	The Trade Inspection Act provides for checking distributors' compliance with the rules on cosmetic products (Art. 3(1)(2i))	none, see below

The online booking row concerns only contracts concluded at a distance, that is, within an organised system for concluding contracts, without the simultaneous physical presence of the parties and with the exclusive use of means of distance communication (Art. 2(1) of the Consumer Rights Act). Whether your booking system meets this definition, you establish from how you actually conclude contracts. We do not cover the right of withdrawal.

Cosmetics sold in the salon

If you sell clients cosmetics to take home, note Art. 3(1)(2i) of the Trade Inspection Act. We did not check the cosmetic products regulation, nor when a salon becomes a distributor and what duties it has. If you plan retail sales, ask the inspectorate or a lawyer. The price of such products is subject to the Act on informing about prices in the same way as the price of services.

How a Trade Inspection control looks

Chapter 5 of the Entrepreneurs' Law applies to the control of a business's activity (Art. 22b of the Trade Inspection Act). It gives the rules you know from other controls.

1. Notice. The control body notifies you of its intention to start a control. The notice states, among other things, the scope of the control and a preliminary list of documents the body expects (Art. 48(3)(4) and (4a) of the Entrepreneurs' Law). The control is started no earlier than 7 days and no later than 30 days after delivery (Art. 48(2)). At your request it may start earlier (para. 4).
2. Exceptions to the notice. Actions relating to taking samples and inspections may be carried out before 7 days have passed, within a limited scope (Art. 48(5)-(7)). No notice is given either where, among other things, the control is justified by a direct threat to life, health or the environment, or serves to prevent an offence (Art. 48(11)).
3. The inspector's arrival. The inspector starts the control after showing a service ID and delivering an authorisation that states, among other things, the subject and scope of the control and the start date (Art. 13(1) and (2) of the Trade Inspection Act). The control is carried out in your presence or that of a person you authorise, at the place of business and during working hours (Art. 15(1)).
4. Actions. The inspector may, among other things, examine documents and records, inspect premises, demand explanations, secure evidence and check the fairness of service by buying a service (Art. 16(1)(1), (2), (6), (9) and (11)). You must allow these actions (Art. 16(2)).
5. The record. Findings are set out in a control record signed by the inspector and by you. You may submit comments to the record or in writing within 7 days of its being presented for signature, and the voivodeship inspector responds to them within 14 days of receiving them (Art. 20(1b), (2) and (3)).
6. After the control. The voivodeship inspector may issue a post-control statement with requests to remove shortcomings (Art. 33), and during the control, where necessary for the safety or interest of consumers, may order, among other things, a suspension of services or immediate removal of irregularities. Such a decision is immediately enforceable (Art. 18(1) and (4)).

The total duration of all controls by one control body at a microenterprise in a calendar year may not exceed 6 working days, with exceptions (Art. 55(1)(1) and (2) of the Entrepreneurs' Law). The business also keeps a control book and stores authorisations and control records (Art. 57).

What you risk for irregularities

• Prices. The voivodeship inspector of the Trade Inspection imposes a fine of up to PLN 20,000 for failing to comply with Art. 4(1)-(5) of the Act on informing about prices, and for at least three violations within 12 months up to PLN 40,000 (Art. 6(1) and (2)). In setting the fine, among other things the degree of violation, the business's prior activity and turnover are taken into account (Art. 6(3)). No decision is issued if 3 years have passed from the end of the year in which the violation was found (Art. 7(2)).
• Obstructing a control. Whoever prevents or obstructs the inspector's control is liable to detention of up to 30 days or a fine of up to PLN 5,000, and whoever fails to remove promptly the procedural or organisational shortcomings found is liable to a fine of up to PLN 5,000 (Art. 39 of the Trade Inspection Act).
• Failing to comply with a decision. Whoever fails to comply with a decision under Art. 18 is liable to a fine of up to 360 daily rates (Art. 38).

We do not cover penalties under other acts that may concern a salon, for example for unfair market practices. We describe the size of Sanepid fines in the article on fines in a beauty salon.

How to prepare your salon for a Trade Inspection control

1. Check the price list at the place where you provide services: is it in a publicly accessible and clearly visible place, are prices given with a precise description of the type and scope of services, are they current.
2. If you work only at clients' places, prepare a price list in writing or electronically to present before the service.
3. For every promotion record the lowest price in the 30 days before the reduction and keep that record.
4. Read your terms and conditions for provisions that exclude liability for personal injury or that the client could not read before concluding the contract (Art. 385³(1) and (4) of the Civil Code).
5. Check your online booking page: are the price, company details, contact and complaints information visible before confirmation.
6. Keep at hand the place where you record controls: the control book and the authorisations and records of earlier controls.
7. Appoint a person who will stand in for you during a control. A control may be carried out in the presence of a person you authorise (Art. 15(1)).

Frequently asked questions

What does the Trade Inspection check in a beauty salon?

The Trade Inspection Act speaks of checking the legality and fairness of how businesses operate in production, trade and services, and of checking services (Art. 3(1)(1) and (2)). In a salon these may be in particular prices and the price list, reductions, information for clients and, if you sell cosmetics, the rules on cosmetic products. We did not check the practice of controls in beauty salons.

Does the Trade Inspection check treatment hygiene?

The Trade Inspection Act does not name hygiene requirements or the procedures under Art. 16 of the Act on preventing infections among the inspectorate's tasks. Violations of hygiene and health requirements are dealt with by the state sanitary inspector (Art. 27(1) of the Act on the State Sanitary Inspection). We describe the details in the article on the Sanepid inspection.

Is a Trade Inspection control announced?

As a rule, yes. The body notifies you of its intention to start a control, and the control is started no earlier than 7 days and no later than 30 days after the notice is delivered. There are exceptions, among them a direct threat to life or health and actions relating to taking samples and inspections (Art. 48 of the Entrepreneurs' Law).

Can an inspector come as a client?

The Act provides that during a control the inspector may check the fairness of service by buying a product or a service (Art. 16(1)(11)). The control is started after showing a service ID and delivering an authorisation (Art. 13(1)). How this provision relates to a purchase made before a control starts, we do not settle.

What fine threatens a salon for having no price list?

For failing to comply with the duties to display prices (Art. 4(1)-(5)), the voivodeship inspector of the Trade Inspection imposes a fine of up to PLN 20,000, and for a third violation within 12 months up to PLN 40,000 (Art. 6 of the Act on informing about the prices of goods and services). The amount in a particular case depends on the circumstances listed in Art. 6(3).

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Legal status as of: 5 November 2026
Legal basis: Articles 1(1), 2(3), 3(1)(1), (2) and (2i), 4(11), 13, 15, 16, 18, 20, 22b, 33, 38 and 39 of the Act of 15 December 2000 on the Trade Inspection (consolidated text: Journal of Laws 2026, item 656; no amendments published after this text were found); Articles 4(1)-(3) and (5), 5, 6 and 7(2) of the Act of 9 May 2014 on informing about the prices of goods and services (consolidated text: Journal of Laws 2023, item 168; no amendments after this text were found); Sections 10 and 11 of the Regulation of the Minister of Development and Technology of 19 December 2022 on displaying the prices of goods and services (Journal of Laws 2022, item 2776); Articles 2(1) and 12(1) of the Act of 30 May 2014 on Consumer Rights (consolidated text: Journal of Laws 2026, item 1244; the Act of 4 September 2026, Journal of Laws 2026, item 1353, amends among others Art. 12 of that Act from 27 September 2027, so it does not apply to the state as of 5 November 2026); Articles 48, 55 and 57 of the Act of 6 March 2018 - Entrepreneurs' Law (consolidated text: Journal of Laws 2025, item 1480; the amendments in Journal of Laws 2025, items 1795 and 1826 and 2026, item 507 do not affect these provisions); Articles 385¹ and 385³ of the Civil Code (consolidated text: Journal of Laws 2026, item 795); Art. 27(1) of the Act on the State Sanitary Inspection (consolidated text: Journal of Laws 2024, item 416). Not checked: Regulation (EC) 1223/2009 on cosmetic products and distributors' duties, the Act on counteracting unfair market practices, the powers of the President of UOKiK, rules on the right of withdrawal, the practice and statistics of Trade Inspection controls in beauty salons, case law.
Last reviewed: 5 November 2026