The aim of the paper is to assess how the principles of the competitive order were implemented in Poland during the country’s economic transition in 1995–2012. To accomplish the research tasks, the principles of the competitive order developed by German economist Walter Eucken were adopted as a reference model. This made it possible to determine just how close Poland’s economic order was to the ideal model during the studied period. An analysis of selected indicators shows that the competitive order in the Polish economy in 1995–2012 only to a limited extent corresponded with the desirable model.The greatest failures in Poland’s economic order could be observed in areas such as price elasticity, responsibility for business results, economic policy stability, and the freedom of contract. Considerable progress was observed in the implementation of the rules of the competitive order in areas such as stability in the value of money, private ownership of means of production and open markets.