What will be on the blacklist?

Hungarian legislation related to the adaptation of EU principles regarding unfair trade practices, will be published before 11. June this year. Some marketing campaigns will automatically result in a fine after this new legislation comes into effect. According to dr. Judit Firniksz from the law firm, Réti, Antall & Madl Landwell, this directive was passed in 2005-ben. Agreement has been reached about the application of maximum-harmonisation, which means provisions of the directive will be adapted practically word by word. The directive regulates activities at three levels. At the first level, general bans are defined regarding unfair trade practices. At the second level, misleading and aggressive activities are listed. These include some forms of advertising. The directive lists the types of information which shall be disclosed on a mandatory basis during campaigns. At the third level, a blacklist of activities will be defined. These activities will automatically result in a fine without any special procedure. An example of such an activity is when retailers claim a product is only available for a specific period, or it is available on special conditions, so that customers are denied sufficient time for choosing. Another example is creating a false impression about a product, like claiming it can be sold legally, or claiming that a retailer is going to close its business or move its location. Establishing multilevel marketing systems, where customers regard purchases as business investments resulting in income will also be illegal. The Hungarian version of the Legislation will be submitted to Parliament by the Ministry of Economy and Transport for the spring session. No decision has yet been reached regarding the organisation which will be responsible for enforcing the new legislation.