The GVH imposed a fine of more than HUF 2 billion in 2023

By: Trademagazin Date: 2024. 06. 12. 12:45

As every year, the Economic Competition Authority published its report on the previous year’s activities. In the report prepared for the Parliament, the GVH provides a detailed account of the authority’s activities in 2023: the initiated and closed competition authority procedures, the conducted comprehensive sectoral investigations, and the evolution of fines imposed. Based on the report, the expert from Bán, S. Szabó, Rausch & Partners presents the authority’s activities in the field of competition supervision, with a special emphasis on information for businesses.

To protect consumers

In 2023, the GVH concluded 41 competition supervision procedures and initiated 34 new competition supervision procedures, more than half of which were initiated due to the investigation of unfair commercial practices towards consumers. The figure below shows the distribution of closed and newly started competition supervision procedures by case type.

Similar to the initiated proceedings, in terms of the proportion of cases closed by the competition authority and fines imposed, the vast majority were violations related to unfair commercial practices towards consumers. In 2023, the Competition Council made a decision in 41 cases against 97 companies within the framework of competition supervision procedures, of which 27 cases were related to unfair commercial practices, 8 cases related to mergers, and 5 cases related to anti-competitive agreements.