The initiation of competition supervision proceedings examining competitive conducts of undertakings is not the only means of the GVH to promote competition. The authority also has the possibility to collect general information about the competitive process in a sector or on a market. The Competition Act authorises the President of the GVH to order a sectoral inquiry, if market processes in a sector suggest that the competitive process in the given sector is restricted or distorted. In the course of the inquiry a report is made as a result of the detailed analysis of the information collected from the market participants. This report can later be the basis of some further activities of the GVH (competition supervision proceedings or competition advocacy). The institution of the sectoral inquiry is not unknown in the European practice, as the European Commission also has the right to use sectoral inquiries in order to bring to light competitive problems of certain markets (industries).
Under the special rules adopted during the pandemic in July 2021, and later with the amendment of the Hungarian Competition Act in December 2021, enacted by the Act CXXX of 2021, effective as of 1 June 2022, the GVH has been entitled to perform the sector inquiry with tighter deadlines and in a more targeted way. Detailed description of the accelerated sectoral inquiry.
The GVH has initiated sectoral inquiries among others in the mobile telecommunications, in the electric energy, in the home loan and in the media market.