Hungary and the GVH are a bridge between EU economies and emerging economies.
Budapest, 27 March 2024 - At this year's first event of the joint Regional Centre for Competition (RRC) in Budapest, organised by the Hungarian Competition Authority (GVH) and the OECD, the heads of competition authorities from 15 countries met to discuss common challenges they face in their daily practice. Csaba Balázs Rigó, President of the GVH, stressed that “the Hungarian national competition authority is a bridge between EU Member States and emerging economies, and our joint training centre with the OECD in Budapest contributes to this. We Hungarians believe in interconnection, not separation.”
The Regional Centre for Competition (“RCC”) in Budapest, run by the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) and the Hungarian Competition Authority (GVH), was established on 16 February 2005 with the primary objective of building on the professional background of the two institutions to provide support in the field of competition law and policy to competition authorities in Eastern, South-Eastern and Central European countries by organising training courses and other professional programmes in competition law. In this way, the GVH will play a leading role in the development of young market economies in the region. There are three similar training centres in the world, the other two in Peru and the Republic of Korea.
The RCC's professional seminars cover a wide range of competition-related issues, providing participants with a deeper understanding of competition policy and economic practices and European Commission case law.
The event on 26 March 2024 focused on two main issues. Judicial review of decisions by competition authorities is a challenge in many parts of the world - competition cases deal with situations that sometimes require sophisticated legal and economic analysis. The other important issue is merger review, which contributes to the functioning of markets by ensuring that economic concentration in the market does not adversely affect competition and thus consumers.
In his opening speech, Csaba Balázs Rigó, President of the GVH, stressed that "Both the economies and the competition authorities of the countries face serious challenges, which is why it is particularly important to exchange experiences. We aim to build a bridge between Hungary and the GVH, the EU Member States and the other beneficiary countries of the ROK. We Hungarians believe in interconnection, not separation."
At the exchange of views in Budapest a total of 15 countries (Albania, Azerbaijan, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Georgia, Hungary, Kazakhstan, Kosovo, Moldova, Armenia, Romania, Serbia, Ukraine, Uzbekistan, North Macedonia) participated.
The ROK of Budapest organised a total of seven seminars in 2023, six of which were held in the Hungarian capital with personal participation, and one in Baku in cooperation with the Azerbajani Competition Authority. Seven seminars that was hosted in 2023, there were 48 speakers from 27 institutions and 272 participants from 33 institutions. Among the events held in 2023, two training courses in Budapest for EU Member States' competition judges were also organised.
More information on the activities of the training centre is available on the websites of the GVH and the Regional Centre for Competition in Budapest. The 2023 activities of the ROK will be reported by the President of the GVH to the OECD leadership in Paris in June. The annual report is available in English here.
A detailed discussion on the work of the RCC, the areas of international cooperation between competition authorities, its forums and achievements, and the active role of the Hungarian Authority can also be heard on the GVH Podcast channel.
GVH Public Service Communications Section
Further information:
Bálint Horváth, Head of Communication +36 20 238 6939
Katalin Gondolovics, Spokesperson +36 30 603 1170