10 August 2021, Budapest – The Hungarian Competition Authority (GVH) has issued its Flash Report on the first six months of 2021, in which it reports on its work performed in the interest of market competition in Hungary and for the protection of consumers. The work of the GVH in the first half of this year was dominated by cartel cases; however, the total value of consumer compensation ordered to be paid out within the framework of competition authority proceedings was also above HUF 4.1 billion.
The GVH published the document titled ‘About the Hungarian Market Competition in Plain Language, Flash Report on the Activities of the Hungarian Competition Authority – first half of 2021’ on its website, which summarises the competition supervision events of the first two quarters.
Based on the data of the Flash Report, this year of the GVH was primarily dominated by cartel cases; two-thirds of the fines imposed by the Authority were related to such cases. With respect to consumer protection cases, the actions of the GVH concerning the COVID-19 pandemic can be highlighted; undertakings with misleading commercial communication practices related to the pandemic were ordered to pay a total of approximately HUF 220 million in the first six months of the year.
In addition, the value of commitments that increase consumer welfare and grow the economy of Hungary was also high: The total value of compensation programmes ordered by the competition council to be carried out as part of competition proceedings exceeded HUF 4.1 billion in the first half of 2021. The amount saved by undertakings by cooperating with the GVH during competition authority proceedings is also in the order of magnitude of billions. This is due to the fact that cooperation can significantly reduce or even result in the complete waiving of the fines that can be imposed: In the first six months of 2021, 18 undertakings obtained a total discount of approximately HUF 1.5 billion on their fines. The number of merger notifications received by the GVH in the first two quarters of 2021 showed a significant increase: the number of mergers increased by 40% compared to the same period in 2020.
‘The Hungarian Competition Authority utilised its full toolset provided by the applicable legislation in the first half of this year as well. Based on previously obtained judicial warrant, my colleagues performed dawn raids at twenty-three undertakings during the first six months of 2021. A total of 10 terabytes of data were ceased and processed. This amount of data is equivalent to approximately 1000 movies, 700,000 photographs, or 10 million plain text files.’ - stated Csaba Balázs RIGÓ, President of the GVH.
The publication is available on the website of the GVH:
https://www.gvh.hu/gvh/gyorsjelentesek/gyorsjelentesek
GVH Press Office