Hungarian Competition Policy as a Model-Child

Abstract

Hungarian competition law substantially changed in the last 10 years. After a blooming period before the Second World War the Soviet influence as a matter of course prevented any idea of free and undistorted competition. After the regime change in 1989/1990, the former Price Regulator was transformed to the Hungarian competition authority (Gazdasági Versenyhivatal, GVH). The first six years between 1990 and 1996 were used to develop and lay down the foundations of modern competition law. The new competition act in 1996 was than designed with an eye on the future accession of Hungary to the European Union.

The enforcement of Hungarian competition law is recognised as flexible and usually both textual amendments of the competition act and changes in the decisional practice quickly respond to new developments on European level. Nevertheless, many interesting issues might be of interest to everybody. Just to name a few: in recent decisions dynamic competition is recognised as a driving force for competition, leading to long-term increase in consumer welfare; bid-rigging of public procurements is criminalised; private enforcement is directly recognised in the competition act; etc.

Keywords: antitrust, Hungarian competition policy