In the past few years, Hungary has witnessed accelerated merger trends in the fields of TMT, healthcare, and energy, among others. We reached out to several competition lawyers and spoke about Hungarian merger control regulations and the role of the Hungarian Competition Authority (HCA).

Fair commercial practices and communication with consumers have always been a mandatory requirement for all businesses but now, with the updated regulations on unfair consumer practices, communication has an even higher importance – especially in light of rapid technological developments, the growing digital space, new digital solutions, and consumers becoming more and more vulnerable, both as a result of these developments and the already two-year-long pandemic.

Former Head of the Consumer Protection Group at Cerha Hempel Andrea Magdolna Nagy has joined EY Law Hungary and will lead the firm’s Consumer Protection practice.

Gessel has represented MS Galleon AG in proceedings before the President of the Office of Competition and Consumer Protection on granting consent to a concentration consisting in it taking over control over Rafako SA and its subsidiaries.

Although it would appear that no fewer than 10 000 online platforms operate in the EU, the digital market seems to be moulded by just a handful of them. This raised concerns among the Authorities in terms of, among others, transparency and fair competition. The Digital Markets Act (DMA), together with the upcoming Digital Services Act (DSA), forms a central part of the package proposed by the Commission to address such concerns, setting up specific obligations for the digital giants, the so-called gatekeepers.

On the 17th of May 2022, the President of the Office of Competition and Consumer Protection published information that an administrative fine of over PLN 5.3 million has been imposed on the Lithuanian company Vinted UAB, the operator of a popular platform for buying and selling second-hand clothes.