Hungarian Competition Authority proposes a new price monitoring tool

The Hungarian Competition Authority (“GVH”) has announced its proposal for the Hungarian Government to create a new online price monitoring database, which the Hungarian Government has supported. 

This initiative aims to explore the potential competition law concerns of the growing food price inflation and address the findings of the recent accelerated sector inquiries and investigations into the food sector concluded by the GVH that we reported on in our previous newsletter. Similar international price monitoring solutions were also studied by the GVH.   

The price monitoring system will be operated by the GVH and is expected to go live by summer of 2023 with testing initially commencing in the food retail sector.   

It will be interesting to see the efficiency of this tool in enhancing transparency of various pricing practices, in preventing overpricing, and in increasing competition. This instrument serves as another example of the GVH's commitment to contribute for reducing food inflation and a contemporary approach of examining pricing methods. 

The GVH has now been equipped with a new instrument that can be used to monitor pricing behaviours, underlining the necessity for companies, particularly in the food industry, to comply with competition law regulations to avoid scrutiny from the GVH. Ultimately, businesses must recognise the significance of meeting regulatory requirements and prioritise it to remain competitive in the market.

For more information, please contact Gábor Kutai or Dániel Arányi.

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