“So far my authority has only taken action against illegal behavior on the market. “This task will not change in the future,” GVH President Csaba Balázs Rigó had to explain about the new competition law before the weekend.
The amendment to the law before Parliament is causing quite a stir because it is obviously intended to give the competition regulator GVH far-reaching powers. The legal interpretation of the proposal submitted by the government parties extends to the forced nationalization of unwell companies. “The supervision will involve the affected market actors in the process of shaping the application of the law after parliament passes the change in the law,” Rigó promised the startled managers of strategic companies on the state-run Kossuth radio.
“Taken by the hand”
The new category of “companies of fundamental importance” to be defined is causing a particular stir, for which the GVH President can of course name “numerous examples from international practice”. (In the relevant German law, for example, these are “companies with outstanding cross-market importance.”)
It is about protecting the interests of Hungarian consumers and fair competition. Such strategic companies, if they cannot maintain their operations or fulfill their obligations, would be “taken by the hand” by the supervisory authority, up to and including restrictions on ownership rights.
Rigó claimed that the basic approach was based on German competition law. A preventative approach allows the authority to intervene quickly and efficiently in the event of impending market distortions. “The best consumer protection comes from competition; the changes before Parliament will stimulate competition.”
Property rights questioned? An “ultima ratio”
The GVH’s task is to apply applicable law, not to pronounce law itself, its president asserted on the radio. When applying the law, she wants to rely on her own legal practice over several decades and the best relevant international practice. The practical implementation of the change in the law should take place in agreement with market players, based on broad consultations. This practice has, for example, B. will only be proven again in 2023 when the procedural rules for approving mergers will be reviewed.
“Anyone who adheres to the law has had nothing to fear from us so far. And that will not change in the future,” Rigó stated. Incidentally, it is exclusively about competition supervision procedures; Administrative proceedings are still possible against decisions of the independent Competition Council. The GVH president finally dismissed the restriction of property rights by pointing out that this was an “ultima ratio”.
Parragh is once again causing disruption
Previously, the head of the chamber, László Parragh, had once again caused disruption. The MKIK president explained to the government-affiliated weekly Mandiner: “It is a question of national security that the interests of private capital are in line with the interests of the state.” Parragh has not only behaved since the scandal surrounding the constitutionally questionable abolition Kata flat tax like a government stakeholder. Actually, he should speak on behalf of the chamber members who, with their mandatory contributions, feed his MKIK billions every year without any return.
The man seems to continue to interpret his role as President of the Chamber in an “unorthodox” way, as he said of the Orbán government’s new legislative behavior: “It may seem worrying for companies, but in the current geopolitical situation there is an interest of the state in the development “To prevent excessive dominance of companies on the market.” This could also go hand in hand with restrictions on private property, as has been a tried and tested practice in the West for decades.
Parragh understands that companies are now worried, but in fact Hungary is only making up for what should have been done long ago to protect the Hungarian market and economy. The head of the chamber specifically refers to Section 19a of the German Act Against Restraints of Competition (GWB), which deals with the “abusive behavior of companies with outstanding cross-market importance for competition”.
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