The Hungarian Competition Authority's first five years in the European Union

Abstract

The author reviews the experience of the first five years of EU membership from the point of view of the Hungarian Competition Authority (GVH). He outlines the effects of the EU accession on competition, and describes GVH's competition supervision proceedings investigating the activities of undertakings, its competition advocacy aiming to influence state decisions, and the promotion of competition culture in an attempt to broaden people's knowledge of competition policy and competition. He describes the institutional replies to challenges, and the exploitation of opportunities arising from the cooperation with the Directorate General for Competition of the European Commission and the competition authorities of other Member States. Finally, he states that competition may be the way out from the economic crisis.