László is a Special Counsel in Bird & Bird’s Competition & EU practice in Budapest, he has a deep insight into Hungarian and international competition law. With over 20 years’ experience specialising in Hungarian and EU competition law, as well as related dispute resolution matters, he advises on the competition aspects of M&A transactions, guiding clients through the merger process from pre-notification to obtaining clearance. He also represents clients in cartel investigations before the Hungarian Competition Authority and courts, as well as in competition litigation before the courts and arbitral tribunals. He often advises on vertical and horizontal agreements, pricing issues and competition compliance. His prior experience includes membership at the Competition Council, the decision-making body of the Hungarian Competition Authority, where he shaped some of the authority’s landmark decisions and significant policy papers. He has also worked for major international law firms in Brussels and Budapest. In addition to his native Hungarian, he is fluent in English.
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Issues around Big Data and access to data as an essential input are rapidly gaining importance in vertical relationships. This was made clear in the Commission’s recently published evaluation of stakeholder input in the context of the review of the VBER. In the past, the Hungarian Competition (...)
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The Hungarian Competition Authority (GVH) keeps a watchful eye over advertisement claims regarding alleged COVID-19 treatments that exploit the vulnerability of consumers in the current pandemic. The GVH initiated an investigation against Max-Immun Kft. in May (VJ/22/2020), because of its (...)
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The Hungarian Competition Authority (GVH) finally approved the acquisition of Invitel by DIGI, both significant players on the Hungarian telecoms market. However, with with a complex remedies package as published on 18 March 2020 (Vj/42/2018). As we already reported, the approval of the merger (...)
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In December 2019, the Hungarian Competition Office (“GVH”) acknowledged the notification of the acquisition of SáGa Foods Zrt. by Master Good Kft. without raising doubts (ÖB-0052/2019/6). After the implementation of the merger, the merging parties issued a press release, which was also sent to the (...)
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The Hungarian Competition Authority (’’GVH’’) fined several undertakings which were found to have shared amongst themselves the EU-funded public procurement tenders for diagnostic imaging (MRI, CT and X-ray) equipment in Hungary in 2015. The total fine amounts to EUR 4.8 million, with GE Hungary (...)
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The Hungarian Competition Authority (“GVH”) has published updates to the collection of its important decisions relating to the Competition Act (the “Competition Act Collection”) and to the Consumer Protection Act (the “Consumer Protection Collection”), respectively, covering cases closed by the GVH (...)
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On 6 December 2019, the Hungarian Competition Office ("GVH") found that Facebook’s practice of referring to its services as “free” on its cover page and Help Centre misled Hungarian users. As a consequence, the GVH held that Facebook violated the Hungarian Unfair Commercial Practices Act ("UCPA") (...)
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Fines are on the horizon for social media influencers not aligning their practice as set out by the Hungarian Competition Authority (GVH), as may be deduced from the GVH’s Rubint decision of 16 September 2019. The case roots back to 2016, when the GVH started investigating social media (...)
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In case Vj/68/2016 (31 July 2019), the GVH accepted the commitments of 4Life Direct Kft., Red Sands Life Assurance Company (Europe) Limited and Red Sands Insurance Company (Europe) Limited to pay approximately HUF 100 million (EUR 3 million) to beneficiaries of insurance products compensating (...)
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In case Vj/17/2017 (31 July 2019), WizzAir committed to compensate airline passengers in a total amount of around HUF 250 million (EUR 760,000) affected by the Wizz Flex service since 2010. The customers were unable to benefit from the free flight modification under the Wizz Flex service (...)
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On 15 May 2019, the Hungarian Competition Authority (“GVH”) published the draft of the investigative report on its sector inquiry regarding payment card acquiring services in Hungary (the “Draft Report”) investigating the period between 2013 and 2018. The GVH initiated the sector inquiry in January (...)
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The Hungarian Competition Authority ("GVH") unveiled a bid rigging cartel and imposed the maximum fines statutorily possible on the five solar panel installing companies involved. In the frame of the EU funded Environment and Energy Operative Program ("KEOP") published by the Ministry of (...)
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The Hungarian Supreme Court ("Kúria") annulled on 10 April 2019 a decision of the Hungarian Competition Authority ("GVH") which had imposed a € 321,000 fine on Alcon Hungária Kft. and Alcon Services AG Hungarian branch (jointly, the "Alcon Companies") for having applied a discount scheme leading (...)
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The Hungarian Competition Authority (“GVH”) had found that the Hungarian association of home decorators (in Hungarian: Lakberendezők Országos Szövetsége, “LOSZ”) restricted price competition in the period between 1997 and 2016 by issuing, and monitoring compliance with, its Fee Regulation in the (...)
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Dawn Raid Communication In early 2019, the GVH issued a communications on dawn raids, detailing the process, the regulatory background and the rights and obligations of the GVH and the undertakings subject to such dawn raid. The Dawn Raid Communication summarized the GVH’s practice in dawn (...)
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The Hungarian Competition Authority (the “GVH”) further crystallized its assessment of gun jumping offenses in its decision imposing a fine on ETS Efficient Technical Solutions GmbH (“ETS”) for its failure to notify the acquisition of TGS Engineering Kft. (“TGS”) prior to its implementation (see case (...)
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