The Hungarian Parliament adopts substantial amendments to merger control and antitrust procedure

1) Introduction A wide-ranging amendment of the Hungarian Competition Act (HCA) was passed by the Hungarian Parliament on 18 November 2013 (HCA Amedment). The amendment entails the largest overhaul of the Hungarian competition law rules since 2009 and concerns the following major areas: • the modernisation of merger control rules of procedure, including the introduction of the prohibition to implement a concentration before clearance by the Hungarian Competition Authority (Gazdasági Versenyhivatal, GVH); • the treatment of business secrets and personal data in the GVH's proceedings; • making the GVH's human resources more effective and better in line with the requirements of 21st century antitrust; • miscellaneous updates of various procedural rules, including the introduction of