The winter session of the OECD Competition Division has begun with the participation of the Hungarian Competition Authority (GVH). The GVH and the OECD have been cooperating very actively for almost 20 years, and the Hungarian national competition authority runs – together with the OECD – the Regional Centre for Competition in Budapest, of which there are only three in the world.
On 28 November 2022, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) began its week-long winter session, the OECD "Competition Week". The Hungarian Competition Authority will also be represented at the meeting, led by Csaba Balázs Rigó, President of the Hungarian Competition Authority.
During the first half of the week, the working parties will hold closed meetings, during which experts from the Hungarian Competition Authority will present the authority’s practice to the OECD member countries on a number of relevant topics.
On the last two days of the session, the annual OECD Global Forum on Competition will take place, bringing together competition officials from more than 110 authorities and organisations around the world.
In addition to the work carried out in the international organisation's working parties on competition law, the Hungarian Competition Authority and the OECD also cooperate on the operation of the Regional Centre for Competition in Budapest. The training centre has been run jointly by the GVH and the OECD since 2005 and is the oldest of its kind in the world. Building on the expertise of the two institutions, its mission is to provide support in the field of competition law and policy, primarily to competition authorities in Eastern, South-Eastern and Central European countries.
Csaba Balázs Rigó, President of the Hungarian Competition Authority presented this year's results of the Budapest Regional Centre for Competition at the OECD National Council Meeting held on 16 November 2022. In his presentation, the President of the GVH pointed out that "international cooperation between competition authorities is becoming increasingly important for all countries, as the globalisation of the world economy means that competition law infringements often affect several national economies at the same time." He added: "Preparedness and up-to-date experience of competition policy are particularly useful for individual countries in difficult years of epidemics and war, as an economic environment based on fair competition is a major advantage in terms of crisis resilience, adaptability and speed of recovery. Hungarian consumers will benefit greatly from the fact that the Hungarian Competition Authority has managed to become a regional leader in sharing and educating about competition law and policy in recent years", said Csaba Balázs Rigó.