Hungarian Competition Authority

In line with its Digital Consumer Protection Strategy the Hungarian Competition Authority aims to respond effectively to the challenges presented by new markets.  The GVH has initiated an investigation due to the latest Black Friday sales promotion activity on theeMAG webshop. It is alleged that this conduct infringed the prohibition of unfair commercial practices against consumers.

The Hungarian Competition Authority (Gazdasági Versenyhivatal: hereinafter GVH) has initiated a competition supervision proceeding against the operator of the webshop, namely, S.C. Dante International S.A. It is alleged that the undertaking in question failed to adequately set and monitor the conditions, prices and discounts of its Black Friday sales promotion in november 2018. The GVH also suspects that the undertaking failed to stock the appropriate amount of goods necessary to meet the expected demand during the sales period. It is alleged that during the sales period the undertaking infringed the prohibition of unfair commercial practices against consumers due to its failure to meet the requirements of professional diligence.

According to the websites’ own estimates (only available in Hungarian), on the day of Black Friday the website of eMAG had 2.7 million unique visitors, with orders totalling HUF 6.8 billion. Consequently, the alleged distortion of consumer decision-making may have had wide-ranging negative implications for competitive processes.

The GVH has recently been paying special attention to unfair commercial practices concerning the digital and data-based economy, and within this framework it very closely monitors the content appearing on online market places and communication channels. The Digital Consumer Protection Strategy of the GVH is available on its website.

The initiation of the competition supervision proceeding does not mean that the undertaking in question has in fact committed the alleged infringement. The aim of the proceeding is to clarify the facts and to demonstrate the alleged infringement. The time frame for the proceeding is three months, which in justified cases may be extended twice by two months each time.

Case number: Vj/50/2018.

Budapest, 10 January 2019

Hungarian Competition Authority

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