A new bill aimed at tightening Hungary’s consumer protection regulations is arousing opposition from the Budapest Chamber of Commerce and Industry (BKIK) and other trade groups, which fear some provisions not only are excessively harsh, but unconstitutional.
The regulations have recently come under the spotlight due to a series of enforcement campaigns by state bodies, which have resulted in numerous small traders being sanctioned for a range of consumer-protection offenses.
According to napi.hu, critics of the tightening regulations say that many small retailers have trouble paying the Ft 600,000 fines which are imposed if they are found in breach of consumer protection laws on several occasions.
But the BKIK also argues that around a third of such problems are actually the fault of the firms which supply these traders, who force their retail partners to swallow the penalties.
Meanwhile, opponents say that the pegging of fines to the turnover of traders is unconstitutional, as it violates the principle of equal treatment.
Despite this, the National Interest Reconciliation Council (OÉT) – the national body which brings together employers, labor groups and the government – is said to be recommending different levels of fines for firms depending on their size, with a range of Ft 10,000-Ft 1 million for small and “micro” enterprises, and Ft 50,000-Ft 50 million for larger firms.