Fairness and transparency of commercial practices, including consumer rights and guarantees related to the sale of goods and services

An unfair commercial practice is when a business undertaking causes consumers to take a transactional decision that they would not otherwise have taken.

Kulcsszavak: deceiving, deception, misleading, misrepresentation, unfair, aggressive, commercial practice

If you suspect that the undertaking is engaging in an unfair commercial practice (e.g. it gives misleading information on the price of a product, the expected outcomes of using the product, or illegally places a quality marking on the product, or falsely states that the product is available for a very limited time only), you can submit a request to the consumer protection authority, i.e. to the competent government agency in your place of residence.

Applications may be submitted through the Client Gateway by visiting https://magyarorszag.hu, selecting “Összes ügyleírás” (All case descriptions) > “F” > “Fogyasztóvédelmi beadvány, kérelem” (Customer protection submission/application) and then clicking on “Ügyintézés indítása” (Start administrative procedure).

The consumer protection authority may launch proceedings in cases where the breach occurred less than 3 years ago.

The administrative deadline for proceedings with the authority is 60 days.

Applications to conduct proceedings with the consumer protection authority must include the following:

• identification information of the applicant and the applicant’s representative, and their contact details;
• the name of the business concerned by the application and the address of its registered office, if known to the consumer;
• the address of the shop where the alleged breach occurred, or the place where the conduct being complained about occurred;
• a short description of the subject-matter of the complaint, supported by any relevant documents, in particular the reply to the consumer from the business, the record of a verbal complaint or, for complaints submitted by post, documentary proof of postage.

The proceedings are free of charge.

Consumer protection department of the county (or metropolitan) government office

Decisions of the consumer protection authority may be appealed against in court. Any information about how to appeal will be provided in the decision of the consumer protection authority.

Date of case description: 1 July 2020

Act CLV of 1997 on Consumer Protection

Act CL of 2016 on the Code of General Administrative Procedure

Act XLVII of 2008 on the Prohibition of Unfair Business-to-Consumer Commercial Practices

Government Decree 387/2016 (XII. 2.) on the appointment of a consumer protection authority

Have you found this information useful? Please tell us your opinion here.

ITM