Hungarian Experiences on the Role of the Competition Policy in a Transitional Economy

Hungary celebrated this year the 25th anniversary of the peaceful transition from communism to the market economy. Moreover, Hungary and South-Korea established diplomatic connection also 25 years ago which gives a further reason to write and publish this article in Korea. The competition policy has not got an exclusionary but a significant role in transition economies. Hungary missed the opportunity to create a competitive market environment through privatising de-concentrated state monopolies, which was worsened by the fact that the Hungarian Competition Authority (the GVH) decided to stay out of the investigation of the privatisation process to avoid strong conflicts and keep its independence from politics. The GVH recognised that the transition requires not only a change of rules but a change of mentality therefore the GVH tried to increase its reputation and the acceptance of competition through the competition enforcement in favour of the consumers in the early transition period. However, it seemed to be insufficient since the Hungarian population is still very sceptical about the market economy. Although the GVH sensed low competition law awareness from the business community, it couldn't cope with the collusion habit of the command period in lack of cartel unit and competition compliance campaign during the transition period. A competition authority of the transitional economy has to be able to detect cartels, carry out sophisticated investigations, and focus on the competition awareness of the business community and the acceptance of the competition by the society