Article: The Issue of Consumer Compensation Before Antitrust Authorities: Commitments, Cooperation and Competence: The Hungarian Experience

Abstract

The compensation of consumers for damages stemming from a breach of EU competition law rules has been in the forefront of discussions in the last years. A recent important aspect of the debate is whether a mixing of public and private enforcement efforts could enhance the effectiveness of consumer compensation. In Hungary, consumer compensation for breach of another field of EU law (unfair commercial practices) has been championed by a public authority, the Hungarian Competition Authority, which has achieved significant results to the direct benefit of consumers in this respect. This paper reviews the authority’s recent practices, key decisions and main achievements in this area (including some earlier cases concerning antitrust) and then provides a detailed assessment of the corresponding advantages and disadvantages. The authors argue that some key achievements in Hungary in this respect are very well suited for further use in the development of consumer compensation in the field of antitrust law on both an EU and national level. public enforcement, private enforcement, antitrust, consumer protection, damages, EU, Hungary