The Hungarian Competition Office has recently received significant criticism concerning its fining practice in its competition investigation against mobile telephone operators. As a response, the Competition Office has now published (a) a notice on calculation of fines in antitrust cases ("Notice on Fines"), and (b) a notice introducing a formal leniency scheme for hardcore cartels, the first such in Hungarian competition law ("Leniency Scheme Notice").
The purpose of the two notices is to enable undertakings to make an estimate of the competition fines they may face and - taking the advantage of a preliminary application on a no-name basis - take a decision whether or not they wish to participate in a leniency scheme.
