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Work plan 2010 of the Competition Culture Centre

As a role determined by the Competition Act, the president of the Hungarian Competition Authority (GVH) must contribute to the development of competition culture. It was for the completion of this task that the Competition Culture Centre (CCC) was established in 2005. The CCC - as an independent unit within the organization of the Hungarian Competition Authority (GVH) - fulfils the tasks related to the development of competition culture in accordance with its annual work plan.

By its activity, the CCC aims at contributing to public acceptance of competition, helping all market players to bring their conducts in compliance with competition provisions, fostering the development of a competition-friendly regulatory environment ensuring conscious consumer choice, and in order to increase consumer awareness, the CCC also seeks to contribute to the development of competition culture in Hungary and within the European Community, to the development of conscious consumer decision-making and to the development of the regional competition law institutional system. Within the framework of the latter activity, the CCC is responsible for the tasks assumed by the OECD-Hungary Regional Centre for Competition in Budapest (RCC) jointly established by the OECD and the GVH. As an independent institution within the CCC, the RCC supported by the professional background of the OECD and the GVH provides technical assistance mostly for the professionals of the Eastern, South-Eastern and Central European countries. The RCC will presumably organise further 7 seminars this year.

This year, the CCC would like to pay great attention to the fight against cartels and to raise awareness of the new legal possibilities. Based on this year's work plan the CCC intends, among others, to accomplish the translation and the publication of a foreign-language professional book (Richard Whish: Competition Law), and to launch the publication of another translation of the same kind in Hungarian (Simon Bishop - Mike Walker: The Economics of EC Competition Law). Since this year the cartels are at the forefront of the activity of the CCC, among its educational publications, besides those aiming at raising consumer awareness, it mostly publishes educational leaflets about substantive and procedural law questions in connection with cartels and about possibilities of undertakings to help them to bring their conducts in compliance with competition law provisions. Similarly to the practice of the last few years, the CCC also plans this year to organise seminars and conferences to debate about the current competition law or competition policy issues, and also lunchtime discussions organised since 2007. The CCC deems it important to provide information to the undertakings, chief executives and their counsellors as well as to MPs, municipal experts and municipalities that take part in legislation and also to the judges making their judgements pursuant to the provisions of the competition act. This year is going to be the fifth time that the CCC gives the "Award for Competition Culture" for acknowledging and rewarding the activity of those experts who, working outside the authority, play a significant role in the development of competition culture. In addition, the CCC is going to publish its invitations to tender helping the organisations, outside the GVH, in their work in developing competition culture and consumer awareness.

Questions, remarks and suggestions relating to the activity, work plan of the organisation are welcome within two weeks until 12 March 2010; the work plan will be finalised following their bringing up together. The work plan 2010 of the CCC is available in Hungarian on its website ( www.versenykultura.hu ).

Budapest, 17 March 2010

Hungarian Competition Authority
Communication Group

Further information:
József Sárai
Hungarian Competition Authority
Address: 1054 Budapest, V., Alkotmány u.5.
Postal address: 1245 Budapest, 5. POB. 1036
Tel: +36-1-472-8933
email: SARAI.Jozsef@gvh.hu
http://www.gvh.hu