At the end of October 2016, a bill on the amendment of acts relating to electronic communication and consumer protection was submitted to the Hungarian Parliament.
As a significant change, the bill includes that companies liable for a serious infringement on e-commerce determined in a legally binding decision of the consumer protection authority, the Hungarian Competition Office or a court, shall be published in a public database available on the internet. The data published in the database shall be erased two years after the publishing, provided that the liability of the company has not been established again for other infringement. The cases of serious infringement relating to electronic commerce services will be introduced in a new government decree.
In addition, the regulations of the consumer protection fines will also be restricted by the bill. Accordingly, a unified fine in the minimum amount of HUF 200,000 has been determined for the repeated serious infringement relating to electronic commerce services caused by small and medium-sized enterprises or other companies. The bill also contains specific provisions for the audio recording of the phone communication between the call centre and the consumer, meaning that upon request of the consumer, the company shall ensure the listening to the audio recording at the call centre, the copying on one occasion of each recording and the provision of a copy of the recording by electric means.
By Rita Párkanyi, Attorney, KCG Partners Law Firm