National Economy Minister Marton Nagy said the government was drafting changes to the consumer protection framework better adapted to digitalisation, addressing a conference organised by the Competition Office (GVH) on Thursday. Nagy called for a “level playing field” for Hungarian and foreign webshops. He added that more competitive Hungarian webshops were needed in the interest of local consumers.
He noted that that GVH’s penalty cap had been raised in March and the watchdog now had the power to block websites. He added that the government would boost its consumer protection activity in the area of e-commerce. He pointed to probes underway in the European Union of Temu and other Chinese webshops, as well as a European Commission proposal to scrap the customs duties exemption on purchases under EUR 150.
He acknowledged a shift in Hungarians’ consumer habits in the direction of services as well as consumption abroad and purchases from abroad. He said that the scale of Hungarians’ purchases online and spending on trips abroad had reached almost 20pc of domestic retail sales. He added that foreign webshops were cheaper, in large part, because they didn’t pay VAT, which he called “a serious problem”.
Lost VAT revenue due to purchases from foreign webshops is around HUF 100bn, while the share of Hungarians who buy online is growing at the fastest clip in the EU, he said.
He said webshop fraud posed a challenge, adding that a new procedure for reporting and freezing transactions to aid in their recovery had been launched in August.
Of the 15 most popular online retailers among Hungarians last year, just three were Hungarian-owned, he said. During a temporary suspension of Temu’s local sales in April, while the company’s ads were probed, turnover of Hungarian e-retailers climbed 20-70pc, he added.
GVH head Csaba Balázs Rigó said the watchdog had recently closed a procedure against internet message service Viber in which the company took remedial measures. In recent years, Google and PayPal have also taken corrective steps as the result of GVH probes, while Apple and Booking.com have paid big fines, he added.
GVH probes of Microsoft and Temu are underway at present, he said.
