Regulation on the indication of discounts
2022. January 12.Directive (EU) 2019/2161 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 27 November 2019 amending Council Directive 93/13/EEC and Directives 98/6/EC, 2005/29/EC and 2011/83/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council as regards the better enforcement and modernisation of Union consumer protection rules amended the provisions in respect of communicating discounts. The purpose of the amendment is to introduce rules on promotional prices in order to better inform consumers.
Based on the transmission of the EU Directive to the Hungarian jurisdiction, the rules on the communication of price discounts are contained in the joint Decree of 4/2009. (I. 30.) NFGM-SZMM on the sale and unity of products, as well as on the detailed rules for the indication of the fee for services and the provisions will enter into force on 28 May 2022.
Pursuant to the amendment the Decree is supplemented with new Section 2A:
“(1) In the case of a price reduction, the previous price applied by the undertaking for a specified period before the price reduction must be indicated.
(2) The previous price shall be the lowest price charged by the undertaking during a period which may not be less than 30 days before the price reduction is applied.
(3) If the extent of price reduction is gradually increased, the previous price shall be the price before the first application of the price reduction, without the price reduction.
(4) Subsection (1)-(3) shall not apply to perishable or short – lived products.
(5) If the product has been on the market for less than 30 days compared with the period specified in Subsection (2), the previous price shall be the lowest price charged by the undertaking during a period which may not be less than 15 days before the reduction was applied.”
The new rules apply to both traditional and online commerce. Under the new rules if the price reduction is announced, i.e. when the “promotion is advertised”, the previous price must be indicated. In the case of notification of a price reduction, the previous price applied by the undertaking for a specified period before the price reduction must be indicated. The previous price shall be the lowest price charged by the undertaking during a period which may not be less than 30 days before the price reduction is applied. If the extent of price reduction is gradually increased, the previous price shall be the price before the first application of the price reduction, without the price reduction. Hungary wishes to make use of the possibility for Member States not to apply these requirements to perishable or short-lived products, so this product range is excluded. It is important that the control of the consumer protection authority does not cover price formation, but the communication of the price reduction and the adequacy of the indication of promotions.