Hungarian Act on Unfair Commercial Practices against Consumers (Act 47 of 2008), in particular:
Hungarian Act on Competition (Act 57 of 1996), in particular:
The Hungarian Competition Authority issued a non-binding guideline on green claims.
As of 28 May 2022 new provisions of the following legislation entered into force implementing the Omnibus Directive into Hungarian law:
The Hungarian Consumer Protection Authority and Hungarian Competition Authority (Gazdasági Versenyhivatal; HCA). The latter is responsible for breaches that have substantial effect on competition.
The Hungarian Competition Authority may impose adverse legal consequences e.g. establishing the infringement, ordering the infringer to cease the infringement and publish certain communication/undertake commitments to remedy the infringement, or imposing a fine. The maximum amount of fine imposed by the Competition Authority is up to 10 % of net turnover.
Any party affected by greenwashing (e.g. a consumer or a company) can submit a complaint to the HCA. The HCA may start investigations ex officio.
Yes, supporting evidence applies to sustainability and green claims as well. This, in practice means that all such claims and statements must be supported by relevant and up to date evidence specific to the claim such as authentic and reliable research studies or test results. In the guidelines published by the HCA on green claims it is highlighted that the evidence should already be available prior to publishing the claim. Further, if due to recent evidence a claim is no longer accurate, the information should either be corrected or no longer used. The same applies if the product or service is redesigned or changed with the result that the claim is no longer entirely correct.