Between 26 to 30  May, 2014 the members of the Plenum of the Competition Council Mr. Emil Gutu and Mr. Ion Maxim has participated in a study visit to Budapest, Hungary. The visit was conducted under a TAIEX project funded by the European Union.

     The objectives of the visit were related to studying and taking the Hungarian experience in the field of competition and state aid, as well as strengthening the cooperation between the Competition Council of the Republic of Moldova and the Hungarian Competition Authority.

     It should be noted that Hungary has a vast and rich experience in implementing and monitoring the principles of competition, first competition law was adopted in 1984 and competition authority is operating since 1991.

     During the visit there were various meetings where relevant topics were discussed referring to: the role of economic analysis in the prevention and detection of anti-competitive actions; investigations conduct and research to determine the breach; monitoring and analysis of economic concentrations; interaction and coordination between different departments of the Competition Authority in investigation of various cases; international relations in the context of economic integration and the existence of the single European market. Also in these sessions were analyzed case studies from different sectors (banks and financial markets, energy, food market, etc.) were formulated conclusions and lessons learned.

     Members of the Plenum of the Competition Council met with the President and Vice President of the Competition Authority, namely Mr Miklós Juhász  and Mr. Horváth Zoltán,  they discussed  the decision-making mechanism of the Competition Authority as well as the transformation steps that the Hungarian Competition Authority made in process of accession to the European Union .

     During the meetings of the State Office of State Aid Monitoring in Hungary they discussed in detail Hungarian experience in the context of monitoring, accounts and notification of state aid, and offered many examples and relevant cases.

     At the end of the visit, members of the Plenum of the Competition Council had a meeting with representatives of the Embassy of the Republic of Moldova in Budapest.

     Study visit in Hungary has provided useful and needed information in order to be implemented by the Competition Council to ensure the necessary conditions for business environment in order to satisfy interests and increase consumer welfare.