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Commission calls on Hungary to refrain from imposing price margin restrictions for the sale of food products and drugstore articles contrary to the single market

Policy

08 January 2026

Commission calls on Hungary to refrain from imposing price margin restrictions for the sale of food products and drugstore articles contrary to the single market

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The European Commission has issued two reasoned opinions to Hungary over measures that impose price margin restrictions on non-Hungarian businesses. The rules affect the sale of certain food products by food retailers and non-food products by drugstores, and appear to breach EU requirements on equal treatment and non-discrimination.

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EU-27

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The European Commission decided to issue two reasoned opinions to Hungary, INFR(2025)2052 and INFR(2025)2102, concerning measures that impose price margin restrictions on all non-Hungarian businesses but only some Hungarian firms. One procedure concerns restrictions with regard to the sale of certain food products by food retailers. The other procedure covers similar restrictions for the sale of certain non-food products by drugstores. The Services Directive (Directive 2006/123/EC) and the freedom of establishment pursuant to Article 49 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU) require public authorities to ensure equal treatment and non-discrimination of economic operators. They must refrain from restricting economic activities unless such restrictions are justified to achieve certain public interest objectives. Hungary limited the margin between purchase prices and sales prices of products to such a low level that it no longer allows businesses to cover their costs, forcing non-Hungarian retailers to sell their products at a loss. Hungary alleges that the difference between the sourcing price and the sales price equals the profit of concerned undertakings, not taking into consideration that undertakings also have substantial additional costs for instance for personnel, real estate and taxes. The measures thus endanger jobs of predominantly Hungarian employees of the concerned retailers. Therefore, the Commission has decided to issue reasoned opinions to Hungary, which now has two months to respond and take the necessary measures. Otherwise, the Commission may decide to refer the cases to the Court of Justice of the European Union.

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