Antitrust, Competition and Trade

The CMS Antitrust, Competition and Trade (ACT) group in Budapest, Hungary, part of the fully integrated CMS global team, is one of the largest specialist competition and trade teams in the country.  

Given our size and extensive footprint, we can deal with all ACT matters irrespective of their geographic dimension. Where necessary, we cooperate with long-established contacts from our wider network of affiliated law firms around the world.  

We are specialists across the full range of Antitrust, Competition and Trade matters. We have expert sub-groups that specialise in specific areas in the wider competition and trade field, e.g. for State aid internal investigations and screening. We are also well-known as experts in many sectors of the economy. Our renowned sector specialisation encompasses automotive, consumer products/FMCG, construction, digital economy, energy/oil & gas, life sciences, telecommunications/media and transport, to name but a few.  

Our clients range from many multinationals who frequently use our team as their ACT law firm of choice for the entire region (e.g., in Europe or CEE), and a high number of medium-sized companies. Our dedicated competition and regulatory experts in Hungary can advise you on the entire range of contentious and non-contentious competition law issues. We regularly advise clients on competition matters across multiple jurisdictions in CEE, working closely together across the CMS Network, to deliver consistent and joined-up advice. CMS Budapest has a successful track record in representing clients before national authorities and courts, as well as the European Commission.  

The Competition Team in Hungary is considered to be among the best practices in the country and in CEE, with a stable, sector-focused team of specialists including former in-house lawyers, counsels of the Hungarian Competition Authority and economists. The team has achieved outstanding results in recent years in significant antitrust, abuse of dominance, merger control, consumer protections cases, private damages actions and state aid matters, while ranked highest by all legal directories (Elite at GCR, Band 1 at Chambers&Partners, and Tier 1 at Legal500).  

We use the most up-to-date technical and AI tools to support our business in Hungary and abroad.  

We hold a renowned annual EU competition law conference which has become a feature in the Brussels calendar. We put out regular case law updates on Hungarian, European and international competition and trade developments on our Law Now service. Our monthly EU law webinars are attended by in house counsel from around the world. And our group is steered not just by a management committee of partners, but also by an active associates’ group that keeps us innovating to serve clients.