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Hungary has violated EU law by transforming the mobile payment system into a state monopoly, contrary to the provisions of the Community Services Directive, the European Court of Justice said on Wednesday in accordance with the MTI report.
According to the Hungarian legislation of 2011, the national mobile payment company has the exclusive right to operate the national mobile payment company. In 2014, the European Commission launched an infringement procedure which was handed over to the court two years later.
The Luxembourg court has ruled on Wednesday that the law is incompatible with the provisions of the Services Directive on freedom of establishment, the contested measures disproportionately restrict the principle of freedom to provide services.
The Hungarian Government argued that the public mobile payment system is in the public interest, which is a so-called service of general economic interest, and therefore the provisions of the directive are limited to restrictions.
The decision statement emphasized that the system had not met the proportionality requirement because "Hungary itself recognized that less restrictive measures less restrictive than the freedom of establishment in order to achieve the objectives pursued".
The judicial authorities stressed that the result achieved by the monopoly could be achieved, for example, by creating a system of concessions based on an open tender procedure.
When an infringement is found in an EU court, the Member State must comply with the judgment as soon as possible. If the committee believes that this is not the case, then it may propose new financial penalties.
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