Timo Kirez
08 July 2026•Update: 08 July 2026
The European Commission said Wednesday it would take Hungary to the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) over margin restrictions imposed on supermarket chains.
Hungary has “limited the margin between purchase and retail prices for selected staple foods and drugstore items to such a low level” that companies “can no longer cover their costs,” the Commission said.
Since 2025, Hungary has limited the margin between purchase and retail prices to 10% for certain food items and 15% for some drugstore products, a measure that has primarily affected foreign retailers.
The Hungarian government has repeatedly extended the measures and made them permanent in May.
The European Commission said setting maximum profit margins and requiring companies to sell the same quantities of the products concerned leads to losses for affected companies and removes incentives for new market entrants to establish themselves in Hungary.
Hungary had also temporarily forced supermarket chains to offer mandatory discounts in an effort to curb high inflation. Those measures were recently ruled unlawful by the CJEU.
In the margin cap case, the European Commission initially sent a letter of formal notice to Hungary in June 2025 and received responses in December 2025.
However, the Commission said Hungary remained in violation of EU rules and has now referred the case to the CJEU.
According to a report released Tuesday by the Hungarian Central Statistical Office (HCSO), the annual increase in consumer prices slowed to 1.7% in June, down from 1.8% in May and 2.1% in April.
Compared with May, prices remained unchanged on average.
