The consumer protection body condemned the NGO for failing to alert customers to the nature of the book containing fairy tales retold to reflect the lives of sexual and ethnic minorities.

Labrisz said Hungary’s constitution prohibited discrimination and the NGO would turn to the top court about the government office’s decision. Labrisz added that it expected the top court to establish that it was discriminative and unconstitutional to condemn works that present marginalised groups.

The central government office of Budapest argued on Tuesday that the NGO had engaged in “unfair market practices” by failing to alert readers to “alternative gender roles” in the book that sparked controversy when it was published in the autumn.

Customers bought the book on the basis of “misleading information”, the government office said. Labrisz said the consumer protection body had failed to define what the “traditional gender roles” were that characters in the book deviated from.


Photo: Book's Facebook Page