Hungarian Filling Stations May Sue re Fuel Price Cap
- 18 Mar 2022 12:27 PM
- Hungary Around the Clock
The Association of Independent Filling Stations, representing some 400 small filling station operators, discussed the possibility of taking the fuel price cap regulation to the Constitutional Court at its meeting on Wednesday, Népszava reports.
Governing board member László Gépész told the newspaper that regulations concerning the Ft 480 per litre price cap on fuel, affecting both retail and wholesale, violate the principle that officially set prices must not force businesses to operate at a loss.
A zero-price margin for filling stations does not mean that they break even, because they also have to cover overhead costs, he added.
Gépész further argued that the measure allowing the state to appoint an operator to run filling stations that have been closed for 48 hours – in practice transferring the running of the stations to MOL – violates property rights.
Lawsuits against the regulations could start in a few weeks, but could last for years, especially if the case has to be taken to the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg, he remarked.
The present retail market price is Ft 591 per litre for petrol and is Ft 641 for diesel, a drop from the peaks of Ft 631 and Ft 711 reached on March 11.
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