The Hungarian government regrets but acknowledges that the European Commission did not accept the legal arguments of the Hungarian reply of 29 November 2011, which had responded to the detailed EC statement in regard to the infringement procedure on the extra tax for the telecom sector, and it decided to refer the case to the European Court of Justice.

However, the Hungarian government is convinced that the Hungarian regulations currently in force are fully compliant with EU law. The Hungarian government has been pointing out that sectoral extra taxes have not been levied only on the telecoms sector and this tax does not constitute an obstacle for entering the telecoms market. The objective of this measure has been to improve the balance of the budget under the circumstances brought about by the economic crisis via taxpayers which are more capable of burden sharing than general tax liabilities would require. It is a kind of tax which was adopted lawfully, in the framework of national legislation – as there had been no relevant EU regulation.

The Hungarian government trusts that the European Court Of Justice – after having acknowledged Hungarian legal arguments – will dismiss the motion of the European Commission.

(Ministry for National Economy)