Slovak Online Store Fined Nearly RMB 820,000 for Selling E-Cigarettes

Slovakia's competition authority announced that it had imposed a fine of nearly HUF 40 million (about RMB 828,000) on a Slovak online store for misleadingly suggesting that e-cigarette products could be legally ordered in Hungary.

News flash: According to foreign media reports, Slovakia's competition authority announced that it had imposed a fine of nearly HUF 40 million (about RMB 828,000) on a Slovak online store for misleadingly suggesting that e-cigarette products could be legally ordered in Hungary.

The GVH pointed out that last summer it launched investigations into two Slovak online stores selling e-cigarette products such as ELFBAR on Hungarian-language websites. The competition authority took interim measures and immediately shut down the online stores pending the conclusion of the cases.

The first case ended late last year with the maximum fine, while a decision has just now been issued in the case of the other online store. The investigation showed that the company had also misled Hungarian consumers into believing that its products could be sold legally.

In a statement, GVH President Csaba Balázs Rigó said: “The company violated clear industry rules and the distribution ban. Its conduct was aimed in part at children and adolescents, a more vulnerable consumer group, not to mention the position of the National Public Health Center that the products in question may be harmful to health.” 

The GVH Competition Council imposed a maximum fine of HUF 38.7 million (about RMB 820,000) on Bensons Europe s.r.o. of Štúrovo, Slovakia. Previously, the company had already paid a HUF 3 million fine because, despite repeated notices, it failed to fulfill its obligation to provide data, thereby obstructing the authority’s investigation. 

During the investigation, the GVH also sanctioned the company for circumventing the interim measures by continuing to operate the online store through redirecting its storage location disconnected from Hungary to another service provider. As a result, the authority imposed escalating enforcement fines on the company and its manager, ultimately leading to the closure of the website. 

In the announcement, Ferenc Vágujhelyi, head of the tax and customs authority, said: “The National Tax and Customs Administration has taken strict action against the illegal trade of e-cigarettes and has so far organized hundreds of operations to remove this special tobacco product from the market. So far, the total value of seized goods has exceeded HUF 160 million, and the total amount of fines has exceeded HUF 20 million.” 

SZTFH Chairman Bíró Marcell reminded the public: “At the start of the last school year, SZTFH, together with the Economic Competition Authority, the Ministry of the Interior, the National Tax Administration, the Tax and Customs Office, the National Police Headquarters, and the Maria Kopp Institute, promoted this initiative aimed at protecting the health of young people. This cooperation was called the ‘Anti-Bar Alliance.’ Although strict and coordinated action has cleared illegal activity from areas near schools and public institutions, they are interested in pursuing more effective and successful action in the online space.”

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【1】 K?zel 40 milliós bírságot kapott egy szlovák webáruház Elf Bar és e-cigaretta miatt