QUALITY: EU'S TOP PRIORITY. CAN HUNGARY PROFIT FROM TRADE LIBERALIZATION?

The road to Hungary's EU membership leads through a period of intense preparatory work, which means that Hungary's economic performance is to be enhanced in order to benefit from the advantages of integration and also to minimize drawbacks. This is a particularly important component of successful performance in the field of foreign trade as export is considered a major driving force in increasing Hungary's economic output. Therefore, the success of our modernization scheme is of primary importance in terms of Hungary's ability to grasp the opportunity of easier access to foreign markets. Marketability is dependent on competitiveness, which is in turn dependent on quality, another key factor. If Hungarian companies fall short of fulfilling the quality requirements of the European markets which have standardized norms, these companies will then be unable to profit from the chances offuture access to European markets and will lose ground even on the domestic market as a consequence of higher-quality imported products. During the period of preparation of Hungarian economic integration, special emphasis should be laid on quality-related issues. In order to achieve this an active participation by the state (i.e. acceptance of European standards and technical regulations, creation of accreditation and certification system in accordance with EU norms) and company compliance with the international economic environment are absolutely necessary