Three tobacco companies threatened court action to overturn the government award of a 20-year distribution contract for all tobacco products sold in Hungary, Reuters said.

Award of the contract to British American Tobacco Hungary and Taban Trafik, a unit of Continental Tobacco, was discriminatory, non transparent, and represented a nationalisation of the tobacco wholesale business, charged Imperial Tobacco, JTI Hungary and Philip Morris in a joint statement cited by Reuters. The companies said the new contract discriminated against foreign-owned companies, the news agency reported.
November is the start date for the new logistics pact. Tobacco products are sold only at state-sanctioned stores.