Immunisation Certificates played a big role in the previous wave of COVID-19 pandemic in Hungary. They were issued as a supplementary certificate to confirm that the cardholder had a positive COVID test or got at least the first shot of any of the available vaccines. At many stages of the pandemic, cardholders enjoyed specific privileges compared to the others (i.e. card was asked at many places that had an indoor room, such as theatres, cinemas, restaurants etc.). Even though the European COVID passport became available from 1 July 2021 among the EU, it is only issued for persons, who got an EU-approved vaccine. Since Hungary choose to vaccinate with non-EU-approved vaccines, the dichotomy of the certificates still remains.

Hungary has introduced a UBO register in line with the EU’s 4th Anti-Money Laundering Directive by way of Act XLIII of 2021 on the Establishment and Operation of the Data Reporting Background for the Identification Tasks of Financial and Other Service Providers (“Act”). Certain provisions of the Act will come into force at a later date.

Contributed by Nagy & Trocsanyi.

The Hungarian Parliament has recently put on its agenda a new bill, No. T/17280 (the “Bill”) that aims to implement two amendments to the “Consolidated Company Law Directive” of the European Union (Directive (EU) 2017/1132). One of them is the so-called “Digitalization Directive” (Directive (EU) 2019/1151 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 20 June 2019 amending Directive (EU) 2017/1132 as regards the use of digital tools and processes in company law).

On October 7, six leading labor lawyers in Hungary sat down for a virtual round table moderated by CEE Legal Matters Managing Editor Radu Cotarcea. The conversation focused on the current state of affairs of labor regulations in Hungary and their evolution over the pandemic-marked last few months.

Although from 1 November, the government regulation allows companies and businesses to make it obligatory for their employees to be vaccinated against the coronavirus, the questions about immunity still shall be avoided at a job interview. In addition, it will not necessarily be justified to obligate teleworkers to take up the vaccine.

The Hungarian judiciary system was facing with harsh critics in the past few years, especially in the field of digitalisation. However, the widespread of online meetings during the pandemic gave a boost to the digitalisation also in the courtroom. Even though the New Civil Procedure (entered into force 1 January 2018) and the New Criminal Procedure (entered into force 1 July 2018) provide for a long time the necessary institutional and technical conditions for online hearings, as well as for online witness testimonies, judges were reluctant to use them until last year, as it required more preparations and openness from their side.

From 2021, the rules on warranty for consumer durables (e.g. household appliances, kitchen appliances, gas appliances) have been comprehensively modernised. As a result of the changes, businesses must repair or replace defective products under warranty within a short period of time. In addition, the instrument for enforcing repair and replacement claims, i.e. the warranty certificate has also been affected by the amendments in September 2021. The Ministry of Innovation and Technology (ITM) created a warranty certificate template with a content agreed with trade associations to support the undertakings in their compliance.

 In “The Corner Office” we ask Managing Partners at law firms across Central and Eastern Europe about their backgrounds, strategies, and responsibilities. With summer having just passed, the question this time: What is your one favorite yearly activity to disconnect?

On June 15, 2021, Hungary passed legislation that bans the dissemination of content in schools deemed to promote homosexuality and gender change. Dubbed by many as simply the “Anti-LGBTQ+ Law,” it has wide-ranging implications – even leaving social issues / social impact aside. CEE Legal Matters spoke with several Hungarian lawyers to discuss the law’s business implications and the impact it had on law firms’ work.

Hungary has adopted the integrated energy policy guidelines of the EU, which aim to decrease greenhouse gas emissions by at least 40% compared to the ‘90s level, increase the proportion of renewable energy in energy consumption to 32%, increase energy efficiency by 32.5%, and further the increased interconnection of the EU electric energy system. In that context, renewable energy is currently a hot topic.

The regional aid map is a legal provision that sets the maximum amount of state aid that can be granted as investment aid to companies investing in certain regions of the country, or in the case of developed regions, smaller territorial units.

A bill to exempt the minimum wage from personal income tax in order to reduce the tax burden on low wages was submitted to the Hungarian Parliament on 20 September 2021. The proposal aims to amend the Personal Income Tax Act. According to the preamble of the bill, the exemption is necessary, since the income of minimum wage earners is increasingly falling behind average earnings and the total tax burden on wages is one of the highest in Europe.

Extended loan moratorium, tax return for families, exemption for personal income tax for young adults under 25, new pension premium are the most important tax changes in connection with the central budget as off 2022.

MSC Cruises Compliance Officer Maria Dardai has joined Kinstellar as a Special Counsel.

Hungary joins global minimum corporate tax agreement, as Mihály Varga, Finance Minister on Hungary announced on 8 October 2021. Mr. Varga highlighted three key points of the deal for Hungary.

Increased awareness of competition law in the past few years, alongside the evolving legislative framework and practice on the EU level, has led to the continuous growth of CMS’s competition law practice, according to CMS Partner Szabolcs Szendro.

Business start-ups and terminations reflect the recovery of the Hungarian economy after the downturn following the outbreak of the coronavirus epidemic. In the second quarter of last year, when the epidemic hit the country, only 5,041 companies were set up. Meanwhile, in the last three months of last year, the number was close to 9,000 and in the first quarter of this year it has already exceeded 9,000, as we discussed in a recent joint webinar with OPTEN.