A proposal on the modification of the Hungarian Cultural Heritage Act has been submitted to the Hungarian Parliament in October 2017. The purpose of the modification is to restructure the potential participants in the system of the performance of archaeological tasks.
According to the bill, by excluding private companies, only the territorially competent museums will be allowed to prepare the preliminary archaeological documentation and to perform any and all archaeological tasks in connection with large investments. The goal is that private companies may only be involved in the performance of demolition work.
As a result of the proposed modifications, the whole institution of accreditation that was introduced at the end of 2014 will be abolished, due to the fact that no private company can participate in the performance of archaeological tasks. As a consequence, the competent museums must increase their capacities and in the event of lack of capacity, only state- or municipality owned institutions may be involved.
By Gabriella Galik, Partner, KCG Partners Law Firm