A new ruling of the Curia has finally settled the long-lasting debate on whether the general rules of civil law or the provisions of the Labour Code apply to the liability for damages of the employed managing director.

Significant changes are expected in the Hungarian tax system in the coming years, which could have a major impact on economic operators and individuals alike. As a result of the changes, the State is likely to lose significant revenues and the means to replace these revenues are not yet known.

At the beginning of May 2023, a new bill to amend certain laws to increase the competitiveness of the economy was submitted for public consultation. The bill proposes amendments to many laws, but the most important of these is the regulation of construction right in the Civil Code.

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From 1 January 2028, e-invoices will be mandatory for cross-border supplies of goods or services. with corresponding ‘near-real time’ reporting. The current maximum issuance requirement of 45 days post-taxable event is proposed to be shortened to just two days.

In a recently published judgment, the Curia ruled that a private e-mail address containing the full name of a natural person qualifies as personal data. However, the unlawful processing of personal data does not automatically constitute a violation of the right to the protection of personal data in the absence of other elements.

On 28 March 2023, the Curia established that certain provisions of the municipality decree of the 18th District of Budapest on local taxes are contrary to other legislation, and therefore annulled the provisions on air passenger tax with retroactive effect to 1 January 2023.

The specific connection procedure of power plants based on the requests of 2 May 2022 has been amended again, as a result of which deadlines set for authorized network operators are also amended. According to the government decree published on 29 March 2023, the new deadline to provide the technical and economic conditions for industrial-size power plants and electricity storage facilities as well as for all investments with a connection needed to a medium voltage network is 10 May 2023, while for the rest of the power plant investments it is 30 June 2023.

The European Court of Justice established in its ruling of 28 February 2023 that online platform OnlyFans is liable for value added tax (VAT) on the full amount paid by subscribers to content creators, not only on the 20% fee that the platform is charging creators of the sums paid by fans. This decision supports the position of the UK tax authority (HMRC) and further emphasizes the tax obligations of online platforms, regardless of their place of establishment.

A fast-track analysis by the Hungarian Competition Authority (GVH) has found that in many cases, companies' advertising communications suggesting sustainability are not backed up by easily accessible and relevant evidence for consumers. The result of the fast-track analyses was disclosed on 17 February 2023.

EU Directive 2019/1937 on the protection of persons who report infringements of EU law was adopted in 2019 and should have been transposed into national law by the Member States until 17 December 2021. The Directive obliges the Member States to set up a three-step notification system.

At the beginning of March 2023, the Ministry of Construction and Transport published the concept of the Act on Hungarian Architecture for public consultation. The new act would include, as a clear code, the act on the chambers of the designer and expert engineers and architects, the Building Act, the acts the protection of the townscape and on the protection of cultural heritage with updated content.

With numerous reports of energy-related business shutdowns, we reached out to local experts across CEE to understand what different markets have been dealing with, in terms of work and production stoppages, and look into the broader impact.

In its judgment 2021:504 in Case C 439/19, the Court of Justice of the European Union stated that those national rules that oblige the public bodies registering penalty points to disclose such information to persons requesting access without a specific interest, is contrary to GDPR.

The Hungarian Government is planning to amend its investment promotion regulation, therefore, it published the related documentation on 1 February 2023. The amendments would ensure that aid may be granted for primary agricultural production if the subject of the aid is a research and development project relating to primary agricultural production. In addition, aid for research and development would not only be available for investors that qualify as large enterprises, but also for medium-sized enterprises, in case their combined average statistical headcount reaches 100 persons.

Major changes have come into force under the 2023 tax law amendments in Hungary, which mainly include reliefs, such as the extension of the application of the 5% VAT rate on the sale of new housing on the one hand, but on the other hand, bring restrictions to real property related duties.

Employees are entitled to compensation from their employers for commuting from another town or city. Due to the significant increase in fuel prices, the corresponding thresholds have been doubled by the end of the ‘state of emergency’ in effect (end of June 2023, for now).

In a recent case (C-61/21), contrary to settled case-law, the Court of Justice of the European Union did not oblige a Member State to pay compensation. Article 13 of the 2008/50/EC Directive on ambient air quality and cleaner air for Europe obliges Member States to ensure that ambient air levels of NO2 and PM10 do not exceed EU-wide limit values. A resident in the Paris region considered that the French State had failed to ensure this and by this he has suffered damage to his health since 2003, caused by the deterioration of the ambient air quality in the Paris agglomeration. For these damages, he has claimed a total of EUR 21 million from the French State as compensation.