The currently running Public Administration and Public Service Development Strategy 2014-2020 program has set high goals for the processes of public administration, including organization, consistency, professionally trained staff, cost-effectiveness and competitive service fees. To reach these goals, the debate of a legislative package aiming to simplify the operation of government offices started in November 2019 in the Hungarian Parliament. The package was accepted in December 2019, with the majority of the changes getting into effect starting in March 2020, and the remainder coming in September 2020 and January 2021.

The rapidly evolving situation caused by the COVID virus pushes governments to adapt in an ever increasing tempo. Just days after the first banking measures were introduced, additional ones became necessary to prevent further economic disturbance in Hungary.

The Hungarian Data Protection and Freedom of Information Authority (NAIH) released its annual report on March 31, 2020, regarding the Agency’s activities in 2019, including detailed enforcement statistics.

In response to the new trends in the labour market, the rules on training grant financed from the Hungarian National Employment Fund are changing in 2020. Favorable amendments will make the process of applying for and using this grant more flexible and as a new option, grant may also be applied for job keeping purposes.

Due to the state of emergency related to the coronavirus outbreak, sooner or later many business owners, company managers, and chief legal or financial officers will be relieved of their more routine, day-to-day work. This is a time when it might be worthwhile to sort out the company’s legal or financial issues that you may not have had time for during your day-to-day operations. Here are five tips worth considering.

Former MOL Chief Compliance Counsel Marton Kocsis has left the company to rejoin Cerha Hempel as Head of Competition and Compliance.

In the framework of the Hungarian ‘Public Administration and Public Service Development Strategy 2014-2020’ a single building authority system was introduced as of 1 March 2020.

Noerr has advised the Doktor24 Group on a series of transactions, including raising private equity capital and acquiring two healthcare businesses in Hungary: Svabhegyi Gyermekgyogyintezet and Kastelypark Klinika. Dentons advised the co-investors on the funding, the Jalsovszky Law Firm advised the sellers of Svabhegyi Gyermekgyogyintezet, and Szabo Kelemen & Partners advised the sellers of Kastelypark Klinika.

In its judgement of 2 March 2020, the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) established that Member States are free to impose registration obligation for foreign suppliers and levy penalties on foreign entities for incompliance with the obligation, even if resident entities are exempt from that obligation. The judgement, however, also contains that the Hungarian legislation is disproportionate and as such, it is incompatible with the EU rules.

Hungarian online invoice data reporting obligation is set to be extended practically to all invoices by 2021 in two steps. Companies – for some as a totally new requirement – should be ready to allocate development capacity in order to comply with the reporting on time.

Former Schoenherr Local Partner Zita Albert has joined Cerha Hempel in Budapest.

The coronavirus outbreak is unfortunately having an impact on every aspect of our lives, and sets to affect a considerable number of businesses. For this reason we’ve summarised the five most important legal considerations that no business can afford to ignore at this time.

On 18 March the Hungarian prime minister announced extraordinary measures to be taken as a result of the national emergency caused by COVID-19. Most of these measures have a strong impact on the Hungarian economy; in particular, the banking sector.

In the framework of the ‘Digital Court Project’, a new online system was launched by the courts as of 1 January 2020.

The National Competitiveness Council held a meeting on 4 February 2020 about the possible future changes of the local business tax.

The Hungarian Parliament approved certain amendments to the Hungarian Corporate Income Tax Act in July 2019.

Greenberg Traurig has provided Polish advice to GLP on its acquisition of Goodman Group’s Central and Eastern Europe logistics real estate portfolio. Kirkland & Ellis served as global legal counsel to GLP, while Kinstellar provided local legal advice with respect to the Czech, Slovak, and Hungarian aspects of the transaction. Goodman Group was advised by Allen & Overy.

Contributed by Nagy es Trocsanyi