Fighting against cartels has always been crucial to protecting fair competition and fostering economic growth. A proper leniency program is an important instrument for the competition authorities, allowing them to uncover and penalize such anticompetitive conduct.

The Hungarian Ministry of Justice proposed new bills on the freedom of assembly and the protection of privacy to the Hungarian Parliament on 26 June 2018.

The Hungarian Chamber of Agriculture (HCA) submitted a package of proposals to the Hungarian Parliament in June 2018 with the aim of improving the competitiveness of Hungarian agriculture.

While no more applications for Micro Projects (those below 0.5MW) can be submitted under Hungary’s very generous mandatory off-take system since the end of April 2018, the Government  seems to have acknowledged that the projects already licensed under the subsidy regime may not be physically implemented within the strict deadlines set forth in the original legislation. Therefore, it is now possible for entities that applied for licenses after January 1, 2016 to ask for a three- years extension to complete their projects without any sanction. This is good news for license-owners and potential investors, as they have a reasonable amount of time to manage the relatively burdensome permitting proceedings and can also secure project finance. This is also good news for the Hungarian state budget because the first heavy payments to the projects under the mandatory off-take system will be delayed by a few more years.

Several amendments to the Company Registry Act entered into force on 1 July 2018. The new provisions include a new information obligation for the legal representatives, meaning that in case of the indication of personal data in addition to the statutory data content of the company register, the legal representative must draw the attention of the natural person to the fact that his/her consent to include his/her natural data in the document means that such data will be available for the public.

The Hungarian real estate and housing market is experiencing golden days. Although the market took a serious hit during the financial crisis in 2008, today enormous sums are again being invested in office buildings, shopping malls, hotels, residential areas, and retail. In order to map the underlying reasons behind the market’s boom, and to better understand how the country is dealing with the high demand for development lands and properties, CEE Legal Matters sat down with six Hungarian lawyers specialized in Real Estate & Construction and a Legal Counsel from Prologis, a Real Estate & Supply Chain Logistics company. 

In the summer of 2000 I was working for the University of Vienna, spending my time on academic research and fighting with topics like the (lack of) enforcement of judicial awards in Austria and Hungary. My one-day seminar at the University of Economics (FOWI) brought me several interesting contacts, including some young lawyers from the classy law firm CHS, that resulted in an offer to develop a new partner firm for CHS in Budapest.

Erika Papp Takes Over from Gabriella Ormai as Managing Partner at CMS Hungary

Society is undergoing a new industrial revolution – with the global development of the Internet, life has changed radically in just a few decades, and legislation can barely keep up with adapting to a situation that was previously unimaginable. The Hungarian Competition Authority (HCA) has also been monitoring developments and it has not been afraid to intervene in the interests of fair competition and the protection of consumer rights.

Hungarian law has always permitted shareholders of a company to limit the power of the company's managing director(s). Thus, it has also been allowed to appoint a managing director without any right to represent the company.

The Budapest office of Dentons has advised ARX Equity Partners on the acquisition of a majority stake in TMX Mobile Solutions from Kekbegy Property Kft. Solo practitioner Ivan Varga advised Kekbegy Property. 

Oppenheim has advised Triuva on the sale of the Infopark D Office Building in the South Buda area of the Hungarian capital to property development and investment company Wing Zrt. The buyer was represented by Szecsenyi and Partners.

The so-called Integrated Legislation System (ILS; in Hungarian: Integrált Jogalkotási Rendszer) is planned to be implemented in Hungary by the end of 2018. The main purpose of the ILS is the reduction of the administrative burdens of the public administration and the increase of the quality of the services for citizens and companies by the administration.

Hungarian businesses have the “sword of Damocles” hanging over their head as the new European data protection regulation (“GDPR”) is applicable as of 25 May 2018. Due to the fact that the majority of the Hungarian companies are micro-enterprises, the administrative burdens cause an impossible obstacle to them.

Dentons will be joining forces with a team of former EY consultants in Hungary to launch Impact Advisory, a joint venture offering consulting services that will complement Dentons’ legal services. The business is being piloted in Hungary with the intention to expand into other countries.

Akos Fehervary has been promoted from Local Partner to "Principal" at Baker McKenzie, effective as of July 1, 2018.

Former Dentons Partner Milan Kohlrusz has joined forces with Csaba Bittera and Peter Toth, long-time legal advisors to Budapest Airport, to launch Budapest's new Bittera, Kohlrusz & Toth law firm.

Andras Daniel Laszlo, a former partner at Szecskay, has teamed up with Zoltan Titusz Fekete, who previously worked at RSM Hungary and for ten years with the Hungarian tax authority, and with Gaspar Bagamery, who worked with DLA Piper and Szecskay, to establish a new boutique in Budapest under the brand of LFB.