On 6 April 2022, Council Directive (EU) 2022/542 amending the EU VAT Directive was published in the Official Journal of the EU with substantial changes on place of supply rules and re-shaping the VAT rate system.

Former Head of the Consumer Protection Group at Cerha Hempel Andrea Magdolna Nagy has joined EY Law Hungary and will lead the firm’s Consumer Protection practice.

Lakatos, Koves and Partners, working alongside Clifford Chance’s Munich office, has advised Egeria Capital Behar BV on the acquisition of 100% of the shares of Isoplus. DLA Piper reportedly advised the sellers on the deal.

The European Investment Bank (EIB) will support Hungarian green financing with long-term forint-denominated loans. The cooperation agreement, which was entered into this May and allows the EIB to provide more fixed-rate long-term loans in Hungarian forints to the local economy, aims to boost sustainable economic and social growth, the post-pandemic recovery and climate action in Hungary. It is the EIB's response to growing market demand for local currency lending in EU Member States that are not part of the euro area.

The Hungarian Trade Union Confederation (Magyar Szakszervezeti Szövetség, “MASZSZ”) put together in a ten-point manifesto its long-standing demands accumulated over the past few years. The president of the Confederation announced the manifesto on 27 April 2022. As soon as possible after the formation of the new Hungarian government, the Confederation sends its manifesto to all decision-makers and the leaders of the parliamentary parties.

In 2021, the green financial markets substantially increased according to the Green Finance Report of the Central Bank of Hungary (MNB). Credit institutions launched green lending, and four banks are taking advantage of the MNB's green capital requirement discount for housing. Among green financing products, the green bonds are very popular both at public and corporate level, and green lending has also been launched on the corporate side. In the investment segment, ESG products are already available, but only to a limited extent.

At the initiative of the Ministry of Justice, the Hungarian National Bank and the Hungarian Bar Association, the Government adopted a Government Decree in April 2022 regulating in detail the payment of lawyers' deposits at financial institutions in the event of liquidation and winding-up proceedings. The Government Decree provides that in the event of the winding-up and liquidation of a financial institution, the provisions of the Bankruptcy Act, the Company Registration Act, the Act on Credit Institutions and Financial Undertakings and the Investment Firm Act shall apply with the additions and derogations included in the Government Decree.

The Orban & Perlaki law firm has announced it partnered with UK-headquartered Gunnercooke, with the Budapest-based firm rebranding to OPL Gunnercooke.

Wolf Theiss and Yavuz & Uyanik & Akalin have advised 4iG Nyrt on the acquisition of an 80.27% stake in AlbTelecom from a subsidiary of Turkey's Calik Holding. Tashko Pustina reportedly advised the sellers. The deal was cleared by the Albanian Competition Authority on March 4, 2022.

Screening of foreign direct investment (FDI) has been present in Hungarian law since 2019 in relation to certain specific investment-related activities. During the COVID-19 pandemic, additional FDI screening legislation was introduced in May 2020. The 2020 regime has had an impact on a significantly wider range of business transactions and, therefore, this summary focuses solely on the 2020 regime (FDI Rules). Given that a real estate asset deal may also fall within the scope of the FDI Rules, assessing the potential application of the FDI Rules has become an important item on the real estate due diligence to-do list. Below you will find a summary of the applicable regime based on our experience to this date.

A sound investment requires an understanding of all the risks involved in the transaction. The main objective of real estate financial due diligence is to thoroughly inspect the fundamentals of the property, financing, seller and compliance obligations to be able to reduce and mitigate financial uncertainties.

Growing inflation and budgetary limitations are the key challenges faced by Hungary's newly elected parliament, according to Jalsovszky Law Firm Partner Tamas Feher.

Senior Managing Associate Linda Al Sallami has become the new Head of Banking, Finance & Capital Markets at Deloitte Legal’s Budapest office.

EU and Hungarian competition law considerations are also highly relevant in any real estate transaction, especially from a merger control and information exchange perspective.

Clifford Chance has advised Norsk Hydro on its tender offer for the purchase of Alumetal. Lakatos, Koves, and Partners reportedly advised Norsk Hydro on Hungarian law-related matters. Penteris reportedly advised Alumetal.

The Hungarian Government issued a decree that amends certain provisions of the bank's liquidation proceedings.  The decree entered into force on 15 April, and it affects the solvent liquidation of Sberbank Hungary, subsidiary of Sberbank Europe AG, Hungarian member of the Russian Sberbank group. 

Former Mediaworks Hungary General Counsel Istvan Szatmary has returned to private practice as a Partner.

Timea Bana, Radoslaw Goral, Marceli Kasperkiewicz, and Michal Wasiak have been promoted to Partner as part of Dentons' recent promotion round that also included the recently reported promotion of Tomasz Zwolinski to Partner (as reported by CEE Legal Matters on April 28, 2022).