Due to the armed conflict and humanitarian disaster in Ukraine and in order to avert the consequences of such conflict in Hungary, the Government has adopted a decree that entered into force on 29 June 2022, on the basis of which, in order to safeguard the public interest of continuity and security of supply, the Government may place under the supervision of the Hungarian State the operators with significant or dominant market power in the energy industry, in particular in electricity, natural gas, petroleum, district heating and mining industry, including e.g. FGSZ Foldgazszallito Zrt. and the Hungarian Hydrocarbon Stockholders Association.
The Government may order that the person designated to exercise the state supervision may take all measures necessary to maintain the viability of the supervised entity, to ensure the effective exercise of state supervision and shall have the exclusive right to decide on matters falling within the competence of the supreme decision-making body of the supervised entity.
Up to now, the Government has not exercised its right under the Decree and there is no information when it will place those entities under state supervision.
By Eszter Ila-Horvath, Attorney at Law, KCG Partners Law Firm