The Legal 500

A practical insight to cross-border Environment Law

A practical insight to cross-border Product Liability work

RECENT CHANGES TO EMPLOYMENT LEGISLATIONIN HUNGARYby Prague / Bratislava / Budapest www.prkpartners.com Legislative changes concerning the Hungarian Labour Code and the rules pertaining to the protection of workers’ safety and health Effective as of January 1, 2009 significant legislative measures were adopted by the Hungarian Parliament concerning several labour-related issues. Specifically, the new Act, bearing the number LXI. of 2008, amended various provisions of Act XXII. of 1992 on the Hungarian Labour Code and the rules pertaining to the protection of workers’ safety and health governed by Act No. XCIII of 1993. The amendments serve two main purposes. By refining the implementation of the relevant EC Directives the amendments seek to introduce more flexible and market friendly provisions regarding annual leave, work on national holidays and also enhances the provisions relating to workers’ safety.

On February 6, 2008, the Municipal Court of Second Instance (in Hungarian: Fővárosi Ítélőtábla) ruled that the basic principles of public procurement are not applicable to attorneys. The decision, which is a resounding victory for attorney interest groups in their long-raging battle with advocates of the free market, effectively means that, unlike any other providers in the market, attorneys may be granted public funds without first having to participate in anything akin to a meaningful competition.

Read more of this article...

While the securitization market in Europe continues to flourish, its usefulness in Hungary has yet to be fully appreciated. At first glance, the foundation and legal framework appears to be in place, however for a number of reasons, the market is still in its pre-infancy. From a Hungarian law approach it is useful to first look at the issues which are relevant in all markets and then to focus on the specific market-driven obstacles.

As a result of Hungary's accession to the European Union on May 1 2004, certain amendments were made to Hungarian law on the basis of the EU Financial Collateral Directive (2002/47/EC). In particular, creditor protection amendments relevant to the enforcement of financial collateral (known as 'security deposits' in Hungarian legal terminology) were introduced to the Act on Bankruptcy Proceedings, Liquidation Proceedings and Members' Voluntary Dissolution (49/1991) and to the Hungarian Civil Code (Act 4/1959).

The Hungarian Copyright Act (76/1999) was amended as of May 1, 2004 in order to bring it in line with EU directives. The provisions of the Directive on Copyright in the Information Society (2001/29/EC) were also incorporated into the act in the course of this amendment.

...the right to information set out in the Enforcement Directive and a service provider's liability set out in the E-commerce Directive, in light of the transposition of the Enforcement Directive into Hungarian law

Directive 2004/48/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 29 April 2004 on the enforcement of intellectual property rights (Enforcement Directive), designates a larger group of persons about whom infringers and certain contributors must provide information than does the TRIPs regulations; thus, information must be provided namely on the possessors of infringing products, the recipients of infringing services and those that have provided services to the infringer. In the field of e-commerce, the question may arise whether the intermediary service provider has the obligation to provide information on the recipients of its services (the infringers/the content providers carrying out illegal activities), or is exempted from such obligation by referring to the regulations on limitation of liability and exemption from monitoring obligation set out in E-com Directive (Directive 2000/31/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council on certain legal aspects of information society services, in particular electronic commerce, in the Internal Market).

The past year has marked a monumental reform in the motion picture industry and on the motion picture culture in Hungary by the adoption of Act II of 2004 on Motion Pictures (the "Film Act") which came into force on April 1, 2004. The Film Act not only creates a new legal basis on which producers, distributors and other participants in the Hungarian film industry are able to operate, but it also provides support in planning, preparing, producing and distributing films.

Since the reforms which have impacted the Hungarian Film Industry from the passing of Act II of 2004 on Motion Pictures (the "Film Act"), the legal framework has continuously developed with the view of making Hungary one of the most attractive and competitive locations for film production. In particular, in addition to the direct subsidies which the Film Act has made available, indirect subsidies, in the form of a tax incentive regime, provide tax relief through tax credits and allowances creating extremely favourable conditions for producers to make their films in Hungary.