2019

Osservatorio sulle fonti / Observatory on Sources of Law

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Section: Sources of Law in the EU member States

HUNGARY

By Viktor Zoltán Kazai, Central European University, Budapest

Name of the Act/s

Act no XXIV of 2019 on additional guarantees of the independence of administrative courts / 2019. évi XXIV. törvény a közigazgatási bíróságok függetlenségét biztosító további garanciákról

Date of entry into force of original text

16 April 2019

Date of Text (Adopted)

1 April 2019

Type of text

(name in English / name in the official language)

parliamentary act / törvény

If federal State

□

If Regional State

□

Enacted by

Hungarian National Assembly

Reference to the Constitution (art)

Article 25 and 26 (judiciary)

Article 25 (8) (qualified majority requirement)

Subject area

organization of the judiciary, administrative court system

If the act implements a source of EU Law: cite the relevant EU legal source

Comment

The reform of the administrative court system has been criticized by European monitoring bodies:

1)     Venice Commission, Opinion on the law on administrative courts and the law on the entry into force of the law on administrative courts and certain transitional rules, CDL-AD(2019)004-e

2)     Report on a proposal calling on the Council to determine, pursuant to Article 7(1) of the Treaty on European Union, the existence of a clear risk of a serious breach by Hungary of the values on which the Union is founded (2017/2131(INL)) (“Sargentini Report) para. 14.

The aim of the act – as officially stated in the explanatory memorandum – is to implement certain changes recommended by the Venice Commission in its opinion on the original reform act. The act does remedy some of the shortcomings of the regulation but does not address the underlying structural problems. The main concern about the reform is that it gives significant influence over the administrative judiciary to the Minister of Justice. Even though this type of separate administrative judicial system – often labelled as Austrian or Bavarian model – does exist in other European jurisdictions, it is argued by critics that in the current political context it serves the aim of undermining the independence of the judiciary.

Secondary sources/ doctrinal works (if any)

Conference on “The rule of law and the independence of the judiciary in Hungary and in Europe – trends, concerns, ways ahead” organized by the Hungarian Helsinki Committee and Amnesty International, on 25 January 2019. The video of the presentations and discussions (in English) is available at: https://www.helsinki.hu/en/the-rule-of-law-and-the-independence-of-the-judiciary-in-hungary-and-in-europe-trends-concerns-ways-ahead/

Uitz, Renáta: What Does the Spring Bring for the Rule of Law in Europe?, VerfBlog, 2019/4/06, https://verfassungsblog.de/what-does-the-spring-bring-for-the-rule-of-law-in-europe/

Available Text

http://njt.hu/cgi_bin/njt_doc.cgi?docid=213665.366786