Author: Dr. Gábor Germus
In Hungary, several government decrees aimed at controlling the pandemic situation and protecting citizens came into force following the order of the state of emergency by the Hungarian Government on 11 March, 2020. The mostly restrictive measures have obviously impact on the contentious and non-contentious civil court and other procedures, therefore, on the entire law enforcement.
One of such measurements was the introduction of the so-called extraordinary judicial vacation, during which the enforcement of claims could only take place in a very limited way. The period of extraordinary judicial vacation has been finished, as the temporal scope of the relevant decree was not prolonged by the Government. However, the courts are able to adapt on the difficulties arising from the current pandemic situation by being compliant with the rules of Government Decree 74/2020 (31 March) on certain procedural measures applicable during the period of state of emergency (Decree) published on and effective from 31 March, 2020.
The Decree’s key message is to record the fact that the operation of justice system is still in accordance with its intended use, i.e. it is still possible to settle the arising legal disputes by the courts.
In other words, it is possible again to enforce – by some special rules – the claims in court and other (such as order for payment, judicial enforcement, liquidation) procedures, during which our Firm is readily at your kind disposal.
The Decree stipulates several deviating provisions from the usual procedural rules, having regard to the current pandemic situation. In general, such provisions deviate from the general rules regarding the procedural actions allowing and requiring personal presence, therefore the Decree’s provisions prioritize and require written communication and communication via digital tools.
We do highlight that the Decree shall also be applied in procedures pending on the day of its entry into force.
The litigation management based on the former and the new civil procedure act, which introduced the professional litigation, in case of ongoing litigations, shall require even more careful caution from the parties. We have summarized some special provisions from the newly introduced rules.
The Decree – among others – stipulates that the deadlines are not influenced by the pandemic situation; if a personal hearing is required, the declarations shall be obtained in writing or by using an electronic tool suitable for personal identification; the parties may not request the holding of a hearing in an appeal or a review procedures.
In case of non-litigious civil court procedures, the Decree stipulates the application of ‘adequate’ rules concerning litigious civil court procedures, which – in our point of view – may cause significant difficulties in legislation, therefore we kindly draw our Client’s attention to provide special caution thereon.
If a deadline expires between the introduction of extraordinary judicial vacation and the 15th day following the entry into force of the Decree, the deadline shall be extended until 30 April, 2020 in the litigious and non-litigious civil and also administrative procedures, and in other administrative court proceedings as well.
Having regard to the above provision, the recalculation of deadlines is suggested in the ongoing procedures.
The information above possesses exclusively informative nature, for further details we kindly ask you to contact our Firm on the form below.
