Making an awkward legislative step, the Hungarian legislator introduced a new ground for annulling construction arbitration awards from 5 June 2023, which applies where arbitrators fail to deliberate the opinion of a domestic expert body. While many commentators have criticised this amendment because of its potential retroactive effect and its disharmony with the current international…
A pioneer in the region of Central and Eastern Europe (CEE region), the Permanent Arbitration Court attached to the Hungarian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (HCAC) signed a partnership agreement with the Paris-based legal-tech start-up, Jus Mundi, allowing for the online accessibility of anonymized Hungarian arbitral decisions in English. Since the issue of publication of…
A recent international arbitration case administered by the Permanent Arbitration Court attached to the Hungarian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (“HCCI Arbitration Court”) demonstrated that Hungary follows the international trend in dealing with the enforceability of pathological arbitration clauses. Arbitration clauses are pathological if they contain defective elements, thus making their interpretation at best uncertain,…
The Permanent Arbitration Court attached to the Hungarian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (The Hungarian Commercial Arbitration Court or ‘HCAC’) has recently adopted its revised rules of proceedings that went into effect on 31 December 2022. This development is particularly significant for the Hungarian arbitration landscape given that HCAC has exclusive competence over commercial, financial…
Conflict of laws issues can have a pivotal effect on the effectiveness of arbitration when state courts are asked to enforce arbitration agreements. Has the approach of Hungarian courts crystalized in the last few years in this respect? Can the contemporary Hungarian judicial practice and the new domestic legislation be characterized as arbitration friendly? This…
Would you agree to arbitrate in a forum where the opposing party has the last word about the tribunal’s composition? This is what the new Hungarian Concession Arbitration Court, scheduled to start operation in October 2021, proposes. The Name of the Game The Hungarian government loves playing with arbitration. In 2012, they prohibited arbitration…
Drawing a well-defined line of demarcation between domestic and international public policy when enforcing foreign arbitral awards sends a clear pro-arbitration message from national courts in any jurisdiction. Does Hungarian case law come close to this level of sophistication? This post analyses this question in the context of procedural public policy, and it does so…
For a number of years, most Hungarian domain name disputes have been decided by an Alternative Dispute Resolution Forum (hereinafter: ‘Forum’) operated by the Council of Hungarian Internet Providers (‘Internet Szolgáltatók Tanácsa’, abbreviated as ‘ISZT’). Although the procedure conforms to the Uniform Domain Name Dispute Resolution Policy established by the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names…
Two and a half decades have passed since Hungary harmonised its arbitration law with UNCITRAL Model Law (‘Model Law’) in 1994. This marked a giant leap forward, especially as the adopted provisions were made applicable not only in international, but in purely domestic arbitrations as well. This post analyses the Hungarian case law on setting…
This post analyses the decisions of Hungarian courts rendered under the New York Convention (“Convention”) and published in the last two decades. The decisions were initially made available to the international arbitration community in the ICCA Yearbook of Commercial Arbitration series. This case law of 20 years is summarized below by identifying the main directions…
As reported in earlier blog posts on the Kluwer Arbitration Blog, 1) See, e.g., Zoltán Novák, New Arbitration Act in Hungary, Kluwer Arbitration Blog, 15 October 2017; Alexandra Bognár, Hungary: Are Interim Measures Hard to Enforce?, Kluwer Arbitration Blog, 18 July 2017; Ioana Knoll-Tudor, The 2018 Hungarian Arbitration Act: Implications of the New Setting Aside…
On 17 December 2018, the Prime Minister of Hungary issued a decision entitled “Decision authorizing the conclusion of an Agreement to terminate bilateral agreements on encouragement and reciprocal protection of investments concluded between governments of certain Member States of the European Union”1)see also here at p. 35105. The rather succinct Decision confirms the Prime Minister’s approval…
The Court of Justice of the European Union’s (CJEU) judgment in Slovak Republic v. Achmea B.V. (Achmea) on arbitration under intra-EU BITs has been broadly discussed (on this blog, see e.g. here, here, here, here, here, here and here). Nine months after the Court’s ruling, some tribunals have had the opportunity to react. Food for…
On 17 May 2018, the Central European University and Jeantet co-organized a conference to discuss the new Hungarian Arbitration Act (the “New Act”), following the first months of its entry into force on 1 January 2018 (the “Conference”). The Conference was held in Budapest and the organizing committee was composed of Csongor Nagy (CEU, University…
Following the entry into force of the new act on arbitration (Act LX of 2017 on Arbitration, the “Act”) this year, the Arbitration Court attached to the Hungarian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (“HCCI”) adopted its new procedural rules (“Arbitration Rules”) effective and applicable as of 1 February 2018. It was to some degree expected…
The Hungarian Parliament has recently adopted a new Act on Arbitration, which will enter into force on 1 January 2018 (the Act). The new Act (based on the UNCITRAL Model Law on International Commercial Arbitration as amended in 2006 (the Model Law)) implements changes that are likely to have a considerable impact on the Hungarian…
The Hungarian Parliament recently passed new legislation on arbitration (Act LX of 2017 on Arbitration, the “2017 Act”) that will reform Hungarian arbitration law as of 1 January 2018. The 2017 Act, considering both the shortcomings of the current Hungarian legislation (Act LXXI of 1994 on Arbitration, the “1994 Act”) and the amendment of the…
This post is based on my paper published in the American Review of International Arbitration (Vol. 27, No. 2, pp. 239-246, 2016) and posted on SSRN. The paper presents the saga of Hungary’s controversial arbitration regime in cases involving national property. It analyzes Hungary’s legislative efforts and ultimate failure to exclude arbitration in matters involving…
The Hungarian arbitration Act (Act LXXI of 1994 on arbitration, “the Act”) has barely “turned 22” and the pressure to replace it with new legislation has popped up. Considering the current, rapid reform of effective laws in Hungary – meaning that relatively new legislation which has been in force for only five to ten years…
Introduction Dan Cake, a Portuguese company and one of the biggest biscuit producers in the world, invested in Hungary by acquiring a Hungarian company’s shares, later named as Danesita. Although Dan Cake had envisaged the expansion of its business to South East Europe too through this investment, after a couple of years, the plan failed…
After the fall of communism, Hungary embraced modern arbitration law. Act LXXI of 1994 (“the Arbitration Law”) created a comprehensive legal regime for both domestic and international arbitration, based on the UNCITRAL Model Law. State courts generally exercised a liberal approach in connection with arbitral proceedings and awards. However, some recent developments in Hungarian law…
