Originally from Arbitration Law and Practice in Central and Eastern Europe

1. GENERAL LEGAL FRAMEWORK

1.1 National law

a) Current status

What is the current status? When was it enacted? Have there already been amendments?

Since its enactment in 1994, the Hungarian Arbitration Act (official citation: Act No. LXXI of the year 1994, hereinafter “HAA”1) has been regulating national and international arbitration in Hungary. The HAA was announced in the Hungarian Official Journal on 28 November 1994 and entered into force 15 days after the announcement. At the same time, Chapter XXIV of the Hungarian Code of Civil Procedure (Act No. III of the year 1952, further referred to as “HCCP”), which contained a number of old-fashioned and in many respects restrictive rules on arbitration, was annulled. An initial overall review reveals that the vast majority of the regulations of the new law can be traced back to the UNCITRAL Model Law. Most paragraphs are indeed a direct translation of articles of the Model Law or at least equivalents thereof. Since the entry into force of the HAA there have been only sparse amendments dealing with jurisdictional issues of state courts as a result of the long-term reform of the Hungarian civil justice system. A particularly important amendment concerned the possibility of remedies against setting aside the decisions of national courts.2

b) Future development

Are amendments intended? If so, please outline the timing and the intended changes.