Better Regulation Practices across the European Union

Hungary

Overview and recent developments

There have been little changes to the institutional and policy framework for regulatory quality in the last years. Stakeholder consultation is required for all primary and subordinate legislation. Draft legislation is posted on the governmental website and comments can be sent by email. No consultation is required in the early phases of the design of legislation. RIA is mandatory for all primary and subordinate legislation. Principle-based reviews on administrative burden were conducted in 2016 and 2017, focusing on reducing the average processing time of administrative procedures for business and citizens.

Within the Prime Minister’s Office, the State Secretary in charge of the territorial administration makes proposals for simplifying regulatory burdens on citizens and businesses, but does not exercise quality checks on RIAs or ex-post reviews. Hungary would benefit from introducing oversight mechanisms to ensure sufficient quality of RIAs, ex-post evaluations and consultations. Quality checks could be accompanied by greater engagement with the stakeholders in the early phases of developing draft legislation.

Institutional setup for regulatory oversight

The Government Office within the Prime Minister’s Office is responsible for co-ordinating the different phases of preparation of a regulatory proposal, from the consultation with other administrations once a Ministry has prepared a regulatory proposal and RIA to the meeting of the State Secretaries to the final Government meeting before a proposal is submitted to Parliament. The Government Office can also propose reforms or modifications related to the RIA and ex post evaluation framework. The Government Office prepares an annual report on RIA based on feedback from each Ministry, which is not publicly available. The Office of the State Secretary in charge of the territorial administration is responsible for reducing administrative burdens, promote a business-friendly environment and promote regulatory quality. The State Secretary reports to Cabinet on progress in implementing the simplification agenda.

Indicators of Regulatory Policy and Governance (iREG): Hungary, 2018

Note: The more regulatory practices as advocated in the OECD Recommendation on Regulatory Policy and Governance a country has implemented, the higher its iREG score. The indicators on stakeholder engagement and RIA for primary laws only cover those initiated by the executive (76% of all primary laws in Hungary).

Source: Indicators of Regulatory Policy and Governance Surveys 2014 and 2017, http://oe.cd/ireg.

Requirements to use regulatory management tools for EU-made laws: Hungary

Stakeholder engagement		Regulatory impact assessment
Development stage
The government facilitates the engagement of domestic stakeholders in the European Commission’s consultation process	No
Negotiation stage
Stakeholder engagement is required to define the negotiating position for EU directives/regulations	Yes	RIA is required to define the negotiating position for EU directives/regulations	Yes
Consultation is required to be open to the general public	No
Transposition stage
Stakeholder engagement is required when transposing EU directives	Yes	RIA is required when transposing EU directives	Yes
The same requirements and processes apply as for domestically made laws	Yes	The same requirements and processes for RIA apply as for domestically made laws	Yes
Consultation is required to be open to the general public	Yes	RIA includes a specific assessment of provisions added at the national level beyond those in the EU directives	NA
		RIA distinguishes between impacts stemming from EU requirements and additional national implementation measures	NA

Source: Indicators of Regulatory Policy and Governance Survey 2017, http://oe.cd/ireg.