At the II National Regulators Conference it was announced that the Digital Citizenship programme to be launched between July and September 2024 and the necessary legislation to be submitted to the Parliament in November 2023. With this step the Hungarian Government follows the trend, where citizens are dealing at an increasing rate with administrative cases on their mobile phones.
One of the important changes is that the ID card might be moved – upon the decision of the citizen – to citizens' mobile phones. In addition, there will be an app where citizens can pay the amount owed to the state at the touch of a button. Communication with the state will be provided through a new phone app called “Digital Citizenship”.
The new system will offer two types of administrative procedures: one based on life events and the other on e-Paper. The latter already exists; however, it will go through a complete overhaul. In case of the life event based administrative procedure, the most common cases are related to birth and car transfer, which are planned to be available as early as 2025. The underlying idea is to start the process at the touch of a button, after which the state will obtain the necessary documents.
It is expected that the number of users to be less than 1 million in 2024, but by 2025 it will be 3-5 million. It is also expected that the widening of digital administration leads to a competitive advantage.
By Bálint Éberhardt, Attorney at Law, KCG Partners Law Firm
