This article is part of a series presenting selected amendments introduced by Act XLIX of 2025 on the amendment of laws concerning the judiciary (hereinafter the "Act"), which significantly affect civil litigation in several respects.
To promote more efficient judicial work, the Act introduces a new system, according to which, if the court fails to meet a statutory deadline, it will automatically provide financial compensation starting from the day following the missed deadline. This compensation equals 1.5% of the minimum wage for each day of delay, calculated based on the amount valid on the first day of the delay. The compensation is automatically transferred to the parties by the administrative office of the courts. It is yet unknown what the impact will be on the budgetary management of the courts, but it can be said with certainty that the court system, which is often short of resources, will be greatly affected. This solution has caused considerable dissatisfaction among judges, who believe the system is not suitable for addressing deadline delays caused by excessive caseloads. However, proponents of the proposal emphasize that parties currently lack any real means to enforce compliance with procedural deadlines.
The other change discussed in this article relates to the online public access of court hearings. In general, the attitude of Hungarian courts towards using digital tools is mixed. Many courts face serious infrastructural challenges, especially when it comes to hearing witnesses who are not physically present. Although in the past few years there have been improvements in equipment (mostly in criminal courtrooms), not all courtrooms are suitable for such proceedings.
On the other hand, while hearings are theoretically public, in practice, very few are recorded with image or sound. These recordings are usually made by members of the media or by the parties themselves. Until now, legislation has not allowed hearings to be made publicly available online, meaning there was no option for remote attendance at court hearings. The Act introduces a change in this regard. The new Act allows members of the public to attend hearings via an online platform, provided that the necessary technical conditions are met. This option will be available to the first 100 individuals who successfully register. Additionally, participation requires identification as defined by the law on digital citizenship. The Act gives priority to school and university students for participation aimed at research purposes.
No image or audio recording of the hearing is allowed, and the hearing materials cannot be recorded. The parties may request a list of participants from the court if they have reason to believe that someone is attending who would otherwise be excluded from participation due to legal reasons. Many welcome the legislator’s intention to extend the public nature of court hearings to the online space; however, there are serious doubts about how widespread online participation in hearings can become given the current state of technological resources.
By Bálint Éberhardt, Attorney at Law, KCG Partners Law Firm
