Parliament will start debating the bill on the new Civil Code next week. The new Code is on the agenda of the parliamentary committees this week. Academician Lajos Vékás believes that the particular significance of the new Civil Code lies in the fact that this will be Hungary’s first civil code, created under democratic circumstances, to enter into force.

The head of the Civil Law Codification Committee spoke about this at the Tuesday meeting of the Constitutional Committee of Parliament where MPs unanimously found the bill on the new Civil Code suitable for a general parliamentary debate.

At the meeting, Minister of State for Justice Róbert Répássy reiterated that, as part of its first decisions after the 2010 general elections, the Government authorised the editorial committee for codification under civil law on 10 June 2010 to prepare the bill for a new Civil Code on the foundations of consensus within the legal profession. The Government Decision set out to create a piece of legislation that is sophisticated and up-to-date, conforms to our obligations arising from our EU membership, relies upon the foreign and local achievements of legal theory and practice and fulfils the function of a fundamental law in the field of civil affairs, he said.

The draft of the committee was based on the expert proposal published in March 2008 and also took account of the useful solutions devised in the code which was passed in 2009 but did not enter into force. The editorial committee handed over the norm text consisting of more than 1,600 sections to the codification committee in December 2011. The Government first dealt with the contemplated code in February 2012 and decided that this document should serve as the basis for the ensuing public administration and social consultations, the Minister of State said and reiterated that the ministry responsible for justice held a three-month consultation on the draft in the spring. Hundreds of proposals were received in response to the draft and wide-ranging thematic consultations were organised with professional and civil organisations on family law and inheritance, the rules relating to legal entities and substantive law.

The Government decided in June that it would present the draft to Parliament without any change, based on the proposal of the committee. The particular significance of the code lies in the fact that this will be Hungary’s first civil code, conceived under democratic circumstances, to enter into force. The members of the Constitutional Committee spoke highly of the proposal.

The Code will be of great symbolic significance also from a legislative point of view as it has finally reviewed the unclear and unsettled legal relationships under civil law that have been left unchanged since the change of regime and will replace the Civil Code that has been in force for more than 60 years. The political debate on the new Code may begin in the autumn session of Parliament, in the wake of which the draft now presented to Parliament may undergo several changes. The new Civil Code will enter into force one year after its promulgation.

More on the bill on the new Civil Code at en/ministry-of-public-administration-and-justice/news/hungary-s-new-civil-code-finally-conceived-in-a-democratic-environment-is-before-parliament

(Ministry of Public Administration and Justice)