The conference that was designed to help professionals in preparation for the application of the new Penal Code was held in the Parliament Building.

The new code passed after wide-ranging professional and social consultations contains a number of novel features, and the Ministry of Public Administration and Justice believes that it is essential to discuss these and to introduce the underlying circumstances and objectives within professional circles in order to enable practising lawyers to change over to the application of the new code with as little hindrance as possible. The profession united its resources not only in the creation of the new Penal Code but also in the preparations that lead to its practical application.

The new Penal Code is a thoroughly thought-out, genuinely new criminal code which, while relying on the traditions of penal law, incorporates the required updates, is more coherent, simpler and clearer and fully expresses the Government’s penal policy; a code that was conceived in the workshop of the elite of the Hungarian legal profession, Minister of State for Justice Róbert Répássy said in his welcome speech.

As regards the weight and significance of the new Penal Code which will enter into force on 1 July 2013, it is a piece of cornerstone legislation. Act IV of 1978 on the Criminal Code has been amended more than a hundred times since its entry into force in 1979. The legislature has made more than ninety amendments in the past three decades to the old Criminal Code, that is, several amendments a year, and it has also been affected by more than ten decisions of the Constitutional Court.

The conference was attended by 200 participants, including the representatives of the key organisations of the administration of justice in Hungary, such as the President of the National Judicial Office, members of the Criminal Section of the Curia, the Chair and staff members of the Hungarian Bar Association, the Chair of the Association of Hungarian Judges, the President of the National Institute of Criminology, the section heads of tribunals and county courts and senior appeal and county prosecutors. The legislative process was represented by ministry officials and the members of Parliament’s Constitutional, Justice and Procedural Committee. In addition to those mentioned above, the representatives of several agencies with nation-wide competence and universities also graced the event with their presence.

Thematic section meetings were held at the full-day conference where, in the context of the new code, attendees discussed the new regulations regarding corruption and money laundering and the novel features of the legislation from the field of nature conservation and environmental protection.

(Ministry of Public Administration and Justice)