The Hungarian Parliament has once again passed the Waste Management Act. This was required, because President of the Republic János Áder sent the draft of the new Act back to Parliament for reconsideration at the end of October.

The Members of Parliament voted by a majority of 277 votes to 48 to adopt the new Act on Waste Management, in which a vote to accept the amendment proposal of Minister for Rural Development Sándor Fazekas, presented before the final vote, corrected the stipulations that had been faulted by the President.

President of the Republic János Áder applied his rights in accordance with the country's Fundamental Law in October, and sent the new Act on Waste Management back to Parliament for reconsideration. The majority of the President's recommendations were related to formal issues, and only one involved the content of the draft legislation, citing the lack of the right to legal redress in relation to the categorisation of public service providers. No other contextual elements and objectives of the Act were amended.

In accordance with the President's requests, a separate piece of legislation now deals with opportunities for legal redress, as well as with the categorisation system and proceedings, in compliance constitutional and legal certainty requirements.

The Waste Management Act continues to provide a modern legislative background that creates transparent and easily monitored conditions within the sector, provides opportunities for the greater reduction of waste generation and increase in the ratio of reutilization.

According to the Waste Management Act, from 1 January 2014 only those non-profit organisations may perform waste management public services that sign an agreement with municipal local governments. Accordingly, plans include the unified determination of waste collection charges from 2014.

In addition, the new Act also introduces waste storage contributions from 2012, which must be paid by the operators of waste storage sites and landfills based on the type and quantity of waste. The level of the contribution will gradually rise from 2013 until 2016. The Ministry of Rural Development will spend the resulting revenue on tasks related to waste management.

(MTI, Press Office of the Ministry of Rural Development)