Legal remedies

Factsheet on general review procedures against administrative decisions in Hungary

Act CL of 2016 on General Public Administration Procedures (hereinafter, the Public Administration Procedures Act), as the general piece of legislation concerning official procedural law, regulates the most important general procedural provisions at the legislative level. Separate remedy may be sought against the Authority’s decisions.

As a general rule, two possibilities are available for remedy: administrative action or appeal.

In the system for the review of administrative decisions, the administrative action is the primary form of remedy. Act I of 2017 on Administrative Court Procedures lays down the detailed rules applicable to administrative actions. The Public Administration Procedures Act deals only with the most important issues relevant to the official procedure. The client (the natural or legal person or other organisation whose right or legitimate interest is directly affected by the case, who figures in the official register, or who is the subject of an official control) may bring an administrative action against a final decision. The action shall be initiated with a statement of claim, which must meet specific requirements as regards its content. Unless law provides otherwise, the statement of claim must be lodged with the administrative body that carried out the challenged act within 30 days of notification of the contested administrative act. In the case of an act performed at several levels of jurisdiction, the statement of claim shall be submitted to the public administration body that proceeded at first instance. The court shall pass judgements on the substantive parts of the case and orders on all other issues incurred during the proceedings. The court shall reject the statement of claim if it is unfounded, if the direct injury of the claimant’s right or legitimate interest cannot be determined, or if a procedural violation has been committed that did not affect the merits of the case. If the court finds that a breach has taken place, either based on the statement of claim or of its own motion, it will amend, annul, or repeal the administrative act, exclude the application of the general provision in the case, require the administrative body to conduct new proceedings, or rule against the administrative body.

Under the remedy afforded by the Public Administration Procedures Act, the client (or the party to whom the decision applies) may appeal against the first instance decision if expressly permitted by law or specific legislation. If the authority has not declared the decision immediately enforceable, the appeal shall have a suspensory effect on enforcement. Appeals may be lodged against the contested decision for reasons directly related to the contents thereof or with a reference to a violation of rights or interests stemming directly from the decision. The appeal must be justified. An appeal may refer only to a new fact that the client was not aware of in the procedure of first instance or to which it did not refer due to other than its own fault. The appeal must be filed with the respective authority within 15 days of communication of the decision. If, based on the appeal, the authority determines that its decision was unlawful, it shall amend or withdraw the decision. If the authority does not withdraw the contested decision or amend, correct, or supplement it in accordance with the appeal, the authority shall submit the appeal, together with all of the case documents, to the second instance authority specified by law, after the expiry of the time limit for appeal. The appeal shall be decided by the court of second instance, which shall examine the contested decision and the preceding procedure. In its proceedings, the authority of second instance is not bound to the content of the appeal. The authority may uphold or, in case of a violation of interest or breach of law, amend or annul the decision.

Factsheet on the SOLVIT problem-solving procedure as regards the mutual recognition of sold goods

Starting from 19 April 2020, Regulation (EU) 2019/515 of the European Parliament and of the Council on the mutual recognition of goods lawfully marketed in another Member State and repealing Regulation (EC) No 764/2008 (hereinafter, the Regulation) created a problem-solving procedure provided by SOLVIT for those economic actors where the sale of their products on cross-border markets has been restricted or denied by way of an administrative decision.

SOLVIT is an informal problem-solving network that is able to provide help in situations where the procedure of a Member State authority is in violation of EU law and no judicial proceedings are under way. There are always four actors in a SOLVIT procedure: the client (private person or company), the SOLVIT Centres of the two Member States involved in the case, and the authority responsible for the alleged violation of EU law or involved in the reasonable suspicion thereof.

If the Member State authority restricts or denies the product’s access to the market and the undertaking in question believes that the authority does not comply with its obligations imposed by Union legislation, it may make use of the free service provided by the administrative authorities of the EU Member States and by Iceland, Liechtenstein, and Norway (SOLVIT) and the problem-solving solution created by the Regulation. The procedure is available in the following cases:

1) for goods not subject to any harmonised EU legislation (non-harmonised goods) or where certain aspects of their sale is not subject to harmonised EU legislation (partly non-harmonised goods); and

2) the competent authority of the target Member State has passed or is passing an administrative decision involving the economic actor wishing to access the market that pertains to a product that is lawfully sold in another Member State.

Economic actors may settle their mutual recognition-related cases in the following manner:

• using the online problem-solving application,
• by email (solvit--.at.--im.gov.hu),
• by phone (+36-1-795-5890, +36-1-795-7964),
• in person,
• or by forwarding to other affiliate partners (Your Europe¹, Europe Direct², the European Commission’s complaint handling system³).

In the case of mutual recognition, the time limit for SOLVIT procedures is 45 days. Within this time limit, the domestic and the competent SOLVIT Centres contact the competent authorities and attempt to find a solution for the problem, of which they inform the client.

More information on SOLVIT is available here: https://ec.europa.eu/solvit/what-is-solvit/index_en.htm

¹ https://europa.eu/youreurope/advice/index_en.htm

² https://europa.eu/european-union/contact/europe-direct-answering-your-questions-about-eu_en

³ https://ec.europa.eu/assets/sg/report-a-breach/complaints_en/index.html

Factsheet on the problem-solving procedure as regards the mutual recognition of sold goods

Article 8 of Regulation (EU) 2019/515 of the European Parliament and of the Council on the mutual recognition of goods lawfully marketed in another Member State and repealing Regulation (EC) No 764/2008 contains the rules applicable to the problem-solving procedure.

Where an economic operator affected by an administrative decision has submitted it to SOLVIT and where, during the SOLVIT procedure, the Home Centre or the Lead Centre requests the Commission to give an opinion in order to assist in solving the case, the Home Centre and the Lead Centre shall provide the Commission with all relevant documents relating to the administrative decision concerned. The Commission shall then assess whether the administrative decision is compatible with the principle of mutual recognition.

For the purposes of this assessment, the Commission shall consider the administrative notified decision and the documents and information provided within the SOLVIT procedure. Where additional information or documents are needed for the purposes of the assessment, the Commission shall, without undue delay, request the relevant SOLVIT Centre to enter into communication with the economic operator concerned or with the competent authorities which took the administrative decision, for the purpose of obtaining such additional information or documents. Within 45 working days of receipt of the request, the Commission shall complete its assessment and issue an opinion. Where appropriate, the Commission's opinion shall identify any concerns that should be addressed in the SOLVIT case or shall make recommendations to assist in solving the case. The Commission's opinion shall be communicated through the relevant SOLVIT Centre to the economic operator concerned and to the relevant competent authorities. That opinion shall be notified by the Commission to all Member States. The opinion shall be taken into account during the SOLVIT procedure.