Information on the entry into effect of Act XII of 2020 on the protection against coronavirus

As of 11 March 2020, the Government of Hungary declared state of emergency throughout the whole territory of Hungary by government decree No. 40/2020. (III. 11.) on the declaration of emergency due to the worldwide COVID-19 (“coronavirus”) epidemic, in order to avert the consequences of the mass epidemic that threatens the safety of life and property and to protect the health and life of Hungarian citizens.

The basic rules of the state of emergency – as special legal order – are laid out by the Constitution of Hungary in its Article No. 53. Paragraph (1) of this Article 53 provides the Government the authority to declare the emergency when it sets forth that “the Government shall declare a state of emergency in the event of material or industrial disaster that threatens the safety of life and property, and to remedy the consequences thereof, and may enact emergency measures as defined by fundamental laws.” Paragraph (2) of the same Article provides that “the Government may, in the state of emergency, issue decrees to suspend the application of certain laws, derogate from statutory provisions and take other extraordinary measures”.

As we mentioned, the state of emergency is one of the special legal orders determined by the Constitution. The Constitution, in its Article 54 containing the common rules concerning the special legal order, sets forth that under the special legal order, the exercise of most of the fundamental rights may be restricted. Only the most basic fundamental rights (e.g. right to human dignity) shall be exceptions to this.

On the basis of the aforementioned constitutional provisions, the Government has issued several decrees by which among others – just to mention the most important ones – changed the rules of the labor code, declared extraordinary judicial adjournment, ordered a moratorium on loan repayments and introduced tax and public-debt reliefs in the sectors most affected by restrictions since the declaration of the state of emergency. As regards to the temporal scope of these government decrees issued under Article 53 (2) during the state of emergency, Article 53 (4) of the Constitution provides that the decrees shall cease to have effect when the emergency ceases, and they may only be in force for a period of 15 days, unless the Government, by authorization of the Parliament, extends the effect of the decrees.

Due to the latter provision, the representatives of the governing party initiated that the Parliament give the necessary authorization to extend the effect of the decrees, which, in the end, took place on 30 March 2020, when the Parliament passed Act XII of 2020 on the protection against coronavirus that – in the press and in the vernacular – is only referred to as the Coronavirus Act or the Authorization Act.

The law that entered into effect on 31 March 2020 – slightly clarifying the general provisions set out in paragraphs (1) and (2) of Article 53 of the Constitution – sets forth that the Government may, by its decrees, suspend the application of certain laws, derogate from statutory provisions and take other emergency measures in order to guarantee the life, health, personal, property and legal security of its citizens during the state of emergency. The limitation of this is determined by the act in a way so that the Government may exercise such powers to the necessary extent, proportionally to the aim wished to be achieved and only for the purpose of preventing, managing, eradicating the humanitarian epidemic as per the aforementioned government decree declaring the state of emergency, and preventing or remedying any adverse effects thereof.

As we mentioned above, the Parliament, by adopting the law, authorized the Government to extend the effect of the government decrees issued during the state of emergency until the end of the state of emergency, however, it retained the right to revoke the authorization prior to the end of the state of emergency. In relation to these provisions, it is important to underline that under Article 54 (3) of the Constitution, the state of emergency – as a special legal order – can only be terminated by the body empowered to introduce it, so, in this case, by the Government when the conditions for the publication thereof are no longer met.

In general, therefore, it can be stated that, under the Authorization Act, the legislative competence has, in effect, been fully transferred to the Government for the duration of the declared state of emergency and that this situation will continue until the Government decides – in its sole discretion – to terminate the state of emergency.

Moreover, and in addition to that the criminal code has been supplemented by a new crime in connection to the epidemic of and the state of emergency (obstruction of epidemic control), another important provision of the law is that national and local elections and referendums cannot be held during the state of emergency.

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