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On 22 November 2012, the Hungarian National Assembly adopted the new Act XXXVI of 2013 on the Electoral Procedure (hereinafter “the new Electoral Procedure”), which lays down amended rules regarding political advertising during campaign periods for national parliamentary, municipal, and European Parliamentary elections. According to Article 32 (3) of Act CLXXXV of 2010 on Media Services and Mass Media (hereinafter “the Media Law”) political advertisements may only be disseminated in compliance with the relevant rules of the new Electoral Procedure. Political advertisements are programmes released...

On 5 July 2013, the Hungarian Parliament adopted an amendment to Act CLXXXV of 2010 on Media Services and Mass Media. The amendment, which came into effect on 1 August 2013, modified the preconditions for nominating and appointing the President of Nemzeti Média és Hírközlési Hatóság (National Media and Infocommunications Authority - NMHH). According to the Act, the President of the NMHH - as the convergent authority monitoring the infocommunications and media sector - at the same time becomes the nominee for chairperson of the Media Council, which issues decisions involving the monitoring of media...

The Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) adopted its Resolution 1941 (2013), entitled “Request for the opening of a monitoring procedure in respect of Hungary”, on 25 June 2013. The context of the adoption of the Resolution is very specific and it is set out in the first paragraph. The PACE “takes note of the report on the request for the opening of a monitoring procedure in respect of Hungary, which was prepared following the motion for a resolution on “Serious setbacks in the fields of the rule of law and human rights in Hungary” (Doc. 12490)”. It also “takes note of the opinion...

In February 2013, the Hungarian Government submitted another bill amending the media laws to the National Assembly. The amendment is based on the negotiations between the Hungarian Government and the Council of Europe. In May 2012, the Council published a report with a host of recommendations on transforming Hungary’s new media regulation (see IRIS 2011-4/2). The amendment of Hungary’s media laws, in early summer 2012, addressed parts of these recommendations in a rather incomplete manner (see IRIS 2012-8/100) Among these recommendations, the ones addressed by the recently proposed amendment −...

On 4 January 2013, the Magyar Köztársaság Alkotmánybíróság (Constitutional Court of Hungary) annulled the new Election Act which a.o. amended regulations on political advertising. The provisions gave the exclusive right to disseminate political advertisements to the public service media. Subsequent to the ruling, the government submitted a draft amendment to the Magyarország Alaptörvénye (Fundamental Law, Constitution of Hungary). The content of the amendment implements the wording of the provision, which the Constitutional Court had eliminated, into the Constitution. On 26 November 2012, Hungary’s...