Country Profile: Hungary

• Author: Naldini, Andrea; Pompili, Marco; Peruccacci, Eleonora
• Pages: 182-185

182

14. COUNT RY PROFI LE: HUNGARY

14.1. Section 1 - Nat ional rules for th e ev aluation of State aid schemes

14.1 .1. Obligation or lack thereof to evaluate

In Hungary the CXXX. 201 0 Law ( 17. §) defines th e prerequisites for the in troduction

of new laws an d p ubli c policies; t his law stip ulat es t hat an y legislat ive proced ures m ust

be pr eceded by an ex-ante im pact assessment on the budgetary and socio-economic

im pact . Ho wev er, the se ex -ant e ev alua tion s ar e m ost ly car ried out by the Gov ern men t,

and for t he int ernal work of t he Government , so t hese evaluations are not public m ost

of t he t im es. On t he cont rar y, ex-p ost eval uat ions are not m andat ory and it is up to t he

Govern ment to decide to im plement t hem ( 21. §).

In Hungary the m ain source of law regarding St ate aid schemes is represented by EU

ru les159 and the national 37/2011 Government Regulation. There is no nat ional legal

obligation t o evalu ate State aid schemes, so EU legislat ion is the m ain legally b inding

source in t his mat ter .

Maj or legislat ion changes in EU legislation regarding State aid schem es occurred

bet ween t he 2007-2013 and 2 01 4-2 020 pr ogramming periods. The main principle is

‘trust an d verify’; how ever, at t he same t im e, m easures that may seriously har m

com pet itio n or fragm ent the internal m ark et are assessed m ore careful ly.

The m ain State aid guidelines and fram eworks adopt ed since 2012 for esaw th e

possibility of requiring ev aluat ions for aid schemes with large budget s, w it h novel

characteristics or when significant market, t echnology or regulatory changes ar e

foreseen. The Commission has already required evaluations in cases relat ed t o

broadband investm ents. The new GBER foresees evaluat ions of lar ge aid schemes in

specific f ields, in order to en sure that evaluation r em ains proportionate an d limited to

a manageab le number of aid schemes with an av erage annual St at e aid budget of at

least EUR 150 million in the field of: r egional aid, aid for SMEs, access to finance, aid

for research and dev elopm ent and innov at ion, energy and environm ental aid, aid for

broadband infr astr uctures.

14.2. Section 2 - Nat ional author ities responsible for the evaluat ion of State aid

14.2 .1 . Nation al organisat ion for Stat e aid

In Hun gary , t he main cent ralised author ity dealin g w ith St ate ai d and sta te subsidies is

the Stat e aid Monit oring Off ice ( SAMO), which is under the authority of t he Ministry of

Innovation an d Technology. Th e procedur es of this authority to m anage St at e aid

schemes are present ed below, but t hey do not in clude ev aluat ions carried out

autonom ously, since they are not m andatory. So far this kind of assessment s has not

been implement ed by th e gover nment .

The SAMO has t o ensure that St at e aid in Hungary is grant ed in accordance with the

St ate aid r ules of the European Uni on. The l egal back ground f or implem enti ng Sta te aid

contr ol is defined by Gover nment Decree 37/ 201 1. (I II . 22.) on procedures relat ing to

State aid schem es under Article 10 7( 1) of t he TFEU and the regional aid m ap. The

Gov ern me nt Decr ee cont ain s p roce dur al rul es r elat in g t o pri or not ifi cat ions , s ets out t he

159 The Treaty on the Funct ioning of th e European Union ( TFEU), Art icle 107 and 10 8 and th e Cou ncil

Regu latio n 20 15/ 158 9 o n lay ing down det ailed rul es fo r t he ap plicat ion of A rtic le 10 8 of th e TFEU.