HUNGARY Law and Practice Contributed by: Tamás Éless, Sarolta Édua Szabó, Ulrike Rein and Zsolt Farkas, Oppenheim Law Firm
• persons placed on probation by a final and bind - ing judgment for the duration of the probationary period; and • any person who formerly acted as a mediator, as a representative of one of the parties or as an expert in the dispute of the parties to be adjudicated by the arbitral tribunal or in a related dispute. Section 40 (5) of Act CLXII of 2011 on the status and compensation of judges stipulates that sitting Hun - garian judges are prohibited by law from accepting arbitrator mandates. 4.2 Default Procedures The Hungarian Arbitration Act sets out the default mechanism for the appointment of arbitrators, which shall be applied if the parties did not choose a method for selecting arbitrators or if the method chosen by the parties fails. If the parties agreed that there would be a sole arbi - trator, they shall jointly appoint the sole arbitrator. If no agreement can be reached regarding the nomina - tion of a sole arbitrator, the sole arbitrator shall be appointed by the Budapest Metropolitan Court upon request of one of the parties, or by the Board of the Commercial Arbitration Court if the dispute is admin - istered by the Commercial Arbitration Court. The default provisions for the appointment of a tri - bunal comprising three arbitrators stipulate that each party shall appoint one arbitrator within 30 days of a written request by the other party to do so, and the party-appointed arbitrators shall jointly nominate the chairperson within 30 days of their appointment. If either of the parties fails to appoint an arbitrator, or if the party-appointed arbitrators fail to agree on the chairperson, the missing arbitrator shall be appointed by the Budapest Metropolitan Court upon request of either of the parties, or by the Board of the Commer - cial Arbitration Court if the dispute is administered by the Commercial Arbitration Court. The mechanisms stipulated for a three-member tribu - nal shall apply mutatis mutandis in case of a tribunal comprising more than three arbitrators, with the par - ties nominating arbitrators in equal proportions and
the missing arbitrator being appointed by the majority vote of the other members of the tribunal. The appointing authority must pay due regard to the arbitrator’s professional qualifications and any other factors set out in the arbitration agreement, and to all other circumstances relevant to ensuring the appoint - ment of an independent and impartial arbitrator. In cases where the Board of the Commercial Arbitration Court acts as the appointing authority, the arbitrator shall be appointed from the list of suggested arbitra - tors. However, if arbitrators from the list of suggested arbitrators do not possess the professional qualifica - tions or other characteristics set out in the arbitra - tion agreement, then the Board of the Commercial Arbitration Court shall not be confined to the list of suggested arbitrators. Hungarian law does not provide a specific mechanism for the appointment of arbitrators in case of multiparty arbitrations. 4.3 Court Intervention Hungarian courts intervene in the selection of arbitra - tors only if one of the parties requests such interven - tion, in line with the rules on default mechanisms for the selection of arbitrators (see 4.2 Default Proce- dures ). 4.4 Challenge and Removal of Arbitrators In accordance with Section 13 of the Hungarian Arbi - tration Act, the appointment of an arbitrator may only be challenged if there are circumstances that raise justified doubts as to the impartiality or independence of the arbitrator, or if they do not have the qualifica - tions or fail to meet the other prerequisites agreed by the parties. A party may object to an arbitrator it has appointed only if the circumstances upon which the objection is based first became known to the party after the appointment was made. Parties are free to agree on a procedure for the chal - lenge or removal of arbitrators, but cannot deviate from the rules of the Hungarian Arbitration Act on unsuccessful challenges. If the parties do not set out a procedure for challenge or removal, the default mechanism of the Hungar -
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