HUNGARY Law and Practice Contributed by: Tamás Éless, Sarolta Édua Szabó, Ulrike Rein and Zsolt Farkas, Oppenheim Law Firm
the reopened arbitral proceeding shall be limited to the scope of the request for retrial and the arbitral tribunal may maintain the award, or partially or fully revoke it and issue a new award. The parties may opt out of the provisions of the Hungarian Arbitration Act on retrial proceedings either in the arbitration agree - ment or at a later stage when determining the rules applicable to the conduct of the arbitral proceeding. 11.2 Excluding/Expanding the Scope of Appeal Under Hungarian arbitration law, parties can neither expand the list of grounds for challenge of an arbitral award nor exclude any of the grounds listed in the Hungarian Arbitration Act. However, parties are free to opt out of the rules on retrial proceedings, so they
ment on which the proceedings are based in accord - ance with Hungarian law. In addition, Hungary is a party to the European Con - vention on International Commercial Arbitration 1961 (the Geneva Convention) and the Convention on the Settlement of Investment Disputes between States and Nationals of Other States (the ICSID Convention). 12.2 Enforcement Procedure In arbitral proceedings seated outside of Hungary, the first step before the enforcement procedure is the rec - ognition of the arbitral award pursuant to the New York Convention, if applicable in light of the reservation of reciprocity, or other multilateral or bilateral treaties. The recognition of the arbitral award may be request - ed from the county court that has competence for the enforcement – ie, the county court located where the respondent has its seat or place of business or where it has sellable assets, or in the case of a for - eign entity, the seat of its Hungarian branch or com - mercial representation. The application for recognition can be made together with the request for enforce - ment, and the courts will decide simultaneously on both requests. Once the foreign award is recognised, it is deemed to be enforceable in the same way as domestic awards – ie, it is equivalent to the judgment of Hungarian courts. Arbitral awards are enforced by the county court located where the respondent has its seat or place of business or where it has sellable assets, or in the case of foreign entities, the seat of its Hungarian branch or commercial representation in accordance with the provisions of Act LIII of 1994 on Judicial Enforcement. The party requesting enforcement shall submit the original or a certified copy of the arbitration agree - ment. 12.3 Approach of the Courts The approach of Hungarian courts towards the recog - nition and enforcement of arbitral awards is generally arbitration-friendly, and courts interpret the grounds for the rejection of recognition and enforcement very restrictively.
can exclude the possibility of a retrial. 11.3 Standard of Judicial Review
Hungarian courts are not entitled to review the mer - its of an award. In the setting-aside procedure, the courts’ entitlement to review the award is limited to the grounds listed in Section 47 of the Hungarian Arbitra - tion Act.
12. Enforcement of an Award 12.1 New York Convention
Hungary ratified the Convention on the Recognition and Enforcement of Foreign Arbitral Awards (the New York Convention) on 5 March 1962, and it was enact - ed into Hungarian national law by Statutory Decree No 25 of 1962. Upon ratification of the New York Convention, in accordance with Section I(3), Hungary made the res - ervation of reciprocity and the commercial reserva - tion, neither of which have yet been withdrawn. How - ever, in connection with the commercial reservation, a published court decision (BH 2004/369) stated that, since the current Hungarian law does not recognise the concept of a commercial relationship, the reserva - tion to the New York Convention must be interpreted as meaning that all foreign arbitral awards must be recognised and enforced in Hungary, provided that the parties have lawfully concluded the arbitration agree -
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