HUNGARY Trends and Developments Contributed by: Adam Liber and Tamás Bereczki, PROVARIS Varga & Partners
PROVARIS Varga & Partners 1053 Budapest Károlyi utca 9 CENTRAL PALACE 5th floor Tel: +36 70 605 1000
Email: info@provaris.hu Web: www.provaris.hu
Data Protection Enforcement Trends in Hungary Current Hungarian data protection enforcement trends are related to regulating emerging tech - nologies like Artificial Intelligence (AI) and other classical areas such as direct marketing, work - place privacy CCTV surveillance, cookie man - agement and data subject rights as articulated regularly by the Hungarian Data Protection and Freedom of Information Authority (NAIH). Fur - thermore, the Hungarian Competition Authority (HCA) has recognised in its practice that data protection forms an integral part of “consumer welfare” because consumers consider the pri - vacy aspects of online products as a significant product characteristic. On this basis, the HCA adopted a policy to intervene and enforce unfair competition rules where data protection viola - tions constitute an unfair commercial practice against consumers. This is particularly important regarding ongoing enforcement actions regard - ing the use of AI and machine learning technolo - gies. These enforcement trends align with broader EU and Hungarian regulatory activities focusing on the appropriate purpose and legal basis for data processing, adherence to the principles of purpose limitation and data minimisation, and
the importance of transparent communication with data subjects regarding their rights and the processing of their data. Continuing Surge of AI Use and Implementation The anticipated surge in AI adoption is expect - ed to continue in Hungary, with numerous businesses integrating Large Language Model (LLM)-based AI solutions to enhance efficien - cy in everyday operations. Such solutions are readily available from big-tech service providers and may be integrated into existing processes. GenAI use is generally twofold: intra-company employee use and the implementation of “off- the-shelf” GenAI services. To address unsolic - ited employee use and the related information security risks of confidentiality breaches, com - panies tend to prohibit access to public, open services by both implementing organisational (ie, introducing acceptable AI use policies) and tech - nical controls (ie, firewall rules to block access to public services). AI’s integration also poses a risk to market fairness, as it is currently a resource- heavy and innovative field dominated by large tech companies. These companies’ access to extensive resources and advanced technology allows them to gain a significant competitive advantage. This could lead to market domina -
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