HUNGARY Law and Practice Contributed by: István Varga and Viktor Előd Cserép, PROVARIS Varga & Partners
The relevant motion shall be made or the evi- dence shall be adduced within a time limit of 15 days after becoming aware of the relevant fact, etc, which may be extended by the court by an additional 15 days. 7.5 Expert Testimony Expert evidence may proceed on three different tracks: by party-appointed expert(s), by court- appointed experts and by introduction of an already existing expert opinion acquired earlier in another litigation. Once there is a motion for one of these types of expert evidence, both oth- er types are excluded from the pending litigation. If a party intends to engage a private expert, the party shall make a respective motion. If this is granted by the court, the party shall submit the private expert opinion within the deadline set by the court. The private expert then has extensive obligations to involve the adverse party in the process of the preparation of their expert opin- ion. Parties may also request that an opinion pro- vided by a court-appointed expert in another procedure be used at trial. The court appoints an expert upon motion if neither of the parties have moved for any of the other types of expert evidence, or where doubt arises with respect to the expert opinion introduced from another procedure or if doubt arises with respect to all private expert opinions already provided. If the parties agree on the person of the court- appointed expert, the court shall appoint the expert selected by the parties, otherwise the court shall be free to select an expert.
The court may pose questions to the expert from among the questions submitted by the parties (and may disregard irrelevant ones). The court shall instruct the expert to provide a written expert report and may also hear the expert at a hearing if necessary. 7.6 Extent to Which Hearings Are Open to the Public By default, hearings are open to the public, but closed hearings may be ordered both upon a party’s request or ex officio (see 1.3 Court Fil- ings and Proceedings ). 7.7 Level of Intervention by a Judge Twofold Role of the Judge: Conduct of Proceedings and Guidance as to the Scope of the Proceedings on the Merits The role of the judge in conducting the proceed- ings is twofold: in addition to conducting the procedure in a procedural sense (ie, disposing of procedural matters, allowing further exchanges of written submissions, setting hearings, keep- ing order and deciding on motions, etc), the judge may also contribute to shaping the mate- rial scope of the proceedings. When the court takes cognisance of any discrepancies, missing elements, and inconsistencies in the statements of law and fact, motions, and evidence submit- ted by the parties, it may provide guidance and pose questions to them with the aim of clarifying these and of triggering effective motions. Delivery of Judgments By default, the judgment is delivered orally at the (last) hearing, where the operative part and the possibility of recourse are announced. The deadline to make recourse against the judgment is triggered by service of the written judgment on the party. The court drafts and delivers the written judgment including the reasons within another thirty and three days, respectively.
564 CHAMBERS.COM
Powered by FlippingBook