Act XXVIII of 2017

on private international law

CHAPTER I

GENERAL PROVISIONS

1 Scope of the Act

1. § This Act shall determine

a) which state's law shall be applied,

b) upon which rules the Hungarian courts establish their jurisdiction and which procedural rules they follow, and

c) the conditions under which decisions of foreign courts can be recognised and enforced in private law relationships containing foreign elements.

2. § The provisions of this Act shall apply in matters that do not fall under the scope of a directly applicable legal act of the European Union with general application or an international treaty.

2 Interpretative provisions

3. § For the purposes of this Act:

a) in the absence of any provision to the contrary, the term court shall also accordingly cover other authorities acting in civil matters,

b) the habitual residence of an individual is the place where, based on all the circumstances of the given legal relationship, the actual centre of the individual's life is; when determining this, the facts indicating the intention of the individual concerned shall also be taken into account,

c) domicile is the place where the individual person resides permanently or with the intention of permanent settlement.

3 Classification

4. § (1) When deciding which conflict-of-law rule is to determine the law applicable to the factual situation, the concepts of Hungarian law shall be followed.

(2) Any legal institution unknown to Hungarian law shall be classified pursuant to the foreign law regulating that legal institution, with special regard to its function and purpose served in the foreign law.

(3) If a foreign legal institution is not unknown to Hungarian law but its function or purpose is different from what it is under the foreign law, then the foreign law shall also be taken into account in the course of classification.

(4) Paragraphs (1) to (3) shall apply accordingly to the determination of jurisdiction and the recognition and enforcement of foreign decisions.

4 Renvoi

5. § (1) If the conflict-of-law rules of this Act determining the applicable law refer to a foreign law, the substantive law rules of the foreign law that directly govern the matter shall apply.

(2) If, by virtue of this Act, the applicable foreign law is determined on the basis of nationality and the conflict-of-law rule of the foreign law

a) refers back to Hungarian law, the Hungarian substantive law shall apply;

b) refers onwards to a different foreign law, the substantive law rules of that law shall apply.

5 States with multiple legal systems

6. § (1) If, pursuant to this Act, the law of a state consisting of multiple territorial units, where each territorial unit has its own legal system, applies to the factual situation, the law of the territorial unit to be applied shall be determined by the interterritorial conflict-of-law rules of the given state.

(2) If, pursuant to this Act, the law of a state that has different legal systems with regard to different groups of persons applies to a factual situation, the interpersonal conflict-of-law rules of the given state shall determine the law to be applied.

(3) If there are no interterritorial or interpersonal conflict-of-law rules in the applicable law or their content cannot be established, or when those rules do not lead to the determination of one applicable law, the legal system of the given state having the closest connection with the factual situation shall apply.

6 Application of foreign law and establishing its content

7. § (1) The court shall apply the foreign law ex officio.

(2) The court shall interpret the foreign law in accordance with the rules and practices of that foreign law.

8. § (1) The court shall establish the content of the foreign law ex officio.

(2) The court may use any means to establish the content of the foreign law, in particular the submissions of the parties, expert opinions or the related information provided by the minister responsible for justice (hereinafter "the Minister").

(3) If the content of the foreign law cannot be established within a reasonable period of time, the Hungarian law shall apply. If the given factual situation cannot be assessed upon the rules of the Hungarian law, the foreign law having the closest connection to the applicable law shall apply.