Government decree passed to ease construction works during the emergency

On 10 March 2021, a new Government decree was passed aiming to ease construction work processes by not requiring certain safety measures. The decree is not to be applied for high value (above HUF 700 million) projects, public procurements and defensive or security procurements.

According to the decree, in any other works not falling in the above categories, based on the decision of the project owner, the pre-COVID regulations (especially the rules of the Construction Act, the Act on Fire Protection and the Disaster Management Act) can be applicable for any structure affected by the stricter regulations related to the pandemic. The more lenient (pre-COVID) rules will also apply for administrative proceedings initiated after 10 March 2021, and proceedings in progress on that day.

It is worth to mention that similarly to administrative processes, construction works started before 10 March 2021 can also use the lenient regulations after 10 March 2021. The decree expires on 23 May 2021.

Even though the option of using the provisions of the building, disaster and fire protection legislation that came into force before 4 November 2020 is only available for two and a half months, it is a welcome initiative that can potentially help smaller sized construction works involving the small and medium-sized enterprises that were hit the hardest by the pandemic.