MANDATORY ELECTRONIC ADMINISTRATION PROCEDURES FOR BUSINESS ENTITIES ARE ON THE HORIZON

From 1 January 2018, a broad range of business entities, including companies limited by shares, limited liability companies, limited partnerships, trade associations, private entrepreneurs, sole corporations, branch offices, cooperatives and law firms as of today, will be obliged to carry out an expansive list of administrative procedures by means of electronic communication.

The business entities shall submit their ‘contact point’ for electronic communication to the so-called disposition register (“Rendelkezési Nyilvántartás – RNY” in Hungarian) until 30 August 2017. Such contact point for electronic communication could be a secure electronic delivery address or other means of electronic contact established by a government decree. In case it is mandatory to register a business entity into an official register under the law, then the above mentioned requirement may be completed by submitting its contact point for electronic communication to such official register. For example, a limited liability company may submit its contact point to the companies register.

Secure electronic delivery address will be granted to the business entities by a service provider appointed by the Hungarian Government, and is officially referred to as the ‘company gate’ (“cégkapu” in Hungarian). Each business entity shall register for its own company gate. The company gate system is currently in test run, however, a grace period with limited scope is granted to the business entities until 31 December 2017. Accordingly, in case the business entity’s contact point for electronic communication is not known to the authority, the authority shall communicate on paper with the business entity at the first occasion and shall simultaneously notify the business entity that it can only submit its motions and other documents electronically.