Abstract

In accordance with the principle of subsidiarity public procurement in the EU is carried out under local procedure adapted to the solutions contained in EU directives. Hence the differences between national legal systems boil down mainly to issues regulated by national laws. Therefore, the Hungarian public procurement law is not significantly different from the Polish regulation which re subject to harmonization. In the area left to the discretion of Member States, the Hungarian regulations are “a step forward” as compared with the Polish ones. This refers especially to certification of contractors, clear rules as regards the limits of permissible contract changes and the expanded circle of entities entitled to resorting to legal remedies, Apart from that, they are somewhat more precise in setting the rights and obligations of ordering authorities and contractors. A considerable advantage is the minimal use of obscure and vague terms. However, with respect to certain issues Hungarian solutions are less modern, in particular as regards the time of waiting for appeal verdicts.

Unfortunately, for the majority of foreign contractors access to the Hungarian public procurement market may be difficult because of the language. Hungarian public procurement information contained in the Public Procurement Bulletin (http://www.kozbeszerzes.hu/#!notifications) and on the public procurement portal (www.kszfweb.econet.hu/portal) is provided exclusively in Hungarian. Only individual legal acts, in particular the Public Procurement Act and the related executive government decrees, are published in English or German (http://kozbeszerzes.hu/nyelvi-verziok/hungarian-act-on-public-procurement/).