Cross-Border
Legal Counsel in Hungary

Hungary is a civil-law jurisdiction with codified private law (notably its civil code) and procedure. Disputes are decided by professional judges across a tiered court structure up to the Curia, Hungary's highest court. As an EU member, EU instruments including Brussels Ia apply directly.
For foreign parties, Hungarian procedure is document-driven and judge-decided. As with other CEE jurisdictions, many Hungarian disputes have a regional character, and Hungarian is the language of proceedings, with our Central Europe desk coordinating accordingly.

For civil and commercial judgments from other EU member states, recognition and enforcement in Hungary run through the Brussels Ia Regulation (Recast). A qualifying judgment can be enforced without separate exequatur proceedings: the creditor applies directly to the competent enforcement authority, and the debtor bears the burden of raising the limited grounds for refusal, such as a genuine public-policy conflict or defective service.
For arbitral awards, Hungary applies the New York Convention, and its courts recognise and enforce foreign awards under the Convention's narrow refusal grounds. For judgments from outside the EU and outside applicable treaties, Hungary applies its domestic rules on the recognition of foreign judgments, examining matters such as the jurisdiction of the originating court, proper service, and public policy.
As everywhere, the legal test is rarely the obstacle. The real work is locating enforceable assets in Hungary, sequencing the application to prevent dissipation, and anticipating the procedural defences a sophisticated debtor will raise. We coordinate the Hungary enforcement with any parallel action elsewhere.
Hungarian enforcement runs through the EU recognition framework, with protective measures available to secure assets pending proceedings. As with other CEE jurisdictions, the practical challenge is less the recognition test than asset identification and the coordination of the Hungarian step with proceedings elsewhere in the region.

Hungary has an established arbitration framework, with a commercial arbitration court as a principal institution, and Hungarian courts apply the New York Convention. For litigation, the courts handle commercial matters within the tiered structure.
For CEE cross-border contracts, Hungarian-seated arbitration or a neutral regional seat are common, and we advise on the right forum.

Hungary rewards familiarity with its CEE commercial context, handled through our Central Europe desk. We scope the Hungarian issues alongside every other jurisdiction in play, deliver a strategy memo within five business days, and report to you in English.

Hungary's CEE position and regional integration mean Hungarian matters benefit from a desk familiar with the regional context and the EU enforcement framework. VLO's Central Europe desk handles the Hungarian element and coordinates it with the wider regional dispute.
For clients, this means the Hungarian component is handled with regional understanding under one partner, with transparent fees and discretion.
Hungary's CEE position means its matters frequently form part of regional structures, and the value of handling the Hungarian element through a desk familiar with the broader Central European context is the coherence it brings to a multi-jurisdiction dispute.