Challenges of the Establishment of 21st Century Autonomous Administrative Courts

Abstract

Hungary is one of the countries that does not have an autonomous administrative court. In 2018, as in 1896, the Hungarian Parliament decided again that Hungary would start moving towards an organisationally independent model of administrative justice. The modernisation of procedural laws, the autonomous administrative procedure and, last but not least, the amendment of the Fundamental Law paved the way for the independence of administrative courts in parallel with the ordinary court organisation.
In order to implement the decision of the National Assembly, we have witnessed an unparalleled cooperation between the legislature, the judiciary and the National Office for the Judiciary, which performs its administrative tasks. All preliminary questions were examined for the planned establishment of administrative courts in 2020, but in 2019 the Parliament decided to postpone the establishment of administrative courts. Nonetheless, we believe that the measures needed for organisational autonomy and the questions raised this year can continue to provide useful information and lessons for both legislators and practitioners.