Briefing from the Ministry of Justice concerning the Act on the containment of
coronavirus
31 March 2020
The COVID-19 human pandemic poses an unprecedented challenge to the European Union
and its Member States. Ordinary solutions and traditional approaches have manifestly proven
inadequate.
In order to contain the pandemic, a number of exceptional measures have been introduced by
all the Member States of the European Union depending on their constitutional arrangements
and their assessment of the gravity of the situation.
As of 11 March 2020 15:00 hours, the Government declared a state of danger in order to
protect the life and health of citizens. According to the Hungarian Fundamental Law
exceptional measures taken by the Government during a state of danger remain in force for 15
days, unless the Government, on the basis of authorisation by the National Assembly, extends
those measures. On 20 March 2020, the Government submitted a draft bill to the National
Assembly requesting the prolongation of the mandate.
The National Assembly adopted the draft bill on 30 March 2020 with a qualified majority
according to the Fundamental Law. The law was promulgated on 30 March 2020 as Act No.
XII of 2020, and entered into force on 31 March 2020.
The Act does not limit the power of the National Assembly. On the contrary, it is the only
exceptional measure in Europe now that actually extends the prerogatives of the National
Assembly vis-à-vis the Government. It expressly provides the National Assembly with the
power to revoke the authorisation at any time, either in general or in the case of specific
measures. The National Assembly may also terminate the effect of the legislation when the
state of danger is over.
The Act does not contain any restrictions on the activities of the National Assembly;
therefore, the National Assembly retains oversight and control. Also, according to the Act, the
Government shall regularly provide information on the measures taken to eliminate the state
of danger until the measures are in effect at the sittings of the National Assembly or, in the
absence thereof, to the Speaker of the National Assembly and the leaders of the parliamentary
groups.
The Government’s authorisation is limited. It may only adopt exceptional measures that are
necessary and proportionate in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic to protect citizens’
lives, health, security and economic stability. The measures will cease to be in force when the
state of danger ends.

 Rule of law, of course, is not suspended: all authorities will continue to operate in the
constitutional and legal framework applicable. The Constitutional Court is in session and
special procedural rules are authorised to facilitate its activities.
The Act introduces a moratorium on interim elections (by-elections); they may not be called
until the day following the end of the period of state of danger. General elections as foreseen
by the Fundamental Law are not affected.
The Act amends the Criminal Code and introduces a new form of fearmongering. The
amendment sanctions only intentionally false statements made to the general public
capable of obstructing or frustrating defence efforts. This provision is both adequate and
necessary to fight malicious disinformation campaigns.
According to the European Commission’s Action Plan against disinformation “disinformation
is understood as verifiably false or misleading information that is created, presented and
disseminated for economic gain or to intentionally deceive the public, and may cause public
harm. Public harm includes threats to democratic processes as well as to public goods such
as Union citizens' health, environment or security.” The Act follows the very same objective
and approach.
The Criminal Code has already contained a provision on fearmongering. However, the
previous definition of fearmongering was not equipped to deal with a pandemic situation (i.e.
when public danger is not confined to a particular venue or site) or with fearmongering
conducted through non-traditional means of communication.
The temporal scope of the new provisions is confined to the period of special legal order and
their material scope is confined to the statement or dissemination of untrue facts or
misrepresented true facts. Opinions, however critical they may be of the Government, as
well as speculations or forecasts do not fall under its scope. The crime can be committed
only intentionally. This means that the perpetrator must be aware of the falsehood of his
statement. In order to be punishable, the action must have the potential to hinder or restrain
the efficiency of the protective measures. The communication must be performed in front of a
large audience, i.e. it must reach the public. Private communications do not fall under the
scope of the crime.
The provisions do not introduce any new concepts to the Criminal Code. The concepts of
‘statement’ and ‘dissemination’ as well as ‘untrue facts’ and ‘misrepresented true facts’ or
‘large audience’ already exist in the Criminal Code and has been subject to extensive
interpretation by the judiciary. Therefore, the provision also complies with the principle of
legal certainty.