Hungary 2011 Constitution (reviewed 2016) - Page 3 of 5

Table of Contents

FREEDOM AND RESPONSIBILITY

Article I

The inviolable and inalienable fundamental rights of MAN shall be respected. It shall be the primary obligation of the State to protect these rights.
Hungary shall recognise the fundamental individual and collective rights of man.
The rules for fundamental rights and obligations shall be laid down in an Act. A fundamental right may only be restricted to allow the effective use of another fundamental right or to protect a constitutional value, to the extent absolutely necessary, proportionate to the objective pursued and with full respect for the essential content of such fundamental right.
Fundamental rights and obligations which by their nature apply not only to man shall be guaranteed also for legal entities established by an Act.

Article II

Human dignity shall be inviolable. Every human being shall have the right to life and human dignity; the life of the foetus shall be protected from the moment of conception.

Article III

No one shall be subject to torture, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment, or held in servitude. Trafficking in human beings shall be prohibited.
It shall be prohibited to perform medical or scientific experiment on human beings without their informed and voluntary consent.
Practices aimed at eugenics, the use of the human body or its parts for financial gain, as well as human cloning shall be prohibited.

Article IV

Everyone shall have the right to liberty and security of the person.
No one shall be deprived of liberty except for reasons specified in an Act and in accordance with the procedure laid down in an Act. Life imprisonment without parole may only be imposed for the commission of intentional and violent criminal offences.
Any person suspected of having committed a criminal offence and taken into detention shall, as soon as possible, be released or brought before a court. The court shall be obliged to hear the person brought before it and shall forthwith take a decision with a written reasoning to release or to arrest that person.
Everyone shall have the right to compensation, whose liberty has been restricted without a well-founded reason or unlawfully.

Article V

Everyone shall have the right to repel any unlawful attack against his or her person or property, or one that poses a direct threat to the same, as provided for by an Act.

Article VI

Everyone shall have the right to have his or her private and family life, home, communications and good reputation respected.
Everyone shall have the right to the protection of his or her personal data, as well as to access and disseminate data of public interest.
The application of the right to the protection of personal data and to access data of public interest shall be supervised by an independent authority established by a cardinal Act.

Article VII

Everyone shall have the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion. This right shall include the freedom to choose or change one’s religion or other belief, and the freedom of everyone to manifest, abstain from manifesting, practise or teach his or her religion or other belief through religious acts, rites or otherwise, either individually or jointly with others, either in public or in private life.
People sharing the same principles of faith may, for the practice of their religion, establish religious communities operating in the organisational form specified in a cardinal Act.
The State and religious communities shall operate separately. Religious communities shall be autonomous.
The State and religious communities may cooperate to achieve community goals. At the request of a religious community, the National Assembly shall decide on such cooperation. The religious communities participating in such cooperation shall operate as established churches. The State shall provide specific privileges to established churches with regard to their participation in the fulfilment of tasks that serve to achieve community goals.
13 The common rules relating to religious communities, as well as the conditions of cooperation, the established churches and the detailed rules relating to established churches shall be laid down in a cardinal Act.

Article VIII

Everyone shall have the right to peaceful assembly.
Everyone shall have the right to establish and join organisations.
Political parties may be formed and may operate freely on the basis of the right to association. Political parties shall participate in the formation and expression of the will of the people. Political parties shall not exercise public power directly.
The detailed rules for the operation and management of political parties shall be laid down in a cardinal Act.
Trade unions and other interest representation organisations may be formed and may operate freely on the basis of the right to association.

Article IX

Everyone shall have the right to freedom of speech.
Hungary shall recognise and protect the freedom and diversity of the press, and shall ensure the conditions for free dissemination of information necessary for the formation of democratic public opinion.
In the interest of the appropriate provision of information as necessary during the electoral campaign period for the formation of democratic public opinion, political advertisements may only be published in media services free of charge, under conditions guaranteeing equal opportunities, laid down in a cardinal Act.
The right to freedom of speech may not be exercised with the aim of violating the human dignity of others.
The right to freedom of speech may not be exercised with the aim of violating the dignity of the Hungarian nation or of any national, ethnic, racial or religious community. Persons belonging to such communities shall be entitled to enforce their claims in court against the expression of an opinion which violates the community, invoking the violation of their human dignity, as provided for by an Act.
The detailed rules relating to the freedom of the press and the organ supervising media services, press products and the communications market shall be laid down in a cardinal Act.

Article X

Hungary shall ensure the freedom of scientific research and artistic creation, the freedom of learning for the acquisition of the highest possible level of knowledge, and, within the framework laid down in an Act, the freedom of teaching.
The State shall have no right to decide on questions of scientific truth; only scientists shall have the right to evaluate scientific research.
Hungary shall protect the scientific and artistic freedom of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences and the Hungarian Academy of Arts. Higher education institutions shall be autonomous in terms of the content and the methods of research and teaching; their organisation shall be regulated by an Act. The Government shall, within the framework of an Act, lay down the rules governing the management of public higher education institutions and shall supervise their management.

Article XI

Every Hungarian citizen shall have the right to education.
Hungary shall ensure this right by extending and generalising public education, providing free and compulsory primary education, free and generally available secondary education, and higher education available to every person according to his or her abilities, and by providing statutory financial support to beneficiaries of education.
An Act may provide that financial support of higher education studies shall be subject to participation for a definite period in employment or to exercising for a definite period of entrepreneurial activities, regulated by Hungarian law.

Article XII

Everyone shall have the right to freely choose his or her work, occupation and to engage in entrepreneurial activities. Everyone shall be obliged to contribute to the enrichment of the community through his or her work, in accordance with his or her abilities and possibilities.
Hungary shall strive to create the conditions ensuring that everyone who is able and willing to work has the opportunity to do so.

Article XIII

Everyone shall have the right to property and inheritance. Property shall entail social responsibility.
Property may only be expropriated exceptionally, in the public interest and in the cases and ways provided for by an Act, subject to full, unconditional and immediate compensation.

Article XIV

Hungarian citizens shall not be expelled from the territory of Hungary and may return from abroad at any time. Foreigners staying in the territory of Hungary may only be expelled under a lawful decision. Collective expulsion shall be prohibited.
No one shall be expelled or extradited to a State where he or she would be in danger of being sentenced to death, being tortured or being subjected to other inhuman treatment or punishment.
Hungary shall, upon request, grant asylum to non-Hungarian citizens being persecuted or having a well-founded fear of persecution in their native country or in the country of their usual residence for reasons of race, nationality, membership of a particular social group, religious or political belief, if they do not receive protection from their country of origin or from any other country.

Article XV

Everyone shall be equal before the law. Every human being shall have legal capacity.
Hungary shall guarantee the fundamental rights to everyone without discrimination and in particular without discrimination on grounds of race, colour, sex, disability, language, religion, political or other opinion, national or social origin, property, birth or any other status.
Women and men shall have equal rights.
By means of separate measures, Hungary shall promote the achievement of equality of opportunity and social inclusion.
By means of separate measures, Hungary shall protect families, children, women, the elderly and persons living with disabilities.

Article XVI

Every child shall have the right to the protection and care necessary for his or her proper physical, mental and moral development.
Parents shall have the right to choose the upbringing to be given to their children.
Parents shall be obliged to take care of their minor children. This obligation shall include the provision of schooling for their children.
Adult children shall be obliged to take care of their parents if they are in need.

Article XVII

Employees and employers shall cooperate with each other with a view to ensuring jobs and the sustainability of the national economy, and to other community goals.
Employees, employers and their organisations shall have the right, as provided for by an Act, to negotiate with each other and conclude collective agreements, and to take collective action to defend their interests, including the right of workers to discontinue work.
Every employee shall have the right to working conditions which respect his or her health, safety and dignity.
Every employee shall have the right to daily and weekly rest periods and to an annual period of paid leave.

Article XVIII

The employment of children shall be prohibited, except for cases specified in an Act where there is no risk to their physical, mental or moral development.
By means of separate measures, Hungary shall ensure the protection of young people and parents at work.

Article XIX

Hungary shall strive to provide social security to all of its citizens. Every Hungarian citizen shall be entitled to assistance in the case of maternity, illness, disability, handicap, widowhood, orphanage and unemployment for reasons outside of his or her control, as provided for by an Act.
Hungary shall implement social security for the persons listed in Paragraph (1) and other people in need through a system of social institutions and measures.
The nature and extent of social measures may be determined by law in accordance with the usefulness to the community of the beneficiary’s activity.
Hungary shall contribute to ensuring the livelihood for the elderly by maintaining a general state pension system based on social solidarity and by allowing for the operation of voluntarily established social institutions. The conditions of entitlement to state pension may be laid down in an Act with regard to the requirement for stronger protection for women.

Article XX

Everyone shall have the right to physical and mental health.
Hungary shall promote the effective application of the right referred to in Paragraph (1) by an agriculture free of genetically modified organisms, by ensuring access to healthy food and drinking water, by organising safety at work and healthcare provision, by supporting sports and regular physical exercise, as well as by ensuring the protection of the environment.

Article XXI

Hungary shall recognise and give effect to the right of everyone to a healthy environment.
Anyone who causes damage to the environment shall be obliged to restore it or to bear the costs of restoration, as provided for by an Act.
The introduction of pollutant waste into the territory of Hungary for the purpose of disposal shall be prohibited.

Article XXII

Hungary shall strive to ensure decent housing conditions and access to public services for everyone.
The State and local governments shall also contribute to creating decent housing conditions by striving to ensure accommodation for all persons without a dwelling.
In order to protect public order, public security, public health and cultural values, an Act or a local government decree may, with respect to a specific part of public space, provide that staying in public space as a habitual dwelling shall be illegal.

Article XXIII

Every adult Hungarian citizen shall have the right to vote and to be voted for in elections of Members of the National Assembly, local government representatives and mayors, and of Members of the European Parliament.
Every adult citizen of another Member State of the European Union who is a resident of Hungary shall have the right to be a voter as well as a candidate in the elections of local representatives and mayors, and of members of the European Parliament.
Every adult person who is recognised as a refugee, immigrant or resident of Hungary shall have the right to be a voter in the elections of local representatives and mayors.
A cardinal Act may provide that the right to vote and to be voted for, or its completeness shall be subject to residence in Hungary, and the eligibility to be voted for shall be subject to additional criteria.
In elections of local government representatives and mayors voters may vote at their place of residence or registered place of stay. Voters may exercise their right to vote at their place of residence or registered place of stay.
Those disenfranchised by a court for a criminal offence or limited mental capacity shall not have the right to vote and to be voted for. Citizens of another Member State of the European Union with residence in Hungary shall not have the right to be voted for if they have been excluded from the exercise of this right in their country pursuant to a legal regulation, a court decision or an authority decision of their State of citizenship.
Everyone having the right to vote in elections of Members of the National Assembly shall have the right to participate in national referendums. Everyone having the right to vote in elections of local government representatives and mayors shall have the right to participate in local referendums.
Every Hungarian citizen shall have the right to hold public office corresponding to his or her aptitude, qualifications and professional competence. Public offices that may not be held by members or officials of political parties shall be specified in an Act.

Article XXIV

Everyone shall have the right to have his or her affairs handled impartially, fairly and within a reasonable time by the authorities. Authorities shall be obliged to give reasons for their decisions, as provided for by an Act.
Everyone shall have the right to compensation for any damage unlawfully caused to him or her by the authorities in the performance of their duties, as provided for by an Act.

Article XXV

Everyone shall have the right to submit, either individually or jointly with others, written applications, complaints or proposals to any organ exercising public power.

Article XXVI

The State shall strive to use the latest technological solutions and scientific achievements to make its operation efficient, raise the standard of public services, improve the transparency of public affairs and to promote equality of opportunity.

Article XXVII

Everyone staying lawfully in the territory of Hungary shall have the right to move freely and to freely choose his or her place of stay.
Every Hungarian citizen shall have the right to enjoy the protection of Hungary during his or her stay abroad.

Article XXVIII

Everyone shall have the right to have any charge against him or her, or his or her rights and obligations in any litigation, adjudicated within a reasonable time in a fair and public trial by an independent and impartial court established by an Act.
No one shall be considered guilty until his or her criminal liability has been established by the final decision of a court.
Persons subject to criminal proceedings shall have the right to defence at all stages of the proceedings. Defence counsels shall not be held liable for their opinion expressed while providing legal defence.
No one shall be held guilty of or be punished for an act which at the time when it was committed did not constitute a criminal offence under Hungarian law or, within the scope specified in an international treaty or a legal act of the European Union, under the law of another State.
Paragraph (4) shall not prejudice the prosecution or conviction of any person for any act which, at the time when it was committed, was a criminal offence according to the generally recognised rules of international law.
With the exception of extraordinary cases of legal remedy laid down in an Act, no one shall be prosecuted or convicted for a criminal offence for which he or she has already been finally acquitted or convicted in Hungary or, within the scope specified in an international treaty or a legal act of the European Union, in another State, as provided for by an Act.
Everyone shall have the right to seek legal remedy against any court, authority or other administrative decision which violates his or her rights or legitimate interests.

Article XXIX

Nationalities living in Hungary shall be constituent parts of the State. Every Hungarian citizen belonging to any nationality shall have the right to freely express and preserve his or her identity. Nationalities living in Hungary shall have the right to use their native languages and to the individual and collective use of names in their own languages, to promote their own cultures, and to be educated in their native languages.
Nationalities living in Hungary shall have the right to establish local and national self-governments.
The detailed rules relating to the rights of nationalities living in Hungary, the nationalities, the requirements for recognition as a nationality, and the rules for the election of the self-governments of nationalities at local and national level shall be laid down in a cardinal Act. A cardinal Act may provide that recognition as a nationality shall be subject to a certain length of time of presence and to the initiative of a certain number of persons declaring to be members of the nationality concerned.

Article XXX

Everyone shall contribute to covering common needs according to his or her capabilities and to his or her participation in the economy.
For persons raising children, the extent of contribution to covering common needs shall be determined by taking into consideration the costs of raising children.

Article XXXI

All Hungarian citizens shall be obliged to defend the country.
Hungary shall maintain a volunteer reserve system for national defence purposes.
During a state of national crisis, or if the National Assembly decides so in a state of preventive defence, adult male Hungarian citizens with residence in Hungary shall perform military service. If military service involving the use of arms cannot be reconciled with the conscientious belief of the person obliged to perform military service, he shall perform unarmed service. The forms and detailed rules of the performance of military service shall be laid down in a cardinal Act.
For the duration of a state of national crisis, adult Hungarian citizens with residence in Hungary may be ordered to perform work for national defence purposes, as provided for by a cardinal Act.
For adult Hungarian citizens with residence in Hungary civil protection obligation may be introduced in the interest of performing national defence and disaster management tasks, as provided for by a cardinal Act.
In the interest of performing national defence and disaster management tasks everyone may be ordered to provide economic and material services, as provided for by a cardinal Act.