Conference „New Hungarian Civil Procedure Act and the Development of European Rules of Civil Procedure”
European Law Institute – UNIDROIT
Hungarian Academy of Sciences Institute for Legal Studies – Hungarian Ministry of Justice - National Office for the Judiciary
30-31 May 2016, Budapest
In 2014, the European Law Institute (ELI) and the International Institute for the Unification of Private Law (UNIDROIT) started a joint project, From Transnational Principles to European Rules of Civil Procedure. Its aim is to adapt the American Law Institute (ALI) and UNIDROIT Principles of Transnational Civil Procedure from a European perspective in order to develop European Rules of Civil Procedure. The work was organised in five working groups, each corresponding with a topic selected as the initial focus of the project: Service and Due Notice of Proceedings; Provisional and Protective Measures; Access to Information and Evidence; Res Judicata and Lis Pendens; and Obligations of the Parties, Lawyers and Judges. In November 2015, the ELI-UNIDROIT Steering Committee made a decision to establish two further working groups, on Costs and on Judgments.
In 2014, almost simultaneously with the ELI-UNIDROIT joint project, the codification of the new Hungarian Civil Procedure Act had commenced. The main committee for codification had set up working committees on codification of legislation comprising Hungarian lawyers, judges, attorneys and university professors. As a consequence of their work, the Hungarian Government accepted the proposal for the new Civil Procedure Act in 2015. The proposal gave serious consideration to ideas of modernity and respect for new international and foreign solutions. At the end of February 2016, as a result of works on the new concept of the Civil Procedure Act, a normative text of the new Code was developed and is now undergoing a professional debate.
The Conference on the New Hungarian Civil Procedure Act and the Development of European Rules of Civil Procedure aims at achieving two goals: providing in-depth information about the new Hungarian Civil Procedure Act to the international and national experts in the field and introducing the ELI-UNIDROIT project From Transnational Principles to European Rules of Civil Procedure to Hungarian lawyers. The structure of the Conference has been organised along the five initial topics of the ELI-UNIDROIT project and envisages presentations of the speakers representing the ELI-UNIDROIT working parties.
Materials presented at the Conference are expected to prove beneficial for the Hungarian and foreign experts working in the field and will provide insight into how the concepts developed within the ELI-UNIDROIT project could be applied to a new national civil procedure act.
The Conference materials will later be published in the 4th edition of Acta Iuridica Hungarica 2016.
Draft Programme
Date: 30-31 May 2016
Location: Hungarian Academy of Justice
1122 Budapest, Tóth Lőrinc u. 6
Monday, 30 May
12:30- 13:00 Arrival of participants and registration
13:00-13:15 Opening statements
- Dr. Tünde Handó, President of the National Office for the Judiciary
- Dr. András Jakab, Director of HAS Institute of Legal Studies
- Prof. Anna Veneziano, Deputy Secretary-General, UNIDROIT
Chair of the first day: Csongor Nagy, Professor (senior research fellow, HAS)
13:15-14:00 Introduction to the concept of the European Model Rules of Civil Procedure and the new Hungarian Act of Civil Procedure
- Diana Wallis, ELI President
- István Varga, Professor (University of ELTE)
14:00-15:30 Service and due notice of proceedings
- Astrid Stadler, Professor (Universität Konstanz) (30 mins)
- Kapa Mátyás, attorney (30 mins)
- General discussion (30 mins)
15:30-16:00 Coffee break
16:00-17:30 Obligations of the parties, lawyers and judges
- Alan Uzelac, Professor (University of Zagreb) (30 mins)
- Sándor Udvary, associate professor (University of Károli) (30 mins)
- General discussion (30 mins)
17:30-17:45 Coffee break
17:45-19:15 Access to Information and Evidence
- Neil Andrews, Professor (University of Cambridge) (30 mins)
- Lilla Király, associate professor (University of Pécs) (30 mins)
- General discussion (30 mins)
19:15 End of the first conference day
20:15 Dinner
Tuesday, 31 May
Chair of the second day: Prof. hon. Tamás Éless (University of ELTE)
09:00-10:30 Provisional and Protective Measures
- Neil Andrews (30 mins)
- Lajos Wallacher, associate professor (University of Pécs) (30 mins)
- General discussion (30 mins)
10:30-11:00 Coffee break
11:00-12:30 Res Judicata and Lis Pendens
- Neil Andrews, Professor (University of Cambridge) (30 mins)
- Adél Köblös, senior research fellow, National University of Public Service (30 mins)
- General discussion (30 mins)
12:30-13:00 Concluding remarks
- Remco (C.H.) van Rhee, Professor (Maastricht University)
- András Osztovits, (senior research fellow, HAS)
13:00 End of the conference and lunch