Articles

• Possibilities of workplace mediation in the European Union

  1-13.

  Aron Balogh

  Views:

  374

  The world of labor market and industrial relations is a field where conflicts and disputes are inevitable characteristics of the operation, regardless of the form of employment. Also, labor disputes appear both from an individual aspect, where the disputants are the employer and the employee, and in a collective respect, where the disputes take place between the employer(s) and the collective of the workers, typically represented by an employee organization (union) or a works council. 

  When a conflict or a dispute cannot be resolved through negotiation, the law offers dispute resolution mechanisms for the participants. Therefore, several legal mechanisms have been evolved in order to resolve disputes, starting from the classical form of litigation, where a court determines the end of the dispute by its judgement, and other alternative forms of dispute resolution, such as arbitration, mediation and conciliation, where the parties can reach a decision or a settlement outside of the judicial system of the state.

  EU Member States have introduced various legislative rules for labor dispute resolution covering all manner of individual and collective disputes. ADR schemes are also supported by the ILO, as the ILO Recommendation No. 92 (1951) suggests that voluntary conciliation should be made available to assist in the prevention and settlement of industrial disputes between employers and workers. Within the aegis of the European Union, several instruments have emerged with the attempt to elaborate the basic principles for the operation of ADR schemes in the context of cases between businesses and consumers. The Directive 2013/11/EU on alternative dispute resolution for consumer disputes (the “ADR Directive”) and Regulation (EU) No 524/2013 on online dispute resolution for consumer disputes (the “ODR Regulation”) ensured that consumers could turn to quality alternative dispute resolution entities for all kinds of contractual disputes with traders, and established an EU-wide online platform for consumer disputes that arise from online transactions with traders.

  Workplace mediation is widely and successfully utilized in the USA for solely employment purposes both in the private and the public sector. Also, in the United States is a “employment at will” doctrine prevails, that basically means – unless stipulated to the contrary by the parties – the employment relationship can be terminated with immediate effect without any justification (just cause), thus workers do not have access to legal remedies as in the EU where the statutory laws provide a broad protection against arbitrary or unjust termination. Mediation, however, provide an effective solution for employees and workers, even if situated outside the protective scope of labor law.

  While the role of customer/consumer ADR and mediation is increasing throughout the whole European Union, workplace and employment mediation still constitutes a “grey zone”.  In many of the legal instruments of the EU and also in several products of the national legislations, consumers and workers are treated with the same legal awareness, thus protective laws compensate their weaker position in their legal relationships, but as far as the utilization and access of dispute resolution schemes are concerned, a significant but not always reasonable differentiation can be detected. Also, while mediation is an available tool for individual employment matters, still has not been utilized considerably, and remained an instrument only to resolve mostly collective conflicts. Therefore, the aim of this paper to present various styles of mediations from a comparative perspective, to express their biggest advantages and to highlight the areas where mediation could be more suitable to use in the context of the individual disputes of the workplace.

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  309

• Interpretation anomalies in the Vienna Sale Convention damages practice

  14-26.

  Sándor Boros

  Views:

  230

  The essay is about the interpretion anomalies in connection with damages law practice of The United Nations Convention on Contracts for the International Sale of Goods (CISG). This seems to be an essential problem regarding to that the Convention’s breach of contract-system is highly relevant, whereas it must provide a mechanism, which serves international trade between countries with huge legal, economic and social disparaties. At the heart of the system we find damages, which provides an efficient and rapid solution to cure the dysfunctions which can occur with respect to cross-border commercial relationships.

  The provisions of the Convention are of a universal nature, thus they require uniform interpretation and application by the courts of the Contracting States, therefore Article 7, which deals with interpretation of rules and the filling of legal gaps, is indispensable for the successful application of the Convention and the achievement of its objectives. In this essay by analyzing the relevant case law, I was primarily seeking the answer to whether the judges of different countries validate the universiality of the Convention with respect to damages law. In order to answear the question I have analyzed the Convention’s damages practice in relation to interpretation principles set out in Article 7. Within this I have systematically reviewed the practice of Article 74 of the Convention, analyzing a total of 144 cases from 2006 to 2016.

  The revision shows that nine decisions were made during the period under review, where the court has applied national doctrine of liability, law, or practice in connection with the interpretation of Article 74. This method obviously does not promote the realization of uniformity. An internationally uniform sales law will only be realized if it is uniformly applied. For the purpose of the interpretation of the Convention, it follows that requirement the Convention’s provisions must be understood and applied autonomously, separated from their possible national roots. The legal problems discovered in this essay tries to highlight on those issues, which require more attention from the courts, thus confirming the universal character of the Convention.

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  333

• Regulatory issues of intellectual property rights

  27-33.

  György Csécsy

  Views:

  144

  The study finds that the regulation of intellectual property is dominated by civil law rules. The old Civil Code expressed the correlation with the law of intellectual property and regulated the legal protection of know-how, however, the legal material could be found in the separate legal acts organically related to it. The new Civil Code, Act V of 2013 is no longer entitled as intellectual property rights but “copyright and industrial property rights”, and know-how has been protected as a form of trade secret. The homogeneous nature of copyright is broken by Act XCIII of 2016, which provides for collective rights management. In the field of industrial property protection, the most problematic legal institution was know-how. The LIV Act of 2018, which was born after the rules of the new Civil Code, opens a new chapter in the regulation of know-how. In this connection, the law transposes Directive 2016/943/EU into the Hungarian law. The legislator therefore chose the solution that it has incorporated the new conceptual approach, legal institutions, and rules of procedure for the protection of business secrets into national law not by creating them in the Civil Code but by creating new legislation. In this way, the private secrets of natural and legal persons will continue to enjoy the protection of personal rights, while trade secrets and know-how will enjoy protection based on the logic and sanction system of intellectual property protection.

  PDF (Hungarian)

  306

• Self-Driving Cars and Criminal Liability

  34-46.

  Béla Csitei

  Views:

  181

  After clarifying the concepts of automated and autonomous vehicles, the purpose of the study is to investigate how reasonable the criminal sanction is arising from accidents caused by autonomous vehicles. The next question to be answered is that the definition of the crime according to the Hungarian law may be applied in case of traffic related criminal offences caused by automated and autonomous vehicles. During my research I paid special attention to two essential elements of criminal offence, namely the human act and guilt. Furthermore, I strived for finding solution for the next problem, as well: if the traffic related criminal offence is committed by driving an autonomous vehicle, how to define the subject of criminal liability.

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  374

• Does the Ebktv. provide adequate protection on the labor market for child-raising? Equal employment of pregnant women and parents in Hungary

  47-60.

  Zoltán Földvári

  Views:

  229

  In the recent years, there were several government programs in Hungary aiming to boost the number of childbirths, mainly through direct financial support for parents. But undertaking the commitment to raise a child is not just a financial issue for parents, and especially women. The work – life balance is just as important for many, especially for college-educated ones.

  My paper aims to examine the legal framework of the equal treatment focused on the abovementioned situation, about how it can prevent the discrimination of pregnant women and parents in the workforce. I briefly look at the legal development of the area in the European Union, and the most relevant issues and procedural questions in the Hungarian Act CXXV of 2003 on equal treatment and the promotion of equal opportunities. For the main part of the paper, I focus on the case law of the Equal Treatment Authority, on how certain conducts (direct or indirect discrimination, harassment, victimization) surface in relation to childbearing and child raising, how did the Authority decide in these cases, and how do these decisions affect the practice of this field. The Kúria is also a substantial actor in this area, as the highest court in the country, its binding uniformity decisions hold significant weight for the law of equal treatment, therefore I examine some of its important decisions.

  In the end, I summarize my findings. In today’s labor market, pregnant women and parents face discrimination, this is especially true for pregnant women on probationary period. Employers feel burdened if an employee gets pregnant, and in some cases, they still try to lay off women who do not put their career ahead of family. Overall, I conclude that the legal framework is satisfactory, but several underlying social issues will continue to generate obstacles if the employers’ and society’s view about motherhood and roles in the family will not change.

  PDF (Hungarian)

  539

• What are the limits? - Thoughts about Certain Issues of the Active Judicial Role

  61-73.

  Attila Dr. Kiss

  Views:

  177

  The Act CXXX of 2016 on the Code of Civil Procedure introduced the image of the managerial judge into the Hungarian civil litigation. This perception means that the judge has to take part actively in the litigation. It is not just the notion of the Hungarian legislator but it is also an international requirement. The new principle – so called court inducements – entitles and obligates the judge to offer some kind of support to the parties in order to faciliate to concentrate the actions. That means the judge has to conduct substantively the proceedings, which may expand on the merits, if the party’s case initiation statement is incomplete, not sufficiently detailed or contradictory. However, this support is not equal to giving advices like a legal counsel does. The judge can not overtake the function and task of neither the party nor the legal counsel. The judicial activitiy is meant to provide the party’s opportunity to enforce his claims and a proper level of legal protection. This image of an active and managerial judge originates from the Austrian social model of litigation which goes back to 1895. But it is also not unfamiliar to the Hungarian litigation because the Act I of 1911 on the Civil Procedure was based on an active role of the judge too. My goal is to ascertain what the essence and function of the active role of the judge is. I also examine that in what kind of situations and in what procedural phases the judge can offer support to the parties. Furthermore I intend to define the limits of the judicial management. In addition, I analyse how some interpretative organisations view the issues that appeared in the judicial practice.

  PDF (Hungarian)

  496

• Enforcement of administrative organization principles in public education administration

  74-84.

  Vilmos Csongor László

  Views:

  126

  After 1990 public educational institutions were maintained and controlled by local governments. This period was the era of decentralization. I am going to examine it in a later parts of my thesis with regard to all of its advantages and disadvantages. After 2011 there was a kind of decentralization by legislation after which it had or could have had an operating role but education became state responsibilities. The state as former branch coordinator thereafter took the role of maintainer besides of its public power authority.

  There have been two crucial changes of two subsystems of administration since its formation in 1990 but mainly after 2010. These changes were partially structural, affecting state organization in several steps then those affecting central integration and the reregulation of local governments reflecting the change in the role of the state and the expansion of Neoweber state ideas and recentralisation.

  Some of these factors were generated by international effects but Hungarian principles also played a role as the hurried and faulty system of task completion was formed in local governments.

  This study analysing how partial conditions are reflected in education administration, how the administration branches followed general tendencies or somehow compared to general changes in public administration. I am also examining how successful it was to deal with these roles together and separate them at certain points.

  PDF (Hungarian)

  185

• The special requirements applicable to the management of national assets, with a special respect to the requirement of transparency

  85-96.

  Zóra Zsófia Lehoczki

  Views:

  150

  The Fundamental Law of Hungary states that the property of the Hungarian State and of municipal governments shall be considered national assets. National assets shall be managed and protected for the purpose of serving the public interest, satisfying common needs and preserving natural resources, taking also into account the needs of future generations. Economic operators – such as companies - owned by the State or municipal governments shall conduct business prudently and independently, in accordance with the relevant legislation, under the requirements of legality, efficiency and effectiveness. The special requirements regarding the management and safeguarding are laid down in Act CXCVI of 2011 on National Assets (hereinafter: National Assets Act) and Act CVI of 2007 on State Property (hereinafter: State Property Act) also contains a few requirements in its preamble.

  Based on the above, national assets shall be managed and protected in a special way, compared to privately owned assets. Publicly owned enterprises play a very important role in the national economy, since they provide a significant amount of GDP, they employ numerous people, they usually provide public services and last but not least they manage public funds. As a consequence, these companies shall also manage their assets with respect to the special requirements. In our article, we introduce these requirements by examining their content and also their relationship towards each other.

  One of the most important requirements is transparency, since these enterprises manage public funds and according to the Fundamental Law, every organization managing public funds shall publicly account for the management of those funds. Public funds and national assets shall be managed according to the principles of transparency and of corruption-free public life. Data relating to public funds or to national assets shall be recognized as data of public interest. We lay a special emphasis on transparency by introducing the relating regulation and also by summarizing the most prominent statements of court decisions from the last few years. In their judgements the courts interpreted the requirement of transparency in connection with state-owned enterprises and the relationship between transparency and the protection of business secrets and business interests of the companies.

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  152

• Functional Analysis of Damage Charges

  97-117.

  András Mátyus

  Views:

  196

  Replacing the legal institution for non-pecuniary damages burdensome by previous theoretical and practical contradictions, Act V of 2013 (Civil Code) introduces damage charges as a separate sanction for violation of personal rights, which has dual functions: on the one hand, it aims for the person being injured in its personal rights receive a monetary allowance that approximates or compensates for the non-material damage suffered. On the other hand, it can also be considered as a punishment under private law for the prevention of similar infringements, as a deterrent.

  According to the intended interpretation, the damage charge can only be applied if it is able to fulfill its function, i.e. if no non-pecuniary damage can be detected for which the damage charge is intended for proportional compensation (primarily), it has no place at all since in the case of infringements leaving the personality untouched, only the punitive function would be exercised, which is completely incompatible with the inherently remedial, corrective nature of private law. According to the unanimous opinion of the legal literature, the compensatory function should have priority and private punishment only take precedence of a secondary nature. On the basis of my work, it is noticeable that judges also consider damage charges as a legal instrument to repair the immaterial injuries suffered and to compensate for the lost pleasures of life, and to not order it upon preventive reasons solely, but in the plurality of cases, preventive function is being evaluated as a factor enhancing the amount of the damage. In my study, I wish to analyze from several aspects, how the dual function of the damage charge is assessed by the courts concerning present cases, by highlighting which nature is protruding concerning the amount or the legal basis. As the research is basically empirical, I will examine through as many judgments as possible, what aspects the courts evaluate in the framework of the compensational (e.g.: physical injuries, mental changes, age, family life of the victim, change in lifestyle, etc.) and of the preventive function (e.g. the gravity of the infringement, its protracted nature, etc.). Finally, I would like to answer the central question of my thesis: what function does practice attribute to the payment of damage charges.

  PDF (Hungarian)

  393

• Rethinking principles of civil procedure - expectations and experiences:

  118-127.

  Tamás dr. Molnár

  Views:

  192

  The central topic of the present study is certain features of the principles re-regulated during the codification of the Hungarian Code of Civil Procedure. It can be said that the number and content of the principles have also become more concentrated as a result of codification.

  The Act CXXX of 2016 on the Code of Civil Procedure (hereinafter “CPC”) brought a number of conceptual changes, which can also be observed in terms of principles. The principles chapter of the CPC has been renewed, some principles that are not yet known in Hungarian civil procedure law have been laid down. The present study reviews these changes and also seeks to take a position on the content of the principles, with a separate examination of the Principle of Concentration of Proceedings, which has also been identified as a priority objective by the legislator.

  The paper analyzes the academic debates on the principles and attempts to answer whether the experience of the period since its entry into force has met some of the expectations for the reform of the principles. The study examines the changed regulations that have led to opposing views in the literature.

  An important topic of the study is that, in line with the divided structure of the proceeding, the court's intervention activities have also changed. This change can also be observed in the principles, as the Principle of Court's Obligation to Intervene has emerged as a new principle. Some features of the Principle of Truth-telling and Principle of Good Faith are also analyzed.

  The study seeks to shed light on the fundamental issues of civil procedure through foreign examples, in which certain elements of German legislation are mainly mentioned.

  PDF (Hungarian)

  253

• The comparison of the civil law liability for the actions of courts and the civil law liability of attorneys in view of the standard of attributability

  128-148.

  Zsolt Zsurzsa

  Views:

  123

  It is a basic requirement of society that those who are infringed upon in exercising their rights, may enforce the sanctions of the infringement in a judicial process. This process is mainly executed by state courts in most legal systems, which are supposed to settle legal disputes by interpreting the relevant laws, and by taking the relevant case law into consideration. However, this is a complex process that requires professional legal knowledge from the parties. Attorneys are meant to be those professionals, who help people seeking justice to obtain their respective compensation, and also with other problems requiring legal expertise. The attorneys shall also execute this ask to the best of their knowledge. In some cases, however, this legal enforcement process may fail, which may result in the person seeking legal advice or compensation to lose its opportunity to pursue its claim permanently.
  This case might happen as a result of the actions or omissions of courts, or that of attorneys. In these cases, it is logical that the liability of these two actors of justice for the parties’ damages may be decided upon by assessing the quality of work that has led to a person suffering material damages. It would be easy to assume that the standard for the reasonable conduct for both actors is very high. However, apparently the standard for the reasonable conduct of courts seems to be a lot lower than that of attorneys in the judicial practice. In practice, only in case of the most severe infringements of courts may the injured parties receive compensation for damages, while a lot less severe infringement – or even quite the same infringements – may result in the attribution of the attorney’s liability.
  I intend to analyze this difference in the civil liability of the two actors in the light of the legal background, legal practice and the different tasks of courts and attorneys as well as the reasons of this phenomenon, and form an opinion on whether it can be justified or this practice should be discouraged. To do so, I analyze the relevant Hungarian judicial practice and legal science, and cite some foreign examples as well.

  PDF (Hungarian)

  476