Budapest, September 21, 2009 – After ten years of preparation work the Hungarian Parliament has adopted today the new Civil Code. The new legislation incorporates provisions on registered partnership adopted earlier this year, significantly extends the rights of non-married couples – both same sex and different sex, regulates the family law consequences of sex change and opens up the possibility of higher compensation for victims of discrimination. Although an amendment to the text of the bill adopted in March would have allowed same sex couples to adopt their partner’s child, this amendment was revoked in the last reading of the bill. The law is expected to enter into force on May 1, 2010.

Over four hundred pages long, consisting of seven books and over 1220 articles, the new Civil Code is generally recognized as the greatest legislative endeavor in Hungary since the transition of the country to liberal democracy and market economy in 1989. The new Civil Code covers a wide range of issues governing all aspects of everyday life from contracts and property relations to marriage, inheritance and adoption. Within this broad spectrum, there are several provisions that effect the LGBT community in particular.

First, the new Civil Code now incorporates the family law provisions which used to be a separate piece of legislation. As in current legislation the Book of Family Law defines marriage as an institution between a woman and a man, but contains provisions on registered partnership – an institution similar to marriage, but open to same sex couples only. The introduction of registered partnership was originally planned as part of the new Civil Code, however, following strong lobbying from NGOs and the liberal party, it was separated from the rest of the law and adopted earlier, first in 2007 and then after the annulment by the Constitutional Court earlier this year. The Act on Registered Partnership came into force on July 1, 2009. The provisions on registered partnership in the new Civil Code are the same as in the current act: registered partners have all the rights and duties as married couples do except for joint surnames, adoption and artificial insemination.
Significant progress has been made in provisions concerning couples living together without marriage or registered partnership. Cohabitation is now recognized as a form of family relationship (previously it was treated as a kind of economic co-operation), which comes into being if two people (regardless of gender) live together as a couple. Long term cohabiting couples are entitled to similar rights as married couples: they are entitled to alimony upon separation, and even though cohabiting partners do not inherit automatically, they have the right to remain in the apartment owned solely by the deceased partner. Another development concerning the LGBT community is that the legal change of sex results in the automatic annulment of a previous marriage, however, the law also contains provisions which – in effect – make it possible to convert marriage into registered partnership and vice versa if the sex of one of the partners is changed.
One of the key issues in the debates was the topic of step-child adoption by non-married couples – including same sex couples. The original version of the bill submitted to the Parliament over a year ago did not contain any new provisions and would have allowed joint adoption and step-child adoption only to married couples (not to registered same sex partners, and not even to unmarried heterosexual couples). However, socialist MPs submitted an amendment to the bill that would have allowed both registered and cohabiting partners to adopt the biological child of their partner. The amendment was supported by the government as well as all the relevant committees in the Parliament. The amendment was adopted by the plenary session of the Parliament on March 30, 2009. However, in the last reading of the bill, on pressure coming from the Ministry of Social Affairs, the Government proposed to remove these provisions. This final amendment to the text of the bill was adopted today 328:20:6, supported both by the governing socialists and their right wing opposition. Only the liberal Alliance of Free Democrats and some independent MPs from the Hungarian Democratic Forum stood beside the proposal to extend the rights of same sex couples.

A previous version of the bill would have contained specific provisions on hate speech against groups based on race, ethnicity, religion and sexual orientation, however, these provisions have been removed from the bill in fear of unconstitutionality. A potentially important new regulation is that in civil proceedings concerning personality rights – such as cases involving discrimination – victims are no longer expected to provide precise proof of the amount of non-material damages suffered, which is believed to lead to higher levels of compensation awarded in such cases.

The Civil Code was adopted by votes from the governing Hungarian Socialist Party and some MPs from their former coalition partner, the liberal Alliance of Free Democrats. Right wing opposition parties attacked several provisions of the new law. Most criticisms concerned the family law provisions: conservatives criticized the institution of registered partnership for same sex couples, the abolition of waiting periods before marriage, dropping faithfulness from the list of spousal duties and extending the rights of non-married couples. Because of these criticisms, right wing parties promised to keep the new legislation from entering into force: since they are expected to win the parliamentary elections next spring, and the law would enter into force only in May of 2010, they will most likely have the opportunity to do so.