1. THE ACTIVITIES AND ACHIEVEMENTS OF THE COMMISSIONER FOR FUNDAMENTAL RIGHTS AND HIS DEPUTIES IN 2019 In some instances, the Ombudsman was not consulted even on motions with important fundamental rights-related as- 19 official website of the ministry, or that it would be sent for comment to the civil society organisations concerned. pects. To give a few examples, we could mention the act on the When formulating such comments, it is essential to consider amendment of certain acts with cultural relevance, the act re- how the given legislation may affect children’s rights enjoying lating to the Family Protection Action Plan, and the amendment special protection, the interests of future generations, and the of certain acts relating to Hungarian citizenship. rights of national minorities and the most vulnerable groups of society. This particular attention is also reflected by the fact that in 2019, similarly to last year, more than half of the substantive comments concerned legislation on children’s rights, 6 6 2 5 environmental protection, and national minorities. The Ombudsman’s recommendations regarding law-making Ever since the establishment of the institution, Parliamentary Commissioners have had the right to recommend to entities entitled to make law that they issue, amend or repeal legislation if an impropriety exposed in relation to the activities of an authority could be attributed to a redundant or ambiguous provision of a legal norm, or to the lack of the legal act government or ministerial decree municipality decree general recommendation regulation of the given issue. The law in force widens the capacity for intervention of the Commissioner by allowing him/her to put forth legislative recommendations even without exposing an impropriety in the application of the law by an authority, i.e. solely on the basis of examining the legislation from the aspect of fundamental rights. In 2019, the Ombudsman issued 57 reports, in a third of which (19 cases) he initiated the amendment of certain legal regulations or the review of the legal environment in general. The distribution of the legislative proposals according to sources of law is illustrated by the pie chart on the left. Similarly to the previous years, in 2019, too, motions were A more detailed presentation of the reports containing the legisla- typically sent to the Ombudsman with tight deadlines (of tive proposals can be found in the relevant chapters of the report on 4.7 workdays on a yearly average). It was not uncommon that the topics concerned. On the whole, it can be observed that the subject short deadlines were set precisely in the case of bills demand- matters of the legislative proposals cover a broad spectrum of topics ing a more meticulous analysis from the perspective of fun- such as child rights, family support and enforcement cases; reports damental rights. Thus, for instance, the Commissioner had to issued in the framework of the National Preventive Mechanism; and comment on the motion pertaining to the amendment of certain cases related to expropriation and forest management fines. This public education acts within a single workday, and he had two demonstrates that the integrated Ombudsman institution provides workdays to review the motion on the amendment of the Act on efficient protection for each of the constitutional rights. Professional Training. Such short deadlines make it difficult for the Commissioner Exercising his right to make legislative proposals, the Ombudsman called on the entity entitled to issue the legal reg- to offer substantive comments on the motions. This is why, ulation, i.e. the competent ministry in the case of acts, to draft regardless of his position elaborated in his comment, the the necessary legislation or prepare for it in order to remedy the Commissioner reserved the right in each case to propose the impropriety exposed. Pursuant to the provisions of the CFR Act, amendment of the already promulgated law with a subsequent effect. the organ concerned shall inform the Commissioner of its position on merits of the legislative proposal within 60 days of the In 2019, the Commissioner for Fundamental Rights com- receipt of the report. Nevertheless, there were again cases in 2019 mented on more than 40% of the bills (i.e. 46 pieces of draft when the given ministry failed to reply in due time, or when the legislation) in substance. On the one hand, he called attention minister gave only a reply of general nature, which did not reveal to codification deficiencies and technical legal problems, but in whether he/she was in favour of the proposed legislation. Even if some cases, he recommended the partial or conceptional review the entities concerned approved the Ombudsman’s legislative pro- of the motion. In several instances, he requested the interven- posal, they barely ever provided information as to the time limit of tion of the presenter so that the bill would be published on the the legislation or its preparation.