From this year, claims below 3 million HUF (appr. 9,700 €) may only be enforced in an order for payment procedure.
The order for payment procedure (‘fizetési meghagyás’ or ‘FMH’) is the simplest and fastest solution to enforce smaller monetary claims out of court. As of 1 January, 2018, the lower limit of the procedure has been increased from 1 million to 3 million HUF. This means that any monetary claim below this amount (save for certain special cases) may only be enforced via an FMH requested at any public notary in Hungary.
The increase of the lower limit of FMH may disburden courts and speed up collection of monetary claims as debtors are more likely to pay within a few weeks as opposed to a court case which may last for several years. Moreover, it is not required to attach the unpaid invoices, contracts or other evidence to the request. The procedure is very effective, only 6-7% out of around half million cases per year end up at courts whereas 90% of the cases finished last year successfully within a few weeks.
On the other hand, the same amendment decreased the upper limit of the procedure from 400 million to 30 million HUF (appr. 97,000 €). Any claim above this limit may now only be enforced via civil litigation which is subject to statutory requirement to be represented by a lawyer.
The personal scope of the law has changed too. From this year, both the creditor and the debtor shall have a domicile, residence or in case of a legal entity, a registered seat or a representation in Hungary. The purpose of these changes is probably to make use of the European order for payment procedure in case the debtor is settled in another member state of the European Union (which may be initiated at any public notary in Hungary).