Act CXXI of 1999 on Business Chambers is to be amended as of 1 January 2012 to include the following major changes:  

  • all newly established economic organisations (including Kft-s and Zrt-s, among others) required to be registered in the companies' register shall request their registration with the competent local chamber of commerce and industry within 5 business days from registration by the Court of Registry;
  • economic organisations (including Kft-s and Zrt-s, among others) already registered in the companies' register will have 60 days starting on 1 January 2012 to initiate their registration with the competent local chamber of commerce and industry;
  • those pursuing agricultural and forestry activities are exempt from the above rules.

The registration shall be made on a form provided by the chamber, which should be signed by the representatives of the economic organisations and sent to the competent chamber electronically or on paper form. An annual contribution of HUF 5,000 (approx. EUR 16) must also be paid every year until 31 March. Economic organisations will also be obliged to pay membership fees to the chamber, the amount of which is determined by each chamber in its charter. However, the amount of the contribution may be deducted from the amount of the membership fee.

If an economic organisation fails to fulfil the above obligations, the competent chamber will request the economic organisation to fulfil the registration requirements within 5 business days, failing that, the chamber will register the economic organisation and will arrange for the collection of the payable contribution. Any unpaid contribution is public debt, which will be collected as taxes by the tax authority.

If any of the data contained in the register were to change, or if the economic organisation was to terminate, the registration of the changes or de-registration shall be requested at the chamber. This is free of charge.

The chamber's registry will include the following data with respect to each registered economic organisation:

  • name,
  • registered seat,
  • place of business(es),
  • branch(es),
  • main activity,
  • other pursued activities, and
  • classification pursuant to the act on the subsidies for small and medium enterprises.

The above data will be public from 1 June 2012.

We would be pleased to help our clients with this registration process in case of already existing economic organisations or economic organisations to be established in the future.

This article was written for Law-Now, CMS Cameron McKenna's free online information service. To register for Law-Now, please go to www.law-now.com/law-now/mondaq

Law-Now information is for general purposes and guidance only. The information and opinions expressed in all Law-Now articles are not necessarily comprehensive and do not purport to give professional or legal advice. All Law-Now information relates to circumstances prevailing at the date of its original publication and may not have been updated to reflect subsequent developments.

The original publication date for this article was 16/12/2011.