We joined a call by IPI (International Press Institute) and CASE (Coalition against SLAPPs in Europe) urging Hungary’s Minister of Justice and Minister for Social Relations and Culture to effectively and robustly transpose the EU anti-SLAPP Directive 2024/1069. The Anti-SLAPP law should also guarantee anti-SLAPP measures in domestic proceedings, while government and parliament should engage in meaningful consultations with expert civil society organisations during the drafting process of the anti-SLAPP law in Hungary.

Although there is a need for a swift transposition of the Directive – given the recent opening of infringement proceedings against Hungary by the European Commission over the delay – a rushed reform process would fail to address the majority of SLAPP cases in Hungary, which are domestic in nature. If the current bill is not amended to create a wider anti-SLAPP framework which includes domestic cases as well as cross-border, journalists and other public watchdogs will continue to operate in a legal climate in which powerful political or economic actors within Hungary can abuse civil proceedings to muzzle and censor public debate.

The statement by IPI and CASE also refers to other EU Member States, including Poland, Greece and Belgium, having recently passed new laws which transpose the EU Directive and go beyond its minimum standards by expanding legal protections to domestically-filed lawsuits. These reforms broadly align with the high standards set out by the 2024 Council of Europe Recommendation on SLAPPs, which furthermore also demands for anti-SLAPP measures in criminal SLAPP-proceedings (such as e.g. defamation, insult, harassment, breach of privacy, breach of personal data protection, nuisance by electronic media, breach of intellectual property…).

Hungary: IPI and CASE partners write to Ministers calling for strong anti-SLAPP law – ipi.media