The European Commission sent a letter of formal notice on Thursday 18 February to Hungary, which has still not implemented the Court of Justice judgment on the funding of foreign NGOs. Budapest, which had already received two letters asking about the implementation of the judgment, will have two months to respond to this first stage of a new infringement proceeding.
On 18 June 2020 (see EUROPE 12509/21), the Court ruled that the law adopted in 2017 on the financing of foreign NGOs introduced “discriminatory and unjustified restrictions on the organisations in question and the persons supporting them financially”.
According to the Law on the Transparency of Organisations Supported from Abroad, NGOs have to register as an “organisation receiving support from abroad” when the annual amount of donations exceeds a threshold of HUF 7.2 million (or EUR 24,000). They must also provide the identity of donors whose aid exceeds HUF 500,000 (approximately EUR 1,400), as well as the exact amount of aid.
The Court found that this law constituted a restrictive measure of a discriminatory nature by introducing a difference in treatment between national and cross-border movements of capital and by exclusively targeting associations and foundations receiving financial aid from other Member States or non-Member States.
“The Court’s decisions are binding, so we are asking Hungary to comply with them and repeal its law”, commented Commissioner for Justice Didier Reynders on Twitter.
This letter of formal notice may lead to financial penalties if Hungary continues to fail to comply with the judgment. “Judgments of the European Court of Justice are immediately binding on the Member State concerned”, the Commission said in a statement. (Original version in French by Solenn Paulic)