Data-center law in Hungary

National jurisdiction · as of 2026-09-06

Hungary has no data-center-specific siting, permitting, or utility statute; a data center is a construction and industrial project governed by the general regimes that apply to any large facility. Building permits and land-use planning run through the Hungarian Architecture Act, which replaced the 1997 Building Act.

A separate Priority Investment Acceleration Act lets the Government designate a project of national economic importance for expedited administrative handling, a route Hungary has used for major industrial and technology investments.

Environmental review runs through a 2005 government decree that triggers a full environmental impact assessment, an integrated pollution permit, or both, depending on which of the decree's annexes a facility or activity falls under and whether its expected effects are significant; a data center is not named as such in any annex, so which category and threshold reach a given project is a facility-by-facility question not researched further here.

Grid connection is governed by the Electricity Act's general principle of objective, transparent, and non-discriminatory network access, with no data-center-specific connection rule.

01

Instruments on record

4 instruments on record, grouped by the family of approval each one governs.

Land use

Who decides whether a data center may occupy a site, and through what approval?

Act C of 2023 on Hungarian Architecture

In force

2023. évi C. törvény a magyar építészetről

Applies to both

Act C of 2023 is Hungary's current building and land-use planning act, replacing the 1997 Building Act (Étv.), and governs the construction permitting process any data-center building project runs through. It was adopted by the National Assembly on 12 December 2023 and promulgated on 22 December 2023; the specific day its provisions took effect is not stated in the section of the consolidated text reached here.

Source: Full text of law

Act LIII of 2006 on Accelerating and Simplifying the Implementation of Investments of Priority National Economic Importance

In force

2006. évi LIII. törvény a nemzetgazdasági szempontból kiemelt jelentőségű beruházások megvalósításának gyorsításáról és egyszerűsítéséről

Applies to both

This Act lets the Government designate an investment of priority national economic importance for expedited administrative treatment, including shortened procedural deadlines and a single first-instance authority for the associated permitting matters. Section 1(1) reaches a listed set of investment types outright, including one planned by an economic organization of strategic national-economic importance that has concluded a strategic agreement with the Government.

As a catch-all, it also reaches any other investment costing at least HUF 10,000,000,000 and creating at least 50 new jobs. The stored source is heavily amended and its current text does not carry a single commencement date for the Act as a whole.

Source: Full text of law

Environmental review

What impact review must precede approval, and who leads it?

Government Decree 314/2005 (XII. 25.) on Environmental Impact Assessment and Integrated Pollution Prevention and Control Permitting

In force

314/2005. (XII. 25.) Korm. rendelet a környezeti hatásvizsgálati és az egységes környezethasználati engedélyezési eljárásról

Applies to both

This decree, issued under the Environmental Protection Act, sets which activities and facilities listed in its Annexes 1 to 3 need a full environmental impact assessment, an integrated environmental-use (pollution) permit, or both, and which trigger only a screening decision on whether their effects are significant enough to require one.

Source: Full text of law

Energy and grid

What authorizations govern grid connection and onsite generation?

Every entry cites the instrument it describes. None of it is legal advice: verify a citation before relying on it. Full sourcing: read the methodology. The rest of the record: all jurisdictions.