According to the Construction Act, where an environmental or nature-conservation authority initiates proceedings for a suspected rule breach in connection with a priority investment, it must notify the competent building authority without delay. Upon receiving the notification, the building authority must suspend permitting procedures until the decision in those proceedings becomes final at the administrative level. The environmental or nature conservation authority must also notify the building authority when the decision becomes final and when the priority investment in question remedies the breach.
The amendment also allows for the prohibition of the issuance of building permits for a priority investment where a relevant environmental or nature-conservation authority has found an infringement. Such a prohibition will continue until the infringement has been remedied and for at least six months from the date when the decision becomes final.
Prompt remediation does not shorten the minimum six-month hold.
In addition, the Hungarian government issued Government Decree 222/2026 (IX. 30.), which also went into effect on 1 October 2026, that amends three government decrees governing specified battery-related developments in Debrecen, Göd and Iváncsa.
For these three developments, the amended decrees prohibit the issuance of building permits or establishment licences for the construction of structures associated with the investment until the unlawful situation has been remedied, subject to the minimum six-month period following the finality of the decision establishing the infringement.
The new provisions also apply to administrative proceedings that were still pending on 1 October 2026 and cover cases where the decision establishing an environmental or nature-conservation infringement became final during the previous six months and the infringement continues.
In summary, the amendment creates a direct link between environmental compliance and the progress of priority investments. An infringement can now delay permitting even after it has been remedied where the minimum six-month prohibition applies.
Developers should factor these additional permitting risks into their compliance arrangements and project schedules.
For more information on environment rules in Hungary surrounding priority investments, contact you CMS client partner or the CMS experts who wrote this article.
The article was co-authored by András Rezsnyák and Boglárka Molnár.
