Hungary publishes transposition of EU “right to repair” Directive for public consultation

The Hungarian government has published a Draft Decree and a related draft ministerial decree on the transposition of Directive (EU) 2024/1799 on the “right to repair” for public consultation. 

The following article summarises the most important new obligations in the Draft Decree for manufacturers and other actors in the value chain.

“Right to repair” under the Directive

Manufacturers must repair certain categories of goods (e.g. large household appliances, servers and data storage products, mobile phones, cordless phones and slate tablets) even in cases falling outside statutory warranty when there is a lack of conformity (in Hungarian: kellékszavatosság).

In case of a manufacturer established outside the EU, the performance of the repair obligation, and the related duty to inform, pass on to the manufacturer’s authorised representative (or to the importer), and ultimately to the distributor.

Repair may be carried out free of charge or for a price and the manufacturer may engage a sub-contractor. For the duration of the repair, the manufacturer may lend the consumer a replacement good, which may be refurbished, free of charge (e.g. where repair cannot be completed within a reasonable time or would cause significant inconvenience).

Where conformity of the goods is ensured by repair, the statutory warranty period is automatically extended by 12 months. The seller’s duty to inform also covers, in addition to the choice between replacement and repair, the extension of the statutory warranty period.

Manufacturers must provide spare parts and accessories at a reasonable price so that repair is not impeded and must publish the indicative repair prices on their website. It is strictly prohibited to impede repair by means of software, hardware or contractual clauses.

The manufacturer may not prevent independent repairers from installing safe but second-hand or non-original spare parts. It constitutes an unfair commercial practice if the manufacturer creates the misleading impression in consumers that the goods cannot be repaired because they have previously been examined or repaired by an independent repairer.

Hungarian deviations from the Directive

Most of the proposed Hungarian legislation does not materially deviate from the wording of the Directive, but there are some notable exceptions.

The precise scope of products falling under the repair obligation – published for public consultation in the related ministerial decree – mostly follows the products listed under Annex II of the Directive with one notable addition. The Hungarian repair obligations would also extend to local space heaters and separate related controls under Commission Regulation (EU) 2024/1103.

Manufacturers must provide information on their repair services on their website, including the following:

• identification of the covered products;
• the content and duration of the repair obligation;
• the availability of repair services;
• the name, registered office, telephone number and email address of any subcontracted repairer;
• the indicative repair charge; and
• the conditions governing performance of the repair.

While Article 6 of the Directive mandates manufacturers to provide pre-contractual information in general, it does not provide for such a detailed list. Repairers, however, may voluntarily use a standardised form (i.e. the European Repair Information Form) to be provided free of charge in order to comply with their pre-contractual information obligation. The form contains the nature of the defect, the price and time to complete the repair, and the itemised costs of ancillary services (e.g. collection or transport), which help consumers compare offers. 

Manufacturers should pay heightened attention to amending general terms and conditions, warranty cards and pre-contractual information to comply with these Hungarian rules.

Next steps

Both the Draft Decree and the related ministerial decree are scheduled to enter into force on 31 August 2026. The public consultation runs until 18 July 2026 for the Draft Decree and 24 July of 2026 for the related ministerial decree.

The Draft Decree is available here (only in Hungarian) and the related ministerial decree is available here (only in Hungarian). The EU Directive on the “right to repair” is available here.

The Commission will establish a single EU-wide online platform to enable consumers to search free of charge for repairers, sellers of refurbished goods and community-led repair initiatives. Registration of providers on the platform will be voluntary. The platform is to become operational by 31 July 2027, and the tasks of the Hungarian national contact point will be carried out by the National Authority for Trade and Consumer Protection (in Hungarian: Nemzeti Kereskedelmi és Fogyasztóvédelmi Hatóság).

For more information on the Draft Decree and the “right to repair” in Hungary, contact your CMS client partner or the CMS experts who wrote this article.

This article was co-authored by János Bálint.