- Do you have to enter into a form of agreement with the local authority/municipality when applying for consent for a data centre in your jurisdiction?
- What is the planning/consenting designation or use class which datacentres fit into in your jurisdiction?
- Does the applicant have to own all of the land for the datacentre to apply for the consent?
- What are the steps that need to be taken to secure data centre consent in your jurisdiction? How long does each steps in the process typically take?
- Do arrangements for access to utilities, energy and/or power need to be made to as part of the consenting process?
- Are there clear land plans or zones in place which automatically authorise data centres or is the application process more complicated in your jurisdiction?
- What are the environmental considerations that need to be taken when obtaining data centre consent?
- Is biodiversity an important consideration when it comes to data centre consenting in your jurisdiction?
jurisdiction
1. Do you have to enter into a form of agreement with the local authority/municipality when applying for consent for a data centre in your jurisdiction?
In Hungary there is no specific requirement to enter into any agreement with the local authority/municipality when applying for permits/consents regarding datacentre development. Furthermore, in Hungary there is no specific permit/consent applicable to datacentres and any datacentre development is subject to the standard development process.
However, in case the development of the envisaged datacentre is not in line with the applicable local building and zoning regulations, then it is necessary to amend the applicable local building and zoning regulations to enable the construction of the datacentre. If the local municipality supports the planned datacentre development and the amendment of the local building and zoning regulations, then an urban development contract (in Hungarian: településrendezési szerződés) with the municipality is usually required to modify the local building and zoning regulations and in order to allocate the costs of such modification.
Such urban development contract is usually concluded with the owner of the land plot concerned or with the person intending to invest in the land plot for the realisation of development. The urban development contract provides the framework for the cooperation between the municipality and the private entity (the owner of the land or the investor) for amending the local building and zoning instruments as necessary for the planned investment. As far as the costs of such zoning modification are concerned, it is generally the developer/investor who finances the costs of the zoning modification (i.e. preparation of the new zoning plans by an external expert, etc). In the urban development contract, the municipality usually undertakes to initiate the necessary town planning procedure (in Hungarian: egyeztetési eljárás) and to carry it out in accordance with the applicable regulations.
2. What is the planning/consenting designation or use class which datacentres fit into in your jurisdiction?
Datacentres do not have a zoning category that they neatly fall into, however the most common zoning areas in which datacentres are developed are the industrial economic zone (in Hungarian: ipari gazdasági terület), other industrial economic zone (in Hungarian: egyéb ipari gazdasági terület) and commercial and service area economic zone (in Hungarian: kereskedelmi, szolgáltató gazdasági terület). The Government may also designate certain areas as special economic zones into which datacentres may also fit.
3. Does the applicant have to own all of the land for the datacentre to apply for the consent?
As a general rule, it is not necessary to own the land for the datacentre to prepare the necessary documentation and to apply for certain permits that are prerequisite of the construction or to conclude an urban development contract with the local municipality.
4. What are the steps that need to be taken to secure data centre consent in your jurisdiction? How long does each steps in the process typically take?
- Performing a zoning due diligence and to commence the discussion with the local municipality should it be necessary to conclude an urban development contract between the investor and the municipality.
If the municipality agrees to the amendment of the local building and zoning regulation (if necessary), then the parties may conclude the urban development contract. The time required for the whole process is difficult to predict, but if the consultation procedure for the amendment to the local building and zoning regulation can be carried out through a simplified procedure, the enactment of the amended zoning plan may be completed within 3-6 months from the signing of the urban development contract. We estimate that the total time required for the process in general may take between 6 and 9 months from the start of the consultation process with the municipality.
If the zoning is suitable for the project, the urban development contract is not necessary.
- Preparing the necessary documentation for obtaining the necessary permit and submitting them to the competent authorities to obtain the permits.
Several permits may become necessary depending on the location, status and technical parameters of the land occupied by the datacentre and the specifics necessary to construct the datacentre, including potentially having to perform preliminary environmental assessment or environmental impact assessment, in case of plots under agricultural cultivation to reclassify and register the land plots as plots withdrawn from agricultural cultivation, conducting plot formation procedures, obtaining water permits, building permit, etc. The process to prepare and obtain such permits may be time-consuming and even the preparation for the permitting documentation may take months with the administrative procedures also taking 2-4 months, although some of the work related to the preparation of the permitting documents and applying for permits may be performed simultaneously to save time.
5. Do arrangements for access to utilities, energy and/or power need to be made to as part of the consenting process?
Yes, arrangements for access to utilities will need to be made as part of the construction permitting procedures.
6. Are there clear land plans or zones in place which automatically authorise data centres or is the application process more complicated in your jurisdiction?
Datacentres are a relatively new class of development in Hungary and the applicable legal regulations do not mention datacentres specifically and there are no special rules applicable to datacentres.
7. What are the environmental considerations that need to be taken when obtaining data centre consent?
Preliminary environmental assessment (in Hungarian: előzetes vizsgálat) and/or environmental impact assessment (in Hungarian: környezeti hatásvizsgálat) has to be carried out in respect of a development, in case certain designated thresholds related to certain activities set forth in the applicable laws are fulfilled. The aim of such preliminary environmental assessment or environmental impact assessment is to determine whether the respective project has a significant impact on the environment or not. There is a general rule that a preliminary environmental assessment is required if the development occupies more than two hectares. Depending on the activity that will be carried out a preliminary environmental assessment and/or environmental impact assessment might be required even if less than 2 hectares would be used for construction, depending on the scale of the project, applied technology, etc.
In case the outcome of the preliminary environmental assessment procedure confirms that there is a significant impact on the environment, an environmental impact assessment has to be carried out and an environmental permit has to be obtained in respect of the project.
The performance of the preliminary environmental assessment and (if necessary) the environmental impact assessment is a prerequisite of obtaining the building permit. The environmental impact assessment procedure is time-consuming due to the necessity of the developer to prepare the environmental impact assessment documentation, to obtain several opinions prior to applying for the environmental permit and it may become necessary to conduct public hearings and the process may additionally attract attention from wider consultees.
8. Is biodiversity an important consideration when it comes to data centre consenting in your jurisdiction?
There is are no biodiversity requirement specifically for datacentres in Hungary as there are no specific rules applicable to datacentres.
Biodiversity has an emphasis in respect of the classification of areas in the local building and zoning regulation in case of a designation of a new area for development, as the biological activity value of the administrative area of the municipality shall not decrease in relation to the activity value before the zoning change as a general rule.
Furthermore, in case of preliminary environmental assessment and environmental impact assessment, the competent authority will assess whether the development has a significant detrimental impact on biodiversity. In case of areas under nature protection (e.g. Natura 2000 protection), severe limitations or even prohibition may apply to any development detrimentally affecting biodiversity in any way.
