The legal instrument which turns this alleged public good into an enforceable obligation is EU Regulation 2023/1162 which implements EU Directive 2019/944 on internal electricity market’s common rules. In response to this legislation, the Hungarian Government published proposed amendments to Hungary’s “Electricity Act”(VET) in 2025. Whether these amendments will meet EU requirements or further changes will be needed to align Hungarian law with innovation and securing consumer rights is uncertain.
Entering into force in January 2025, Regulation 2023/1162 establishes metered data administrator (MDA) and permission administrator (PA) roles into national legal systems. These bodies provide consumer and third-party with validated, near real-time data, and maintain interoperable application interfaces and testing facilities. These regulations are designed to guarantee smooth data transfer and foster innovation. Furthermore, the Regulation obliges Member States to submit national mapping reports by July 2025. Although the Regulation is directly applicable to Member States, it allows discretion in implementation, making detailed mapping essential.
As mentioned, Hungary’s proposed draft amendment affects relevant energy acts, including VET and issues decrees to meet the objectives of Regulation 2023/1162. The Government established FEAK (Független Energetikai Adatközpont) which operates ENAP (Energetikai Adatszolgáltató Központ) as the central provider of energy consumer data. Under the amended VET, 171/A.§ requires DSOs, and energy network licensees to contract with ENAP by the end of 2026, with the system expected to become operational in 2027.
The amendment enacts three guarantees to faithfully manage consumer data and rights. Consumers and third parties shall have indiscriminate access to consumption data, the operator must publish its conditions and link to the EU-repository, and each licensee must appoint an independent data-access officer to oversee compliance with the non-discrimination rule. The Government also plans to refine the regulatory regime under the Hungarian Energy and Public Utility Regulatory Authority (MEKH), allowing innovative projects to operate in a test environment for 24 months which may be extended once.
Regarding the alignment of these changes with EU regulations, Hungary has yet to submit the national mapping report, due in July, to the EU. However, only 12 Member States have submitted their mapping so far. Additionally, Hungary’s draft amendment postpones operational implementation of EU requirements to 2027, despite it being applicable since January 2025. This delay raises a procedural-compliance risk for Hungary, since the European Commission and market participants cannot verify Hungary’s mapping. Therefore, while the legal framework has been adapted, implementation is delayed.
The second critical aspect is the assignment of functional roles. Regulation 2023/1162 distinguishes between MDA and PA as mentioned earlier, but according to VET amendment 24.§ and a governmental decree, ENAP would play both roles while MEKH would remain as monitoring authority. While this structure aligns with the European Regulation, the exact roles are not sufficiently distributed at the parliamentary level for further ministerial decrees– for example, which party is responsible for issuing revocation tokens or consent registry. Thus, the amendment act’s role assignment is structurally compliant but insufficiently specific. Without further specification, the Commission might label the Hungarian regulatory framework as only partially compliant.
Regulation 2023/1162 Recital 10 urges Member States to apply common information models (CIM) and published schemas to ensure technological predictability in the energy market. VET amendment 24.§ and 170.§ authorises the platform operator to determine the exact model to implement. This legislative method is common in continental legal systems and indisputably provides flexibility, however, in a crucial sector like the energy market legal certainty and predictability are indispensable and it would be more effective to enact the CIM on the primary legislation level to avoid technological uncertainty.
Recital 11 of Regulation 2023/1162 requires MDAs and PAs to provide test environments for eligible parties to test their products before market implementation, also known as a permanent technical sandbox. Nonetheless, VET amendment 114/I.§ selects the authority, MEKH for a time-limited and supervised regulatory sandbox. Since the planned regulation does not provide a permanent test environment by the MDA/PA (ENAP, not MEKH in Hungary’s case), the Commission could deem Hungary’s legal regime as partially complete. It would be crucial to align testing to an impartial entity instead of an authority to ensure unbundling and fair competition in the energy market.
The Regulation and accompanying legal regimes require verifiable consent management, specifically the EU’s most defining data regulations, eIDAS and GDPR. VET amendment 5.§ enshrines consumer consent, but omits the technological specifics and 170.§ refers it to secondary regulatory. Thus, under VET the lawful basis exists, but without proper eIDAS reference on primary legislation level potential cross-border recognition issues might occur.
The strongest part of the VET amendment is the ENAP lowest-cost principle at 143/A§. This regulatory solution firmly aligns with EU expectations, since it maintains the financial effectiveness of MDA and PA forms without market distortion. It ensures transparency and public availability which allows high-level EU maintenance. This model would ensure one of the best regulations in the region. Another major strength of the amendment is the mandating independent data access officers which exceeds EU requirements of ensuring data transparency, avoiding the negligence of risks and providing internal monitoring.
It is also important to compare the Hungarian regulation with the regulations of other Member States. Estonia, an early implementer of Regulation 2023/1162 offers the most relevant Eastern European example, its model demonstrates that developed energy systems and regulations is not the exclusive domain of Western countries. Its role alignment is similar to the Hungarian VET amendment: its data hub operator (Elering) plays both MDA and PA roles and it also has yet to provide a permanent test environment. Thus, while Hungary should ensure permanent test environments for market participants by a non-authority entity and align with the requirements of Regulation 2023/1162, it is not delayed in comparison.
In conclusion, the proposed VET amendment is substantively compliant, albeit with a few incompletions, to EU regulatory framework. It enacts the major underlying principles of Regulation 2023/1162 such as guaranteeing interoperability, proper data management and fostering innovation in the energy market. To close the mentioned gaps, the Hungarian Government could implement the following three changes to the proposed amendment: submit a national mapping report to the EU, making permanent test environments of ENAP and refer to eIDAS and GDPR.
Források:
https://eur-lex.europa.eu/eli/reg_impl/2023/1162/oj/eng
https://eur-lex.europa.eu/eli/dir/2019/944/oj/eng
https://net.jogtar.hu/jogszabaly?docid=a0700086.tv
https://cdn.kormany.hu/uploads/document/7/78/78b/78baa62d6fa1564b9e466432b7271e889eca52fe.pdf
