Hungary
The Commissioner deals with data protection and disclosure of data of public interest. The majority of petitions to the Commissioner are in respect of data protection but the number of petitions on disclosure has doubled in the past year.
In 2003 the Hungarian legislation was amended to provide greater clarity and obligations, which has the effect of:
- Distinguishing between commercial secrets and disclosure of public interest data
- Extending the freedom of information requirements to private bodies with financial and business relations with the state budget, by introducing the concept of data of public common interest
- Requiring a wide range of financial information relating to the state budget to be published online
- Requiring all public bodies covered by the state budget to designate a person or unit to carry out tasks in connection with disclosing public interest data.