Debrecen4U
September 4, 2026
Government to Introduce Three Strikes Rule for Battery Factories
At a press conference in Budapest on Thursday, Prime Minister Péter Magyar outlined the government’s decisions from the previous day and said that the government would establish an independent, nationwide environmental protection authority, with its creation taking place in several stages.
“The health of the Hungarian people, our farmland and our waters cannot be treated as secondary considerations. Environmental regulatory responsibilities are currently divided between several ministries, government offices and other authorities. We have begun discussions on the proposal put forward by the Ministry for the Living Environment. According to the plans, this authority will be established from 1 January 2027. It will not happen all at once, but step by step, as setting it up, redeploying the necessary staff from the government offices and establishing the new structure will be a huge undertaking. The aim, however, is for it to begin operating from 1 January as a first step,” said the Prime Minister.
The new authority will be responsible for regulatory tasks relating to environmental protection, nature conservation, climate protection, animal welfare, water management, water protection and forestry. A key responsibility will also be environmental licensing and strict supervision related to battery manufacturing, recycling and decommissioning.
According to the Prime Minister, the new authority will monitor industrial plants with a significant environmental impact strictly, consistently and on a professional basis. “Before the election, we pledged to put an end to the practice whereby economic and political interests clearly took precedence over environmental and public health considerations. The new authority will monitor industrial plants with a significant environmental impact strictly, professionally and consistently. The rules will apply equally to everyone: anyone operating a small, medium-sized or large industrial plant or factory in Hungary must strictly comply with Hungarian and European environmental regulations,” he stressed.
The authorities will also be given stronger powers, and sanctions for environmental violations will be tightened to ensure that they act as a genuine deterrent even for large industrial companies. For the most serious environmental offences, the maximum fine will be increased to HUF 5 billion. The “three strikes” principle, known from the Criminal Code, will also be introduced. This means that, if a large company breaches environmental regulations for the third time within five years, a minimum fine must be imposed amounting to at least 0.5% of its annual net sales revenue, but no less than HUF 5 million. As an example, he cited the Samsung factory in Göd, whose revenue exceeds HUF 1,000 billion. In this case, a fine of 0.5% would amount to HUF 5 billion. The HUF 500 million cap on fines for serious offences related to waste will also be abolished. In future, the amount of the penalty will be determined by the seriousness of the violation, as well as the quantity and hazardous nature of the waste.
The Prime Minister also said that a comprehensive review and restructuring of the entire waste management system was necessary. He said that the first audit of MOHU had been completed, and the initial findings already showed that “it will not be enough to simply tighten or replace one or two screws”.
Zsolt Tárkányi wrote on his Facebook page that he had specifically requested the specialist ministry to introduce a minimum fine linked to a company’s revenue, arguing that it was nonsensical for companies with revenues of HUF 3,000 billion to have previously been liable for fines of just HUF 10 million. He added that from January 2027, the new authority would assume specialist regulatory responsibilities in the fields of environmental protection, animal welfare and forest protection, with particular attention paid to battery industry plants.
Source and photo credit: dehir.hu
