Ekertv. Sections 15/D and 15/F, Video-Sharing Platform Age Verification and Parental Control
In force
2001. évi CVIII. törvény (Ekertv.), 15/D. § (1) és 15/F. § (2), as inserted by 2020. évi XXIV. törvény 3. §
Effective 2020-11-09 · Applies to private
Section 15/D(1) of the e-commerce act makes a video-sharing platform provider apply the measures and technical solutions of Section 15/F where content is capable of harming the physical, mental, spiritual or moral development of minors. Under Section 15/F(2), the provider must provide effective age verification and a parental control system under the user's supervision.
Under Section 15/F(3), age verification and the parental control system are effective only if they rest on checking the real age of the platform's users and can actually ensure that minors do not normally hear or see the harmful content. Section 15/F(4) requires the strictest access restriction for the most harmful content.
Section 15/F(6) bars processing the personal data of minors collected or generated to apply these measures for commercial purposes such as direct marketing, profiling and behavior-based targeted advertising. The Office of the National Media and Infocommunications Authority supervises compliance with Sections 15/D to 15/H in the exercise of its official powers. Act XXIV of 2020, which inserted these provisions, took effect on 12 June 2020. Providers were required to meet the obligations that Act created within 150 days following its entry into force.
| Enforcement body | Nemzeti Média- és Hírközlési Hatóság Hivatala (Office of the National Media and Infocommunications Authority) |
Source: Full text of law
Ekertv. Section 4/A, Minor-Endangering Content Warning and Filter-Software Identifier Duty
In force
2001. évi CVIII. törvény (Ekertv.), 4/A. §, as inserted by 2013. évi CCXLV. törvény 29. §
Effective 2014-01-01 · Applies to private
Section 4/A(1) provides that information published by a service provider, other than media content covered by the Press Freedom Act, that could seriously harm a minor's intellectual, spiritual, moral, or physical development, in particular by having violence or the direct, naturalistic depiction of sexuality as a defining element, may be published only together with a warning notice about the possible endangerment of minors, displayed before the content, and identifiers in the page's source code that indicate the content's category and are recognizable by filter software as defined in the Electronic Communications Act.
A Child Protection Internet Roundtable monitors how that provision is applied, and anyone may report a presumed breach to it. The Electronic Communications Act separately requires an internet-access provider to compile and publish information about the availability of easily installable minor-protection software and to notify subscribers of it quarterly.
Source: Full text of law
Mttv. Sections 9 and 11, Programme Age-Rating Classification and On-Demand Display Duty
In force
2010. évi CLXXXV. törvény (Mttv.), 9. § és 11. §, as recast by 2021. évi LXXIX. törvény 9. § and 2022. évi LXI. törvény 23., 27. §
Applies to private
Section 9(1) requires a media service provider to sort every programme it intends to publish, other than a fixed list of exceptions such as news, political information, sports, and trailer programmes, into one of the age-rating categories the section defines before it is broadcast; Section 9(2) puts a programme viewable regardless of age into category I. Section 11(1) requires an on-demand audiovisual media service to publish a programme only in the manner its category permits, and Section 11(1a) requires the age-rating category to be displayed prominently when a programme is presented in the service's catalogue or before the user views it.
Section 11(1c) exempts an on-demand provider that the Media Council's recommendation treats as having low revenue or a small audience from the display duties in Section 11(1a) and (1b).
Section 9(6) requires a programme that may adversely affect the development of minors, in particular because its defining element is violence, the promotion or portrayal of deviation from the self-identity corresponding to the sex assigned at birth, of gender reassignment or of homosexuality, or the direct, naturalistic or gratuitous portrayal of sexuality, to be sorted into Category V, which carries the rating not recommended for persons under the age of eighteen.
In a linear media service, Section 10(1)(d) lets a Category V programme be published, with an appropriate signal, only between 22:00 and 05:00.
By judgment of 21 April 2026 in Case C-769/22, European Commission v Hungary, the Court of Justice declared that, by introducing Section 9(6) and adopting Section 32(4a) of this Act, Hungary failed to fulfil its obligations under Article 6a(1) of the Audiovisual Media Services Directive and Articles 1, 7, 11 and 21 of the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union.
The Court found that Section 9(6), read with Section 10(1)(d), and Section 32(4a) make a distinction directly based on sex and sexual orientation, which Article 21(1) of the Charter prohibits in principle. Section 9(1) was established by Act LXXIX of 2021, Section 9, and further modified by Act LXI of 2022, Section 27; Section 11(1a)-(1b) was inserted by Act LXI of 2022, Section 23.
Act LXXIX of 2021's own closing provisions set general commencement at the fifteenth day after promulgation, and that Act was promulgated on 23 June 2021; Act LXI of 2022's own closing provisions set general commencement, for the section establishing Section 11(1) and (1a), at the eighth day after promulgation, and that Act was promulgated on 19 December 2022. The sections this entry groups came into force on different days.
Act LXI of 2022 separately states that its own Section 27, which later amended the already-effective Section 9(1), took effect on 1 July 2024.
Source: Full text of law