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Food
From Chaos to Separation – An Update of the Hungarian Food Safety Regulation System
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 20 January 2017
Abstract
In 2006 the Hungarian system of food safety regulation was described as “chaotic” , fragmented and lacking accountability. Now, five years later and almost seven years after Hungary's accession to the European Union (EU) it is time to take stock again. Food safety regulation has undergone a “threefold change” and follows a separated model. Competences for risk assessment, risk management and risk communication are well distributed and the Hungarian Food Safety Office (HFSO)/Magyar Élelmiszer-biztonsági Hivatal (MÉBiH) fits into the overall structure now. But there are still problems concerning its legal position, weak status and especially insufficient independence.
This report shows the evolution of the Hungarian system and highlights the brand new developments and the current situation, challenges and organisation of the HFSO.
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References
1 Gabriele Abels and Alexander Kobusch, “Regulation of food safety in the EU: Changing patterns of multilevel governance”, Paper presented at the Conference of the ECPR Standing Group on Regulatory Governance, June 17–19, 2010, University College, Dublin, p. 23.
2 See Ferencz, Zoltán, Hajdu, Mariann and Vári, Anna, “Food Safety Regulation in Hungary”, in Vos, Ellen and Wendler, Frank (eds), Food Safety Regulation in Europe: A Comparative Institutional Analysis (Antwerpen, Oxford: Intersentia, 2006), pp. 383 et sqq., at p. 447Google Scholar.
3 Most of the results I’m going to present in this report are based on field studies. Between 26 April and 5 May 2010 I interviewed a number of experts in Budapest, Hungary.
4 Ferencz et al., “Food Safety Regulation in Hungary”, supra note 2, at pp. 383–385.
5 Ibid., at p. 434.
6 Ibid., at pp. 383, 384; 415.
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10 Peter Akos Biacs, Interview, 2010.
11 Ibid.
12 See Arpad Somogyi and Miklós Süth, “European Union Twinning Project: Food Safety Office” (Final Report, HU 2002/IB/AG/05, 2005).
13 Gyula Kasza, Interview, 2010.
14 Ferencz et al., “Food Safety Regulation in Hungary”, supra note 2, at p. 423.
15 Ibid., at p. 417.
16 Peter Akos Biacs, Interview, supra note 10.
17 HFSO, “Outline from the draft version of the FVO Country Profile” (Budapest, 2010).
18 See György Hajnal, “Patterns of administrative policy pre- and post- NPM: An analysis of the institutional dynamics of Hungarian central government agencies”, Paper presented at the ECPR Standing Group on Regulatory Governance, June 17–19, 2010, University College, Dublin, p. 16.
19 Names of institutions are based on the time before the elections in 2010.
20 See BfR, “EU-Almanach Lebensmittelsicherheit”, 2009, p. 83, available on the Internet at <http://www.bfr.bund.de/cm/238/eu_almanach_lebensmittelsicherheit.pdf> (last accessed on 27 October 2011).
21 Ferencz et al., “Food Safety Regulation in Hungary”, supra note 2, at p. 447.
22 Peter Akos Biacs, Interview, supra note 10.
23 Anonymous, Interview, 2010.
24 Mária Szeitzné Szabó, Interview, 2010.
25 Gyula Kasza, Interview, supra note 13; HFSO 2010, p. 1.
26 Lise Hellebø Rykkja, “Independent Food Agencies – Restoring Confidence”, Policy and Society (2004), pp. 125 et sqq., at p. 129.
27 The Rapid Alert System for Food and Feed (RASFF) is an information system of the European Commission, which spreads important news on food safety to all the affected institutions to permit a coordinated reaction in case of crisis immediately.
28 HFSO, “Executive Summary of the activities of Hungarian Food Safety Office in 2007” (2007), p. 2, available on the Internet at <http://www.mebih.gov.hu/attachments/289_HFSO_Summary_EN.pdf> (last accessed on 27 October 2011).
29 Anonymous, Interview, supra note 23.
30 Gyula Kasza, Interview, supra note 13.
31 Ibid.
32 HFSO, “Executive Summary of the activities of Hungarian Food Safety Office in 2009” (Budapest, 2009), p. 3.
33 HFSO, “Executive Summary” (2007), supra note 28, p. 2.
34 See Anna Vári, Interview, 2010.
35 Mária Szeitzné Szabó, Interview, supra note 24.
36 HFSO, “Executive Summary” (2009), supra note 32, p. 2.
37 Anonymous, Interview, supra note 23.
38 Hellebø Rykkja, “Independent Food Agencies”, supra note 26, at p. 140.
39 HFSO 2010, “Outline from the draft version of the FVO Country Profile, supra note 17, p. 8.
40 Four persons are delegated by MARD; MH, ME and the Ministry of Social respectively are delegating two persons and one person is delegated by the Ministry of Environment; see Mária Szeitzné Szabó, Interview, supra note 24.
41 The panels are also named Scientific Standing Committees. They cover the following topics: Microbiological/chemical food safety; GMO; animal health; feed safety; plant health/residues; novel food; nutrition; drinking water safety.
42 Mária Szeitzné Szabó, Interview, supra note 24.
43 Anonymous, Interview, supra note 23.
44 Ferencz et al., “Food Safety Regulation in Hungary”, supra note 2, at p. 409.
45 See Mária Szeitzné Szabó, Interview, supra note 24.
46 Ibid.
47 Ferencz et al., “Food Safety Regulation in Hungary”, supra note 2, at p. 386.
48 Gilardi, Fabrizio, Delegation in the regulatory state: Independent regulatory agencies in Western Europe (Cheltenham: Edward Elgar, 2008), at p. 140 Google Scholar.
49 Anna Vári, Interview, supra note 34.