Procedures to renew a passport (follow-up to HUN36476.E of 24 January 2001) [HUN36436.E]

Two sources in Hungary, the Hungarian Civil Liberties Union and the Hungarian Helsinki Committee, provided detailed information on the issuance and renewal of passports in Hungary. The relevant parts of their replies to the Research Directorate's query are reproduced below.

On 30 January 2001 a representative of the Hungarian Civil Liberties Union stated the following:

Passport renewal is subject to the same general regulations as issuing a first passport. ... The passport authority makes inquiries to establish whether the applicant is identical with the citizen in whose name the passport (or its renewal) is requested and whether he/she is eligible to have a passport. Related to this inquiry, the National Data Base, the Criminal Data Base and the Penitentiary System's Data Base may be consulted for information. In itself, past criminal conviction does not make an applicant ineligible.
However, the passport or its renewal has to be denied to anybody
Who is subject to criminal procedure for a crime that is punishable by a prison sentence of 5 years or more (until a court's sentence comes into force);
Who is in preventive detention related to a criminal procedure started against him/her, or who is subject to some other coercive measure of similar legal consequences (such as prohibition to leave his/her domicile, forced treatment, or custody);
Who is sentenced to imprisonment (until the sentence is served or the statute of limitations applies)
Who is obligated, by a court sentence, to pay a large sum (10 million Hungarian Florints or more) of unpaid taxes, customs, social security contributions, etc.;
Who was sentenced for a crime punishable by three years or more of imprisonment and, as a collateral punishment, was deprived of his/her passport.
Minors or people under guardianship are subject to special regulations.
The passport does not include data on criminal past, but the passport authority, in the process of issuing or renewing the passport, may get in possession of such data. These are classed by Hungarian law as personal data of high sensitivity, and their handling is subject to special regulations.
The relevant legal provisions are as follows: the Law on Travelling Abroad, XII/1998, the Criminal Procedure Act, I/1973, and government orders and Home Secretary's ordinances on the application of the above laws.

On 9 February 2001 a representative of the Hungarian Helsinki Committee stated the following:

Legal basis

The Act No. 12 of 1998 on Travelling Abroad (hereinafter ATA) contains the fundamental provisions of the different types of passports and travel documents issued by the Hungarian authorities, the basic procedural rules of issuing those documents, and the limitations set by the law on travelling abroad.
The Act was completed by two implementing decrees: the Govt. Decree No. 101 of 1998 and the Decree of the Minister of Interior No. 37 of 1998.
According to the Govt. Decree the first instance administrative authority with a jurisdiction covering the country is the [Központi Adatfeldolgozó, Nyilvántartó, és Választási Hivatal] of the Ministry of Interior (hereinafter: passport office), entitled to decide on every official proceedings related to the individual passport.
Based on the Act, the Minister of Interior appointed a so-called central data processing body, i.e. the [Adatfeldolgozó Hivatal] (which is a department in the same office, but separate from the official department making the decisions), working in close co-operation with the decision making department. This latter central data processing body has the right to obtain data from different authorities (see below), and administer them and transmit them to the official passport authority. The central data processing body gathers and processes a huge number of data, with a great variety, not only those in connection to the passport proceedings. Some of the information necessary for the official decision is not at the disposal of the central data processing body, therefore, the decision making department may turn directly to other administrative authorities requesting the necessary data.
According to the Act, any decision delivered at the first instance administrative procedure can be appealed to the Minister of Interior. The final administrative decision may be brought before the Metropolitan Court. No further legal remedy is available against the court decision.

Limitations on travelling abroad

a) The passport office rejects the application for a travel document or withdraws the travel document issued if
the person in concern falls under the provisions of limitation on travelling abroad;
the travel document was used unlawfully or it was forged;
after the right to have a travel document has ceased, the citizen has not returned his or her travel document to the authority. (Section 19. of ATA)
b) A citizen is restricted from travelling abroad
if s/he is under criminal procedure for having committed a serious crime, until the criminal procedure is terminated;
if s/he is in pre-trial detention within a criminal procedure, in custody, furthermore is under temporary compulsory medical treatment;
who has been sentenced to executable imprisonment, until his/her sentence has been served;
who is under prohibition of leaving the residence ordered by the court;
whose passport has been seized by the authorities in a criminal procedure;
who has more than 10 million Forints (cca. 35,000 USD) of debt due to failure to pay taxes, duty or social and health care contribution established by a final (court) decision, until the payment of such debt. (Section 16. subsection 1. of ATA)

Proceedings

...
In criminal procedures, the prosecutor, the proceeding criminal judge or the penitentiary judge transmits [to the authorities] the personal data of a person under criminal procedure, specific data characterizing the criminal procedure, and the time of the final termination of a criminal procedure. (Section 25. point a) of ATA)
In the case of a failure in the payment of public debt the ordering of the prohibition to travelling abroad may be proposed by the tax authority, the customs authority and the Health Care and Pension. Therefore, these authorities process the personal data of the persons in concern and the amount of their public debt to the central data processing body. [Section 16. subsection 3. and Section 25. point b) of ATA]

The investigation of the passport authority

The passport authority (and the central data processing body) may administer the personal data, the portrait and the signature of the citizen, information on the travel documents issued, and the personal data, address of the citizens under prohibition measurement [sic] of travelling abroad, and the reason of the prohibition. (Section 24. of ATA)
Whenever a citizen applies for a travel document, the passport authority carries out an investigation on the establishment of the person's identity and the actual right to travel abroad.
For this reason the passport authority
can obtain data from the central register of the citizens' personal data and address;
can obtain data specified in the above paragraph from the central data processing body;
can directly or through the central data processing body obtain data from the criminal register, from the central police wanted list and from the central penitentiary register. [Section 26. points a)-c)]

This Response is not, and does not purport to be, conclusive as to the merit of any particular claim to refugee status or asylum.

Reference


Hungarian Civil Liberties Union, Budapest. 30 January 2001. Correspondence.

Hungarian Helsinki Committee, Budapest. 9 February 2001. Correspondence.

Associated documents