Hungary - National Office for the Judiciary - EJTN

The independent judicial system of Hungary consists of a four-tier hierarchal structure: district courts, regional courts, regional courts of appeal and the Curia of Hungary. As of 1 January 2012, a governance model has been established in which the professional supervision of the judiciary was separated from the central administration. The President of the Curia is responsible for ensuring the uniformity and professional quality of judgments, while the President of the National Office for the Judiciary (NOJ) is responsible for the central administration of the courts.

NOJ’s main goal is to support the courts in fulfilling their constitutional duty to finish procedures on a high level of professional competence and within reasonable time. NOJ contributes to this goal by optimising the technical and human resources, guaranteeing better access to justice, developing the training system for judges and the court staff. The trainings are provided pursuant to the annual central education plan determined by the President of NOJ.

The Hungarian Academy of Justice (HAJ) operates as one of the departments of NOJ. Its primary tasks are to provide central trainings, to coordinate the regional and local training tasks of the courts also the relations of NOJ and the courts with international and academic establishments such as universities and researchers. In addition to HAJ’s domestic trainings, it actively participates in the trainings of its international partners and is the part of the international academic life.

The central trainings include the basic trainings related to the judicial career path and the continuous professional development for judges and judicial employees.

The purpose of the training of trainee judges is to support their preparation for the profession through trainings organised on civil, criminal, administrative, and labour law, both substantive and procedural law, as well as on constitutional law and the law of the European Union. After trainee judges successfully pass the bar exam, they can be appointed assistant judges who may act independently in matters within their competence referred there by law. The aim of their training is to deepen their professional knowledge and to prepare them for the judicial profession. The trainings consist of case management practices, mock trials, and competency development trainings.

The training for judges appointed for a three-year definite period aims to deepen professional knowledge and to support them in the practical aspects of their judicial activity, which they will continue to develop throughout their career, following a lifelong learning model.

Though HAJ is Budapest based, it also has a Training Centre in Balatonszemes since 2022. In both training centres the technical conditions are suitable for providing face-to-face trainings, even with simultaneous interpretation and video-streaming. HAJ also actively uses e-learning and online webinar training methods. HAJ has an individual, nationwide training information system, which identifies specific training target groups, manages targeted trainings, and handles online registration and previous training achievements of applicants through personal accounts.