Under the draft, only companies owned by the National Bank of Hungary (NBH) would be allowed to keep their financial data secret, on the ground that access to data would hurt their competitiveness. The changes also state that central bank’s foundations would still be audited by the State Audit Office.

András Tállai, state secretary in charge of taxation, declined to comment on the government’s opinion on the draft, saying that there has been no opportunity to discuss it yet. On March 30, the Kúria, Hungary’s supreme court, ruled that the central bank’s Pallas Athéné Domus Animae foundation must make all information available in response to data requests connected to tenders paid from public funds.

The Kuria upheld earlier court rulings which declared that the central bank’s foundations carry out public duties from public funds. Hungary’s Constitutional Court ruled the next day that amendments to the central bank law which would have allowed the bank to reject public information requests were unconstitutional.

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