Inconsistent decisions on exemption from the Mall Ban

Responding to atlatszo.hu’s FOIA request, the Minister for Economy sent us the legal decisions about the requests for exemption from the so-called mall ban provision. Folowing careful examination, we revealed that if the law isn’t clear, law enforcement invents new principles, which are specific for each case. According to the relevant government ordinance, an impact assessment is mandatory but the specifications are incomplete, therefore the discretion of the Minister is essentially unlimited.

The size, the spot, the function, the expected size of the traffic, the contamination are very important but there are „other standpoints” which might be considered, such as the environmental effect of the investment, or the use of developed waste management solutions.

We concluded that the decisions of the Minister are frequently based on intuition and the judgments of some circumstances related to the investments are also inconsistent. There are also confusing terms. We’ve found numerous conflicting decisions and unjustified statements. In the rule of Law it is impermissible for the competent authority to make his own procedural aspects, however in practice, the authority doesn’t apply them consequently. Based on our analysis of the decisions we are certain that the process contains a high risk of corruption.