Why Everything Slows Down in December in Hungary – A Practical Guide for Foreign Entrepreneurs

December in Hungary moves at a different pace.
Not only because of the holidays, but because a large part of the country shifts into a calmer rhythm at the same time.

Foreign entrepreneurs often experience this for the first time when

• e-mails receive slower replies,

• decisions are postponed,

• and administrative processes seem to stretch into January.

Nothing is wrong with the system. It is simply the way December works here.

Year-end fatigue – the human side

By the end of the year most people are genuinely tired.
Many employees plan their annual leave so that some of it falls in December.
Parents adjust to the school holidays, others simply want to close the year with a few quieter days.

The slowdown is therefore human first, and only then structural.

The working days are the same – the attention is not

Official working days remain the same in December, but the available attention is different.

The first two, sometimes three weeks of December are still active, but the focus has already shifted:

• year-end meetings

• internal closing discussions

• client events and corporate gatherings

• planning for the new year

Most organisations do not want to launch completely new, complex projects in mid-December.
The priority is no longer to "change everything" before year-end, but to close the year in a reasonably complete way.

Winter school holidays change the daily rhythm

The winter school holidays also reshape how people organise their lives.
Some families travel, others rearrange their schedules around children being at home.

This has a cumulative effect:
even those without children work in an environment where colleagues, partners and decision-makers are more likely to be on leave or partially available.

Construction and technical work often pause for 1–2 weeks

In many parts of the construction and technical sectors it is a long-standing habit to pause operations for one or two weeks around the end of the year.

This may affect:

• on-site works

• technical inspections

• expert visits

• any process that requires physical presence or coordination on site

Not every company closes, but where they do, the end of December is closer to a planned pause than an active project period.

Services without a "Christmas peak" also slow down

Not every sector experiences a commercial high season in December.
In B2B services – such as legal, advisory or other professional fields – the end of the year is more about closing and wrapping up than about starting new mandates.

In these areas it is very common to hear:

"Let's look at this in January."

This is rarely an excuse.
It is, in most cases, a realistic reflection of how much focused capacity remains in the final weeks of the year.

What this means if you are doing business in Hungary

Many foreign founders and clients treat December as a full working month.
The Hungarian reality is more nuanced: 

In most cases there are only 2 – at most 3 weeks in December when meaningful progress can be made. 

Even then, the pace is softer than during the rest of the year.

This does not mean that nothing can be done.
It simply means that December is better suited to preparation than to pushing for major decisions.

What December is well suited for

• gathering and organising documents

• reviewing contracts and structures

• clarifying open questions

• planning and strategy work

• preparing processes that will formally start in January

In other words:
December is an excellent month for preparation.

What often shifts into January

• processes that require the presence or coordination of several people

• technical or on-site steps

• launching new projects

• decisions that must go through several approval levels

• legal or administrative steps where the late-December period is excluded from deadline calculation

These are not impossible in December – but they are rarely predictable at the same speed as in other months.

Legal context – the December judicial recess

Hungarian procedural law also reflects the year-end slowdown.
Under Section 148 of Act CXXX of 2016 on the Code of Civil Procedure, the period between 24 December and 1 January is treated as a judicial recess.

This means that:

• procedural time limits do not run, and

• no hearings may be scheduled for this period.

The courts do not close entirely; they simply operate in a reduced, year-end rhythm.
In practice this means that most meaningful procedural steps are handled in January, unless a case requires particularly urgent attention.

For anyone navigating the system from abroad, understanding this framework helps explain why legal and administrative progress naturally becomes softer at the end of the year.

A structured overview of Hungarian legislation is available (in Hungarian) on the National Legislation Database: https://njt.hu/

Frequently asked questions

Q1: Is December a good month to start a new process in Hungary?
It depends on the type of process.
For planning, structuring, document review and clarifying questions, December can be very effective.
For steps that require fast external decisions, multiple approvals or on-site work, it is usually more realistic to prepare in December and execute in January.

Q2: Are offices and courts closed between 24 December and 1 January?
No.
Many institutions continue to operate, but often with reduced staff or limited availability.
In the courts, this period is treated as a judicial recess: deadlines do not run and hearings are not scheduled, which naturally leads to most visible progress appearing in January.

Q3: Why does everything feel slower if the official working days are the same?
Because the capacity is not the same.
People take leave, attend internal year-end meetings, participate in corporate events and focus on closing the year.
On paper the days are identical; in practice the available attention is different.

If you are planning something for December

If you are unsure whether your plans are realistic in December, you are welcome to describe your situation in a short e-mail.
I will outline what can reasonably be completed this year and what is better prepared for January.

You may reach me at: lilla.acs@dunalegal.com

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