Entering Hungary through distributors: one procurement system, KEF framework agreements and a careful first e-mail

Hungary suits a manufacturer that wants one clear map of public demand: every procedure runs through a single electronic system, and a central purchasing body publishes the framework agreements that hospitals and state institutions buy from. The work is in the Hungarian paperwork and in a careful first contact.

Putting it simply: Hungarian public buyers are supplied by local distributors and dealers that hold stock, deliver and service in the country, and prepare bids in Hungarian. Procedures run through EKR, the Elektronikus Közbeszerzési Rendszer; notices appear in the Közbeszerzési Értesítő and, above the EU thresholds, on TED; and KEF, the central purchasing body, concludes framework agreements for whole groups of institutions. Buyers expect Hungarian documents and a Hungarian company record they can check. Payment is due in 30 days by default. A company's generic e-mail address may be approached unless the company has objected, but a sole trader needs prior consent.

How the market buys

Local distributors carry the tender work

In technical and professional categories the usual route is a Hungarian distributor that buys from the manufacturer, holds stock, delivers, handles service and spare parts, and bids for public contracts on behalf of the brand. In our analysis of TED award notices for supplies (September 2026), 98% of the winners in the 2,082 notices from buyers in Hungary were companies registered in the country; those local winners include distributors and dealers as well as manufacturers' own subsidiaries (see our methodology). A foreign manufacturer enters by being listed with them.

Central purchasing through KEF

Hungary relies heavily on centralised procurement. The Public Procurement Act defines a central purchasing body as an organisation entitled to request tenders in centralised procurement, and centralised procurement as a permanent activity of buying goods or services for, or concluding contracts and framework agreements for, other contracting authorities (Act CXLIII of 2015, Kbt., § 3 points 25 and 26). The Közbeszerzési és Ellátási Főigazgatóság (KEF, the Directorate-General for Public Procurement and Supply) publishes its framework agreements on the centralised procurement portal at kozbeszerzes.gov.hu. In October 2026 alone, the portal announced framework agreements for various medicines, for endoscopes and laparoscopes, and for chronic and acute dialysis machines, and an extension of the frameworks for instrument and surface disinfectants.

If your category is bought through a KEF framework, the framework holders are the distributors that sell to state institutions for its term, and the next framework procedure is when a new brand can be offered. Otherwise hospitals, municipalities, schools and universities buy through their own procedures in EKR.

The proof Hungarian buyers expect

Documents in Hungarian

Hungarian is the working language of the trade:

• In a public procedure, the buyer must also accept a translation made by the tenderer of documents submitted in a language other than Hungarian (Kbt. § 47(2)). Your distributor can therefore translate your declarations and technical sheets itself, but it needs them in good time and in usable form.
• In commercial advertising published in Hungarian-language press, broadcasting or on outdoor media, the text, including the slogan, must appear in Hungarian, apart from the company name and trade mark; a foreign-language text may stay if a Hungarian equivalent is shown at least as visibly and at least as large (Act XCVI of 2001, § 1). Shop signs and notices informing consumers in a shop must also appear in Hungarian (§ 2).

As of November 2026 we could not confirm on an official source a single Hungarian rule on product labels and instructions that applies across all categories; the requirements sit in product-specific legislation. In practice a distributor will ask for technical sheets, instructions, declarations of conformity and price lists in Hungarian, ready to attach to a bid.

Conformity evidence

CE marking under the EU legislation for your product is the baseline. Expect to be asked for the declaration of conformity and the test reports behind it, measured against the standards Hungarian buyers cite in their tender specifications, and check whether your category needs a national registration.

A company record that can be checked

Hungarian buyers and distributors check counterparties in public registers. The Ministry of Justice's company information service at e-cegjegyzek.hu gives free, informative company data from the company register, searchable by name or company registration number (cégjegyzékszám); the free extract cannot be used as an authentic document, and certified extracts come from the national company register system. The tax authority NAV publishes searchable databases of taxpayers, of tax-debt-free taxpayers and of suspended tax numbers (adószám). A foreign manufacturer will not appear there, so have your own home register extract, VAT number and, where useful, a Hungarian translation ready for the distributor's supplier file.

Invoicing

Hungary already collects invoice data centrally. Since 4 January 2021, data on every invoice, and every modifying or cancelling invoice, to which the invoicing rules of the VAT Act apply must be sent to NAV through the Online Számla system (Act CXXVII of 2007, Annex 10, as stated by NAV). Your distributor's invoices to Hungarian buyers are reported this way. Using an electronic invoice requires the recipient's consent, unless the law provides otherwise (VAT Act, § 175(3)). As of November 2026 we could not confirm on an official Hungarian source a date for mandatory structured e-invoicing between businesses; the data reporting is a separate obligation. Check the details for your own invoicing with your tax adviser.

Payment terms

Under § 6:130 of the Civil Code (Act V of 2013, Ptk.), where the contract does not set a payment date, a money debt is due within 30 days of receipt of the creditor's payment request or invoice. Between businesses, a term that departs from this unilaterally and without justification to the creditor's detriment, in breach of good faith, may be challenged as unfair, and a term longer than 60 days is presumed unfair unless shown otherwise. When a contracting authority owes the money to a business, it must pay within 30 days of receipt of the invoice; a longer term is allowed only if expressly agreed and justified by the nature of the contract, and never beyond 60 days. If your distributor supplies hospitals or municipalities, its own cash cycle is bounded by these rules; agree your terms with that in mind, and check contract terms with your adviser.

Where public demand is visible

Hungarian procurement is organised in two layers above a national floor, set by the estimated value of the contract.

• Below the national thresholds: the Kbt. procedure is not required, because the duty to run one applies from the thresholds upwards (Kbt. § 4(1)); a purchase may not be split to avoid them (§ 19(2)). From 1 January 2026 the national thresholds for classical contracting authorities are HUF 20,000,000 for supplies and for services and HUF 60,000,000 for works; for utilities, HUF 50,000,000 for supplies and services and HUF 100,000,000 for works. They are set each year in the central budget act, for 2026 in § 75 of Act LXIX of 2025, unchanged from 2025 (Kbt. § 15(3); Public Procurement Authority notice of 2026).
• National procedures: from the national threshold up to the EU threshold, buyers follow Part Three of the Kbt. (§ 21(1)).
• EU procedures: from 1 January 2026, supplies and services bought by ministries and the central purchasing bodies designated by the Government reach the EU threshold at €140,000 (HUF 55,412,840), and those of other contracting authorities at €216,000 (HUF 85,494,096), as published by the Public Procurement Authority. These notices also appear on TED.

In both procedure layers, the buyer must send the notice on the result of the procedure for publication within 20 days of concluding the contract (Kbt. § 37(1)(h) and (2)). The law defines EKR as the central procurement register and IT system, operated by the minister responsible for public procurement, that supports the electronic conduct of procedures (§ 3 point 5a); contracting authorities register in it, and the Public Procurement Authority keeps its register of contracting authorities there (§ 26). EKR's public pages let anyone search current, future and closed procedures, and offer an automatic notice alert in the procedure archive (Eljárástár). The Authority edits the official journal, the Közbeszerzési Értesítő, in which procurement notices are published.

Lawful first contact

Hungary is more open than Austria or Romania next door, but the rule depends on who receives the e-mail. Section 6(1) of Act XLVIII of 2008 on commercial advertising (Grt.) allows advertising to a natural person by direct contact, in particular by electronic mail, only with that person's clear and express prior consent. Section 14(2) of the e-commerce act (Act CVIII of 2001, Ekertv.) adds that a message whose only purpose is to ask for that consent is itself electronic advertising. For direct marketing outside the scope of section 6, section 162(2) of the Electronic Communications Act (Act C of 2003, Eht.) prohibits initiating contact with a subscriber who has declared that it does not wish to receive it. A message to a company's generic address therefore falls under an objection-based rule rather than prior consent.

The statute does not say in terms how a named business address is treated. The regulator NMHH says in its guidance that the law prohibits unsolicited electronic advertising sent "not to a company or contact person, but to a plain private individual" (in Hungarian: "nem cégnek, kapcsolattartónak, hanem egyszerű magánembernek"). A sole trader (egyéni vállalkozó) is a natural person and needs prior consent. Guidance is not a court ruling, so the cautious course is to write to the generic address the company publishes, identify your company fully, give a specific reason why your range fits what the distributor already sells, offer a free way to object, stop at once if asked, and keep the contact's data to what the enquiry needs (GDPR). A letter by post to the management (the ügyvezető of a Kft., the board or vezérigazgató of a Zrt.; Ptk. 3:196, 3:282 and 3:283), the sector's trade fair or an introduction remain the safest first steps. This is a summary, not legal advice; check your outreach plan with your adviser. The Hungary market page sets out the rule and the steps.

What this means for a manufacturer

• Find the distributors through the public trail: TED for the larger awards, EKR and the Közbeszerzési Értesítő for national procedures, and the KEF portal for framework holders.
• Check each candidate on e-cegjegyzek.hu and in NAV's databases, and have your own register extract and VAT number ready for theirs.
• Prepare Hungarian documents first: technical sheets, instructions, declarations and price lists, ready for a bid.
• Price for the tender: leave the distributor a margin and agree how prices move over a multi-year framework.
• Keep payment terms within the Civil Code: 30 days by default, more than 60 presumed unfair between businesses, and never beyond 60 for public buyers.
• Make the first contact to the company's generic address with an opt-out, by letter, at a fair or through an introduction. Get consent before writing to a sole trader.

Where Cresques fits

Create a market for Hungary, choose your CPV categories (or let the materials reader suggest them from a brochure or website), and Cresques shows the companies named in TED award notices for those categories, with personal details removed. A company profile shows every award with value and buyer and an AI-researched role, distinguishing an independent distributor from a manufacturer's own subsidiary. The first message is drafted in Hungarian, with an English version, for the lawful channel. Below the EU thresholds, Cresques does not yet show Hungarian awards, and it does not list KEF framework holders; search EKR, the Közbeszerzési Értesítő and the KEF portal yourself.