Law 102/2023 on territorial development.

This Law efforts the balanced territorial development of Hungary, the specific social, economic and environmental challenges and tasks characteristic of the regions of the country, the improvement of the population retention capacity of the countryside, and the maintenance and strengthening of national and regional identity that require the compilation and consistent implementation of need-based development programs based on sectoral and regional cooperation. To this end, it is necessary to strengthen the financing background of regional development and the service nature of its institutional system, as well as to rethink the spatial categories used.
The purpose of this Law is to establish the basic tasks and rules of spatial development and territorial planning, and to establish its institutional system. The scope of the Law covers the regulation of state spatial development tasks, the coordination tasks of local governments performing spatial development tasks, and spatial planning tasks. The purpose of territorial development is: a) increasing the country's competitiveness and strengthening territorial cohesion, ensuring sustainable development in all regions of the country, promoting the spatial spread of innovation, creating a spatial structure that meets social, economic and environmental goals, creating frameworks for optimal land use; b) mitigating significant differences between the capital city, cities and villages, as well as between regions and settlements that are more developed than the national average and those that are less than that - manifested in living conditions, economic and social characteristics and infrastructural provision; c) creating a harmonious spatial structure of the country in cooperation with the spatial planning policy; d) maintaining and strengthening national and regional identity; e) strengthening the population retention power of the countryside; f) promoting sustainable management of social and environmental resources; g) improving the welfare of society, raising the standard of living of the population and ensuring equal opportunities in society. Major tasks of territorial development are as follows: a) promoting and coordinating regional and local community development initiatives with national objectives; b) the development, coordination and enforcement of the development policy that promotes the renewal of society and the economy and utilizes regional resources in the regions of the country with different endowments; c) defining and developing regional development concepts and programs in order to improve the balance of society, the economy and the environment; d) implementation of regional development programs that respond to specific regional needs in order to ensure equal opportunities for access to well-being and liability conditions; e) improving the conditions of innovation in centers with the appropriate production and intellectual background, and promoting the regional spread of innovations; f) promoting the catch-up and development of regions that are less developed than the national average; g) identification of areas facing specific challenges from a social, economic and environmental point of view and therefore to be managed together in terms of development policy; h) in the framework of international cooperation, promoting compliance with the cohesion policy of the European Union, utilizing the mutual benefits inherent in regional cooperation and promoting the coordinated development of border areas; i) the creation and implementation of a uniform territorial policy coordinated with rural development, spatial planning, regional public administration, settlement development and the performance of the tasks of local governments; j) monitoring of regional development processes; k) regional coordination of sectoral policies. The territorial development task of the state in particular are: a) catching up with backward, peripheral areas; b) mitigation of regional differences in the availability of public services; c) supporting European integration and innovation territorial development tasks, promoting the realization of regional territorial development goals; d) strengthening regional competitiveness. Regional development tasks are carried out by state bodies, local governments, natural persons and their organizations, management organizations and interest protection organizations, as well as other institutions in a coordinated and cooperative manner.
The text is divided into six main thematic Chapter and a total of 38 sections. Titles of these Chapters are as follows: I. General provisions; II. Duties and powers of the central state bodies responsible for area development; III. Territorial bodies providing territorial development and their tasks; IV. Tools of area development; V. Territorial planning; VI. Final provisions.