The National Authority for Data Protection and Freedom of Information  (hereinafter "the Authority" or "the NAIH")  is responsible  for monitoring and promoting the enforcement of two fundamental rights: the right to the protection of personal data and the right to freedom of information (access to data of public interest and data accessible on public interest grounds) in Hungary, as well as promoting the free movement of personal data within the European Union.

Based on constitutional provision, the Act CXII of 2011 on  the right to informational self-determination and on the freedom of information (hereinafter "the Act CXII of 2011"), which  entered into force on 1 January 2012,  established the  Authority  and regulated its operation in detail.

The Act CXII of 2011 is comprehensive in scope,  as it is applicable to all data processing operations  undertaken in Hungary regardless of the public or private legal status of those performing such operations, including also law enforcement, national security and defence sectors, together with activities which relate to the data of a natural person, as well as data in the public interest and data made public on the grounds of being in the public interest.

This sector-neutral and generally applicable nature of the Hungarian data protection regime was, to the extent possible, consciously retained by the legislator when the necessary legislative steps were taken to align the Hungarian legal system with the EU data protection reform. The Hungarian lawmaker decided not to repeal the Act CXII of 2011 but to amend it substantially in order to implement the  General Data Protection Regulation (EU) 2016/679 (“GDPR”)  and to transpose the Directive  2016/680, also known as the Law Enforcement Directive  (“LED”) into the Hungarian legal system. The Act CXII of 2011 supplements a directly applicable GDPR and continues to apply to all data processing operations (including law enforcement, national security and defence) under Hungarian jurisdiction.