One of the issues identified by the Board of AmCham as crucial to the development of the Hungarian economy is transparency.

In 2008 the Board of Governors of AmCham made a decision on distinguishing the Committees and Councils stating the priority issues of the Chamber. In 2009 the Transparency Committee continued its mission as a Council.


Péter Lakatos took the lead of the Council in 2010. This year was not only special from the point of view of the country’s internal political and economic developments, but corruption has increasingly been discussed as a very interesting topic and a phenomenon having a big impact on the society in general and on business in particular.

Corruption was one of the central subjects of pr-election campaign speeches and has been generally regarded as a key issue for the nation. Several conferences were organised with the participation of noted lecturers, and the study “Wings and Weights” had a chapter devoted to this question.

The study was compiled by the so-called Council of the Wise, established by Dr. László Sólyom, President of the Republic at the time. Corruption was one of the important chapter topics of the publication. In the Hungarian press and among members of AmCham high attention has been paid to topics such as party and campaign financing, public procurement policies, law enforcement and the functioning of the judicial system, black and gray economy, the freedom of doing business, the proliferated bureaucracy and the taxation system.

The Transparency Council aimed to determine its role in this economic, politic and social environment. In early 2011 we intend to organize a conference with recognised speakers. The Council’s discussed and adopted the NIVEUS project, with the aim of organizing a training session and a conference on anti-corruption and ethical corporate business behaviour to educate the business community and to present good practice and precedents for other stakeholders.

We consider equally important:

  • Cooperation with the Corporate Governance and Business Integrity Council
  • Cooperation with other bilateral chambers in order to share Best Practices
  • To initiate a direct communication / dialogue with the Government
  • Drafting of a Position Brief
  • To closely work together with Transparency International and other NGOs
  • To determine what the business sector’s expectations are on these issues.


The positive initiatives of 2010 together with the increased level interest within economy, politics and society give and adequate base for the AmCham in 2011 to attract attention to the problems through the TC, and to start projects which can significantly support the straight and transparent functioning of the economy and politics of Hungary.