ABSTRACT
This chapter is concerned with the problems of deregulation of foreign economic relations in Hungary. It summarizes the hesitant steps the government took in the 1980s to partially deregulate foreign trade, and outlines the deregulation program of the Reform Committee of the Nemeth Government. Deregulation usually refers to a process whereby the state decreases its intervention in the functioning of the market to assure free entry and to promote competition. The chapter presents examples of how invisible regulation affects the everyday practice of foreign trade and how it impedes reforms. The authorities not only justify their existence but also maintain the illusion that the economic processes, especially foreign trade and possibly every individual business, are all "in their hands." Obtaining export and import licenses for signing contracts is necessary except, for the most part, for the imports that have been liberalized. Licensing is regulated by an Order of the Minister, modified several times, and by a Ministry Instruction.
