Previously he served as a diplomat at the Embassy of Hungary in Paris and as the head of the Department for Human Rights and Minority Protection in the Hungarian Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
His nine-year term at the ICC ended in March 2024, but he is continuing in office pursuant to Article 36 (10) of the Rome Statute to complete the trial of Alfred Yekatom and Patrice-Edouard Ngaïssona.
After his studies at the European University Centre in Nancy, France, in 1983/84, he received his law degree specialized in community rights.
From 1983 he was senior lecturer, from 1998 university professor, between 1999 and 2005 head of Department for International Law at Miskolc.
Between 1990 and 1994, Kovács worked at the Embassy of the Republic of Hungary to Paris, within the staff of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, while in 1998/99 he was head of Department for Human Rights and Minority Law.