President Zeman signed Act on Central Registry of Contracts on 3 December.

On 9 December, despite opposition of the Senate, the Chamber of Deputies, the Lower Chamber of the Czech Parliament greenlighted draft amendment to the Act on Consumer Protection, including rules for registry of debtors and out-of-court consumer dispute settlement. President signed the bill on 15 December.

From the sessions of the Senate

At its session on 10 December 2015, the Senate, the Upper Chamber of the Czech Parliament, passed bills related to the termination of the second tier of the Czech pension system. 

On December.2, the Senate approved national holiday on Good Friday as a commemoration of the opposition of Czech students against the Nazi régime in 1939. This one day off would amount to 0.1-0.4% of yearly GDP loss, estimates say. Read more. 

From the sessions of the Government

At its session on 14 December, the Government passed the Plan of legislative works for 2016, a summary of implementation works for 2016 and a plan of implementation works for 2016 and following years. Plan of non-legislative works for the first half and the second half of 2016.

At its session on 14 December, the Government approved 2016 action plan for fight against corruption.

From the sessions of the Chamber of Deputies

On 18 December, draft amendment to the Act on Elections to the Parliament of the Czech Republic was submitted to MPs and the Government. The bill no. 676 proposes rules for correspondence vote.

At its session on 9 December, the Chamber of Deputies passed the 2016 state budget bill, with a Kč 70 billion deficit, and mid-term spending frameworks for 2017 and 2018 at Kč 1,211.7 billion and Kč 1,245.7 billion, respectively, excluding EU money.

The Government passed at its session on 26 October draft Act on Collection of Acts and International Treaties. The material introduces electronic process of making and adopting new legislation and allegedly lowers corruption risks related to the making of new regulations. The bill could come into effect on 1 January 2019. The bills no. 646 and 647 will be debated by the Committee for Constitution of the Chamber of Deputies on 13 January 2016.

The draft Act on Public Procurement (bill no. 637) and amendments to related acts (bill no. 638) had their first reading on 27 November. The Committee for Constitution of the Chamber of Deputies will review the bill on 14 January 2016.

The draft Act on Online Sales Reporting (EET) is having its third reading in the Chamber of Deputies (Bill no. 513). The stated intent of the Bill is to address tax evasion and increase the effectivity of tax collection (income tax, VAT).

The draft amendment to the Act on Business Activities on the Capital Market Business (Capital Market Undertakings Act) had its first reading on 7 October and is being reviewed by the Chamber Committees (Bill no. 571). The Budget Committee of the Chamber debated the bill on 12 November and recommended its approval. The aim of the proposal is to harmonize the Czech law with EU legislation. The proponents suggest provision of more informatio about the ownership structure of a company; shareholdres of companies with basic capital exceeding 500 mil CZK should be obliged to report to issuer and the Czech National Bank it their share of the company exceeds 1%. There should also be changes of administrative fees connected with capital market.

At its session on 29 July the the Government passed draft amendment to the Act on Association in Political Parties and Political Movements that includes the issue of political party financing. The Bill no. 569 had its first reading on 20 October and will be reviewed by the Committees of the Chamber. Read more. The stated intent of the draft act is to introduce more transparent control of financing of political parties and political movements. This includes using transparent bank accounts, setting limits for donations from physical and legal entities, providing detailed overview of incomes and expenditures within annual reports, including elections-related expenditures, and publishing annual reports on the internet. The draft act also gives political parties and movements the opportunity to set up research-oriented political institutes or think-tanks that would be eligible for state contributions. The draft act also provides for the foundation of an independent authority for controlling financing of political parties, based on GRECO (Group of States against Corruption under Council of Europe) recommendations. According to the draft amendment, the limit for a donation of an individual to a political party is set at 3 million CZK. The proposed limits for election campaign financing are following: 90 million CZK for general elections, 40 million CZK for presidential elections, 7 million CZK for regional elections, No limits were set for municipal elections, including the Prague Magistrate. The limit for elections to the European Parliament remains at 50 million CZK. Also, the Government passed draft act introducing changes to election-related acts and other related acts.

Draft amendment to the Act on the Conflict of Interest, bill no. 564, had its first reading in the Chamber of Deputies on 16 December and will be reviewed by the Chamber Committees on 13 and 14 January 2016. The material proposes the introduction of an obligation to submit a declaration proving the origin of assets owned by public service officers/politicians on the very first day of his/her service in the new function. The current obligation requires submission of such declaration after one year in office.

Draft amendment to the Act on Criminal Liability of Legal Entities, Bill no. 304 had its first reading in the Chamber of Deputies in November 2014 and its review at the level of standing committees of the Chamber was interrupted (in January and again in March 2015). On 7 December 2015, the Committee for Constitution adopted change proposals and recommended the Chamber of Deputies to pass the bill. The Act entered into force on 1 January 2012 and comprises a list of acts for which a legal entity bears criminial liability. The intent of the draft amendment is to replace this list (comprising a limited number of criminal acts) by a list of criminal acts with which legal persons cannot be charged. This approach should cover a much wider range of criminal breaches, the proponents suggest.

The draft Act on Proving the Origin of Assets is having its first reading in the Chamber of Deputies (Bill no. 235). The Government submitted its position (neutral) on the bill to the Chamber of Deputies on 15 July 2014 and the first reading started in February 2015, unfinished.

At its session on 6 May 2015 the Government passed a draft amendment to the Act on the Support of Research, Experimental Development and Innovation. The material had its first reading in the Chamber of Deputies (Bill no. 489) on 16 September. The second reading started on 25 November 2015 and was interrupted; changing proposals are being submitted. The aim of the bill is to harmonize the Czech law with the new EU legislation and thus increase clarity and applicability of the national legislation. The draft amendment comprises changes in terminology, definitions (industrial research, applied research, experimental development, research organizations), conditions for subsidies and cummulation thereof, etc.

The Act on Significant Market Power for the Sale of Agricultural and Food Products and Abuse thereof (bill no. 444) had its third reading and was approved on 9 December 2015. The Bill extends the list of banned practices of retail chains, such as charging of listing fees, for example. Newly, according to the draft act, sanctions for violation of the law by retail chains could be as high as 10% of their net turnover or 10 million CZK. Read more. At its session on 3 June, the Government rejected another draft amendment to the Act (Bill no. 478). Proponents (a group of MPs) suggest termination of the Act, as, among other reasons, it only addresses the issue of dominance on the part of buyers without mentioning the dominant position of suppliers in buyer-supplier relationships. This is a discriminatory approach, and in their words, the best regulation would be no regulation in the case of the Czech retail market. The bill is on the list to be debated by the Chamber at its session that started on 24 November.

The Government passed a draft amendment to the Act on Universities, at its session on 15 April 2015. The draft amendment had its second reading in the Chamber of Deputies on 25 November (Bill no. 464); change proposals are being submitted. The intent of the bill is, among others, to regulate accreditation activities and ensure high quality of tertiary education in the Czech Republic, as well as regulate activities of branches of foreign universities operating in the Czech Republic. The Czech Republic experienced a surge in the number of university students between 2000 and 2014. In 2000, there were 8 private universities, compared with 44 private universities in 2014. The number of public universities increased by 2 (from 24 to 26) and the number of state universities decreased from 4 to 2 (3 army schools merged into 1) in the last 14 years. The number of new students entering Czech universities rised by 86 percentage points in that period and the share of those having tertiary education in the Czech population aged 25 to 64 grew from 10,96% to 19,28%. The diversity of study fields is high, with around 8829 study study fields in 2700 study programs (as of 30 June 2014).

Legislation drafts:

On 10 December, the Legislative Council of the Government passed material proposal of the act on services provided by real estate agents/intermediaries.

At its sessions on 1 October and 26 November, the Legislative Council of the Government postponed debate on the draft amendment to the Insolvency (Bankruptcy) Act.. The stated intent of the draft amendment is to increase control over insolvency administrators, courts and transparency of insolvency proceedings, including better protection from bullying behavior and more effective submission of documents into data boxes. Read details. Find out more on technological progress in the insolvency area in a surveyconducted by Právní prostor.

The Ministry for Regional Development has been reviewing comments from the interministerial review of its draft amendment to the Construction Act. Click here to view the material.

The Criminal Code draft amendment has been prepared by the Ministry of Justice. Among other proposals, presence of defendants as judges read verdict will be obligatory. More details here.

The interministerial review of the draft amendment to the Act on Employment ended on 9 June. The purpose of the amendment is to regulate temporary employment, including chaining of fixed-term contracts, quotas for temporary employees and protection of temporary employees against insolvency of their employer. Click here to read the draft amendment.

The interministerial review of the draft amendment to the Act on the Residence of Foreigners in the Czech Republic ended on 6 June. The stated intent of the draft amendment is to make the Act simple, compact and user-friendly. For example, the proponents of the bill suggest separation of the EU agenda (entry, residence) from the agenda related to third countries' nationals. The new system should pass more responsibility on foreigners/applicants and/or entities that need these foreigners to enter and reside in the Czech Republic. Click here to read the draft amendment.