After vote of no confidence by the Chamber of Deputies of the Parliament of the Czech Republic, the Czech minority government resigned on 17 January. It has continued as a caretaker government. New coalition negotiations have been underway. On 26 January, Miloš Zeman was re-elected president of the Czech Republic and was inaugurated on 8 March. Policy Statement of the Government of the Czech Republic from 8 January 2018

From the sessions of the Chamber of Deputies

Tax Code amendment proposal (bill no. 47), which had its second reading, suggests that banks, legal advisers, notaries, auditors, financial advisers, insurers etc should provide data on their clients if a tax administration office asks them to do so in suspicious cases. Change proposals were submitted.

The Chamber of Deputies is debating draft amendment to the Act on Free Access to Information bill no. 50 suggesting that state-controlled institutions, including state-owned companies should dislose information (according to Act no. 106/1999) and contracts within the registry of contracts.The bill will be debated by the Chamber Committees.

From the sessions of the Government

At its session on 7 February, the Government approved a proposal by a group of MPs (bill no.76) on speedier construction of transport infrastructure, including highways and motorways, railways and high-speed railways).

At its session on 21 February, the Government passed material intent of the Act on lobbying. 

On 14 February, the government approved the accession of the Czech Republic to the European fiscal pact. The Fiscal Pact is an international treaty that was signed on March 2, 2012 by twenty-five EU Member States, ie all but the UK, the Czech Republic and Croatia (which were not yet a member country). It is applicable from 1 January 2013 and is expected to be incorporated into the EU's contractual framework. EU Member States can access the pact at any time without restrictions. The content of the Pact is the framework for budgetary discipline and coordination of the economic policies of the EU Member States that the States Parties undertake to observe. The eurozone countries and non-euro area signatories who have voluntarily announced their intention to be bound by the provisions must implement the rule of balanced government budgets into national law. This means annual government-adjusted balance net of economic cycle and one-off and transitional measures (the so-called structural balance) not worse than minus 0.5 percent of GDP. Coordination and Governance in Economic and Monetary Union" has yet to be ratified by the Chamber of Deputies and signed by the President.

The Senate draft amendment to the Act on Online Sales Registration (EET, o Evidenci tržeb) is proposing further exemptions from the set of entities obliged to comply with this act. Senators suggest exemptions for specific cases of social and health care services. The Senate passed this bill on 7 December; the Government expressed disapproval. The bill will be debated by the Chamber of Deputies. At the same time, Civic Democrats in the Chamber of Deputies have proposed elimination of EET (which was rejected by the Government in December). This proposal was rejected by the Chamber of Deputies on 23 January. Another attempt to reduce the reach of EET in the Chamber pipeline is bill no. 41  suggesting application of EET only to income tax payers who are at the same time registered VAT payers.

The Office for the Protection of Personal Data (UOOU) published New explanatory guidelines for the GDPR. 

The Constitutional Court confirmed the possibility of "inheriting" the criminal liability of a legal entity when selling its business. For the buyer, this means more careful due diligence and better contractual protection against related risks is required. Details by DHP Legal. More on criminal liability of legal entities by Dentons (in Czech).