Documents and Laws in Parliament

The proposal amends the Constitution so that MPs and Senators would no longer normally need the consent of their chamber to prosecute. The chamber would now only be able to temporarily exclude a prosecution at the reasoned request of the member concerned if it is necessary to protect the independent exercise of the mandate. At the same time, special immunity for misdemeanours would be abolished and the existing safeguards for arrest and detention would be maintained. Effective from 1 January 2027.

The amendment changes the rules in the protection zones of national parks. Consent of the nature protection authority is not to be required for construction and other interventions in the buildable area of this protection zone even within 150 metres of the boundary of such an area. At the same time, the law changes the term “built-up” areas to “developable”, which clarifies the existing regulation and expands the area without such consent.

The amendment modifies a part of the amendment to the Road Act so as to clearly link the new concept of a buildable area to the Building Act and to remove interpretative ambiguities. At the same time, it changes the terminology from the existing built-up area to a buildable area and replaces the jurisdiction of the Transport and Energy Construction Office with the new Office for the Development of the Territory of the Czech Republic. An important impact is the five-year transition period for legally established advertising facilities, which would now need a permit after the extension of the protection zone. The proposal also provides for a transition between the old and the new definition of the area for advertising facilities in road protection zones.

The amendment changes the rules in the protection zones of national parks. Now, the consent of the nature protection authority would not be required for construction and other interventions in the buildable area of the protection zone even within 150 metres from its boundary. At the same time, the text of the law replaces the term “built-up” areas with “developable”, which clarifies the link with the new terminology of the Construction Act.

The amendment effectively deletes the previously proposed transitional provisions on conservation. The rule that conservation plans in progress for conservation reserves and zones would be finalised under the old regime, as well as the rule that conservation plans already issued would automatically be considered as new conservation, management and development plans, are repealed. The impact is that this continuity and explicit transition between the old and new arrangements no longer remains in the proposal.

The amendment amends the Real Estate Tax Act so that a municipality can only set the local coefficient and the exemption in the event of an emergency by a generally binding decree, not by a general measure. This abolishes the special regime for specified immovable property, deletes related provisions and maintains the validity of previously issued measures until they are repealed or replaced. The aim is to reduce the administrative burden on municipalities, to standardise the procedure and to make it easier for municipalities to respond fiscally to, for example, short-term accommodation or the consequences of natural events.

The amendment changes the rules for maintaining sensitive data on technical infrastructure in digital technical maps of regions. A new agreement on a different way of keeping such data is concluded between the owner, administrator or operator of the infrastructure and the Czech Office of Surveying and Cadastre, and must be approved by the relevant central administrative authority. At the same time, the validity of amendments and termination of the agreement is explicitly regulated and it is stipulated that the rights and obligations under the agreement are transferred to the legal successor. The proposal is thus intended to eliminate dysfunctional practices and better protect infrastructure important for defence, order and security.

The government has taken a neutral stance on the proposal, but points to several practical risks. In particular, it is concerned about the possible abuse of the active customer regime in increasing the limit of transfer points, the technical unpreparedness of EDC systems and the unrealistic effectiveness from 1 January 2027. At the same time, it warns that favouring only municipalities, regions and their organisations may distort the balance between market participants and complicate the verification of electricity sharing conditions.

The Government does not agree with the proposal to lower the age for active voting in municipal elections from 18 to 16. It states that this is a major systemic intervention without sufficient professional and social debate and that the proposal does not address the follow-up effects on other laws, local referendums or the organisation of elections. The Government says the change would increase costs and could cause practical complications, particularly when it coincides with other elections where the 18-year age limit remains.

The proposal significantly tightens the rules on temporary protection, asylum and residence of foreigners, especially those from Ukraine, and strengthens the security powers of the state and specialised judicial review. It changes the conditions for humanitarian benefits, health insurance and some school rules, and makes them more closely linked to actual residence, activity and compliance with obligations. It also introduces the obligation to register some vehicles with Ukrainian plates and a ban on driving them for selected persons after a transitional period, along with new sanctions. At the same time, penalties for smuggling and related illegal migration are being toughened; most of the changes are to apply from 2027, while some of the social and transport measures are to apply from 2028.

The amendment extends the ban on the use of cancer data beyond 15 years after treatment to insurance linked to home loans. Compared to the original text, the protection is therefore no longer limited to consumer loans other than housing loans, but to all related consumer loans. The aim is to strengthen the “right to be forgotten”, to harmonise the rules and to reduce the disadvantage of people after cancer treatment in housing finance.

The amendment strengthens the protection of the best agricultural land when it is removed from the agricultural land fund. It amends the exemption for commercial or warehousing developments so that the permissible distance from motorways, roads, railways, aeronautical structures or waterways is reduced from 1 km to 500 metres. The aim is to reduce the overly broad exemption proposed in the main proposal and to better protect Class I and Class II land.

The amendment corrects the moment of entry into force of irrevocable decisions under the Building Act. Now, these decisions do not come into force on the date of issue, but only on the date of delivery to the builder or the person on whom they impose a right or obligation. The aim is to eliminate an error and to prevent the decision from becoming final before the person concerned can become aware of it.

The amendment amends the introductory provisions of the State Heritage Care Act and redefines the purpose of the protection of the heritage fund with an emphasis on its sustainable use, accessibility and conversion for contemporary life. Compared to the existing wording, it replaces outdated ideological formulations with a more modern definition of a cultural monument and explicitly takes into account the rights of owners and the interests of municipalities. At the same time, it clarifies that the professional organisation for heritage protection is not an administrative body but a professional institution, which is intended to avoid problems of interpretation in practice.

The amendment modifies the protection zones of cultural monuments and restores the obligation to request the opinion of the expert organisation of the State Heritage Protection when defining them. At the same time, it specifies that the protection zone should be appropriate and take into account the development of the municipality and the interests of property owners. The proposal also extends the validity of older protection zones, which would otherwise have expired earlier, to 31 December 2034 instead of 2028, to avoid weakening conservation.

The amendment cancels part of the main amendment and maintains the existing regulation of archaeological excavations under the Heritage Act. Only the obligation to allow rescue archaeological excavations on the territory concerned for the time strictly necessary is to remain instead of introducing a general six-month period. The reason for this is to avoid negative impacts on public budgets, especially those of the regions, and to reduce unnecessary administration and purposeful division of excavations.

The amendment deletes one point of the main proposal because, according to the justification, it would weaken the protection of conservation reserves and zones, including a number of UNESCO sites. It also modifies Section 144a of the Building Code for photovoltaic plants: the title of the provision is changed to regulate photovoltaics and renewable energy buildings. The conditions are clarified so that instead of green space under the building, a vegetated area with ecosystem functions must be preserved, and siting on existing buildings can only be restricted due to other overriding public interest.

The amendment modifies the part of the amendment on state monument care so that the protection of monument reserves, zones and protection zones during construction projects is not weakened. It preserves the decisions or binding opinions of the conservation authorities and now explicitly requires the prior written opinion of an expert organisation even for projects in a conservation zone that should otherwise be excluded from the scope of conservation. At the same time, it clarifies the powers of building authorities, offences and transitional rules for the transfer of proceedings to the new land development authorities. Compared to the originally proposed narrowing, the protection of heritage values is thus partially restored and strengthened.

The amendment expands the list of strategically important infrastructure to include two new 400 kV transmission lines and other energy sources, in particular new nuclear and gas projects. The aim is for these projects to receive the fast-track construction regime under the Strategic Infrastructure Act. The proposal emphasises strengthening the energy security of the state, connecting the new Dukovany unit and making Prague’s electricity supply more secure.

The amendment reduces the period of mandatory retention of traffic and location data by operators from 6 to 4 months. It also requires providers of electronic communications networks and services to modify their systems and delete data older than 4 months within 1 month. The aim is to mitigate the invasion of privacy and data protection while maintaining the use of this data for law enforcement, search and security purposes.