Documents and Laws in Parliament

The amendment modifies the main amendment so that the Road Act continues to use the term “built-up area” for the protection zones, rather than “buildable area”. At the same time, it introduces the registration of the built-up area in the basic registers and its regular updating according to the cadastre. The proposal is intended to avoid undermining road protection and traffic safety, while giving legally established advertising facilities newly affected by the buffer zone a transitional period of five years without the need for immediate authorisation.

The amendment removes the exception under which the presumption of overriding public interest did not apply to new renewable sources using run-of-river energy. This puts small hydropower plants on an equal footing with other renewable sources and should facilitate their authorisation, particularly on existing water bodies. The proposal also preserves the possibility to rebut this presumption in a specific procedure if a conflict with another public interest is demonstrated.

The amendment changes the exemption from property tax for certain types of other areas. It proposes that selected land that cannot be used economically and is important for nature should be exempted from tax directly by law, or at least to a greater extent than before. The aim is to reduce dependence on municipal ordinances, which, according to the justification, are often not used by municipalities.

The amendment cancels four points of the comprehensive amendment to the Construction Act because, according to the submitters, they are in conflict with EU law. The obligation to monitor spatial planning documentation on an ongoing basis through an implementation report is thus maintained. At the same time, the possibility of drawing up a spatial plan for only part of a municipality’s territory is rejected, as this would not comply with the requirements for environmental impact assessment and sustainable development.

The amendment amends the special regulation of the Building Act by introducing a new special regime for developments in an area with an issued regulating plan instead of the rules for permitting a house for affordable rental housing. In these areas, the range of objections of the parties is narrowed and the building authority is to assess mainly the compliance of the project with the regulatory plan, technical requirements and the protection of the rights of the persons concerned. The strikethrough removes the previous provisions on affordable rental housing, including the mandatory planning agreement and related obligations of the developer. The aim is to simplify and expedite the permitting of developments where detailed conditions are already set out in the Regulatory Plan.

The amendment abolishes the part of the comprehensive proposal that was intended to allow for the additional authorisation of an unauthorised building without meeting the legal conditions if its removal would be unreasonable. The appellants point out that this would effectively legalise black buildings and weaken the incentive to comply with the Building Act. The aim is to maintain a stricter regime under which a building can only be retrospectively authorised if the legal conditions are met.

The amendment maintains the extension of the notification period for felling trees without a permit from 15 to 30 days. It also removes the proposed extension of the exemption under which trees could be felled without a permit in the protection zone of water supply and sewerage systems. The aim is to maintain the standard permit regime and to strengthen the protection of public greenery and preventive control by nature conservation authorities.

The amendment modifies Section 193 of the Building Act so that objections by parties are not excluded simply because they are not based explicitly on a violation of legal regulations. At the same time, it changes the moment of assessment of the conformity of the plan from the date of submission of the application to the date of the decision. The aim is to reduce speculative applications, to preserve the possibility to react to changes in the territory and to strengthen the reviewability of decisions of the construction authorities.

The amendment tightens the conditions for recognition of compliance with noise and vibration limits for construction projects. It changes the rule so that it is no longer sufficient to comply with only one of the conditions, but now the impacts must be limited to a reasonably achievable level and the noise must be in line with the normal use of the surrounding area. The aim is to prevent the permitting of buildings with excessive noise in previously quiet locations and to limit the abuse of the exemption.

The amendment extends the exemptions from the levies for the withdrawal of land from the agricultural land fund to include buildings for housing in the building gap. In practical terms, this means that housing developments on land clearance sites within settlements will no longer be subject to these levies, which is intended to reduce the cost of housing. The amendment adds a new letter to the list of statutory exemptions, while the protection of agricultural land outside settlements is to remain.

The amendment extends the range of cases when certain technical requirements do not have to be fully applied to buildings to new housing constructions in the built-up area of the municipality. Compared to the original text, a new category of residential buildings is added so that, for example, parking, spacing or lighting requirements can be relaxed under certain conditions. The aim is to facilitate and accelerate residential development within villages and to limit the spread of development into the countryside.

The amendment modifies the powers of municipalities with extended competence in the field of state heritage protection. It extends the supervision not only to the restoration of cultural monuments, but also to interventions under Section 14(2) for properties in conservation reserves and zones, so that the authority can control the activities it authorises and also impose fines for breaches. At the same time, the existing broader and more detailed list of interventions is changed to a more general reference to the statutory provisions and the territorial impact is narrowed by deleting the protection zones.

The amendment amends the comprehensive amendment to the Building Act by deleting the principle that construction could only be prevented if the protection of other values could not be secured by conditions or compensation. This weakens the preference for automatic planning permission and emphasises the balancing of public interests, protection of the environment, health, neighbours’ rights and the character of the area. The appellants state that the amendment is intended to reduce legal uncertainty and reduce the risk of litigation and court proceedings.

The amendment modifies the monument care in relation to the Building Act so that in monument reserves and zones the monument care authorities continue to issue binding opinions instead of non-binding statements. At the same time, it shifts the assessment of plans in protection zones to the building authority, refines the supporting documents and extends the range of interventions subject to control, including maintenance work and the planting or felling of trees in public spaces. The crossed-out text shows the change from the existing separate system of offences for different persons to a single system of offences and newly entrusts some of them to the building authority. The proposal also extends the validity of older protection zones until 31 December 2029 at the latest to protect conservation areas, including UNESCO sites.

The amendment clarifies the rules for the sale, release and distribution of bumblebees and bumblebees from artificial breeding under the Nature Conservation Act. It changes the criterion from the existing origin outside the Czech Republic to a broader assessment of whether the individuals do not originate in the wild and newly emphasises the restriction on the escape of sexual individuals. At the same time, it extends the competence of the Ministry of the Environment to issue measures of a general nature also for the protection of birds and for consents for the disposal of these pollinators in the territory of several regions. The changes also affect offences for natural and legal persons.

The amendment adds to the Nature Protection Act a new liability of the operator of a motor vehicle for violation of the prohibition to enter or remain in a specially protected area without the necessary consent. It introduces new offences for natural and legal persons, the obligation to provide information necessary to identify the driver and a fine of up to CZK 10,000, while liability does not apply, for example, if the vehicle is stolen or if the operator changes. At the same time, procedural rules are modified to ensure that the specific driver is identified first and that the driver and the operator are not penalised for the same act at the same time.

The amendment amends the rules for the protection of the agricultural land fund for the best quality land. It now allows an exemption for large commercial and warehousing developments over 1 ha if they are within 1 km of motorways, Class I roads, railways, aeronautical structures or waterways, and extends the exemption for solar installations within a certain distance of transport infrastructure. Compared to the original prohibition, the rules are therefore relaxed to allow for the consideration of logistics and energy projects in relation to transport. The proposal justifies the change by promoting economic development and more efficient transportation while maintaining individual assessment of structures.

The amendment eases the protection of agricultural land to facilitate construction and investment, especially for strategic, logistical and transport-related projects. It removes some of the restrictions on strategic investment areas, newly allows exceptions for large commercial and warehouse developments along highways, Class I roads, railroads, airports, and waterways, and establishes a county limit on the designation of such areas. At the same time, it reduces the levies for the withdrawal of land from the agricultural land fund by changing the coefficients, for example, from 11 to 9 for Class I land and from 8 to 6 for Class II land.

The amendment narrows the scope of cities that can issue their own building regulations under delegated powers. The correction is that the authorisation should not apply to all regional cities, but only to Prague, Brno and Ostrava. The aim is to reduce the fragmentation of construction law and to increase legal certainty and predictability of the permitting process.

The amendment narrows the circle of cities that can issue their own building regulations to Prague, Brno, Ostrava and Plzeň. Compared to the previous proposal, this possibility is removed for other regional cities. The aim is to reduce the fragmentation of building law and to increase legal certainty and predictability in building permits.