Documents and Laws in Parliament

The amendment tightens the protection of World Heritage sites and zones, where a decision or binding opinion is to be required instead of a mere statement. At the same time, it reinstates the mandatory expert opinion of conservationists when designating protection zones and extends the validity of older protection zones from 2028 to 2031, and for World Heritage sites until 2036. For salvage archaeological excavations, the current three-month limit on reimbursement of costs by the developer is abolished, and the research is now to be reimbursed for as long as necessary.

The amendment modifies the transitional provisions so that the new effects of the Building Act and related regulations do not automatically apply to older zoning plans issued before the amendment came into force. The existing regime, in particular for the assessment of buildings, the protection of landscape character and the withdrawal of agricultural land, is to be maintained for previously defined development areas and territories until the new or amended documentation is issued. The aim is to prevent the old documentation from having retroactive legal effects and to strengthen legal certainty for municipalities, owners and builders.

The amendment removes three points in the comprehensive proposal that were intended to remove the special legal regime for affordable rental housing in the Building Act. Thus, it retains the definition of an affordable rental housing building, the ability of a municipality to designate such a building in a regulating plan, and the special rules for planning agreement and permitting. The proposal emphasizes that the deleted provisions were intended to be deleted by the amendment, but are now intended to remain in place for the sake of promoting affordable housing, legal certainty for municipalities, and continuity of support from the State Investment Promotion Fund.

The amendment relaxes the conditions under which private legal entities may participate in proceedings under the Nature and Landscape Protection Act. The required period of existence of the organisation is reduced from 3 years to 12 months and the required public support is reduced from 200 to 100 persons. The aim is to facilitate the participation of newer and local environmental organisations in particular, without changing the basic concept of the proposed regulation.

The amendment removes two points in the comprehensive proposal that would weaken the protection of national park buffer zones. It therefore maintains the existing obligation to obtain the consent of the nature protection authority for construction and other interventions in the buildable area of these zones. At the same time, it retains the other changes to the main proposal, in particular the terminological change from ‘built-up’ to ‘buildable’ area.

The document amends the Building Act and introduces a new Housing Acceleration Area Plan to significantly speed up the preparation of new housing sites. It moves assessments and opinions to the planning stage, so that planning permission is to be based more on the already approved plan; at the same time it changes terminology and procedures, for example replacing the existing concept and a number of wordings including changing ‘issue’ to ‘approve’. The proposal also regulates owners’ rights, the possibility of landowners financing the plan, the link to public transport and environmental conditions. It also introduces faster judicial review and specific rules for permitting plans in these areas.

The amendment abolishes the separate authorisation of land division and consolidation in the Building Act, so that land division is no longer a building plan or the subject of a separate procedure. The aim is to reduce red tape, speed up the disposal of land and free up the capacity of building authorities to permit construction. At the same time, however, the special protection of forest land is maintained: the approval of the state forestry authority is to remain necessary for forest subdivisions below 1 ha. The proposal therefore consequently abolishes the administrative fee for this permit and modifies related references in other laws.

The amendment adds an explicit role for the Office of the Government in the areas of human rights, equal treatment, minority rights, civil society, gender equality and inter-ministerial coordination of drug policy. This is mainly a codification of existing practice so that these agendas have a clear legal basis and are not just based on government resolutions. According to the explanatory memorandum, the proposal has no budgetary or business implications.

The amendment amends the Building Act to allow a municipality, community of municipalities or county to expressly establish an architect’s office or appoint a municipal, city or county architect. The aim is to give legal backing to a now common practice and to strengthen the professional support of local governments in the development of the territory, the quality of architecture and public space. The proposal also emphasises that this is not a new obligation or a transfer of public decision-making power, but a voluntary advisory institution.

The amendment modifies the Building Act so that shelters for children’s tent camps are not subject to unreasonable building restrictions. The new definition of small buildings includes recovery facilities for children of up to 60 m2, and if they are only used outside school hours and accommodation is exclusively in tents, they are not considered to be buildings at all. The proposal is intended to facilitate the holding of summer camps and maintain their traditional operation while maintaining sanitary and other rules under other laws.

The amendment amends the Environmental Impact Assessment Act for livestock facilities. It increases the threshold for the assessment procedure from 50 to 120 livestock units instead of the previously proposed 100. The aim is to reduce the administrative burden mainly for small and medium-sized livestock farmers while maintaining the assessment of larger livestock farms with a more significant environmental impact.

The amendment removes the proposed amendment to Section 4(4) of the Agricultural Land Protection Act and retains the existing prohibition on the withdrawal of prime agricultural land for large commercial and warehouse developments and for most photovoltaic installations. The aim is to prevent the weakening of the protection of Class I and II land, which according to the drafters would occur by extending the exemptions, especially for developments near transport infrastructure and for temporary withdrawals for solar power plants. The proposal thus favours maintaining stricter protection of agricultural land for food security and climate change impacts.

The document mainly regulates the transitional rules for the reorganisation of the construction administration, including the creation of new territorial development offices and the transfer of their competences, assets, files and staff. It sets out how ongoing planning, building and follow-up procedures are to be completed, with a number of the former detailed regimes deleted and replaced by the simpler rule that matters are to be taken over and completed by the newly competent authority. At the same time, it amends certain concepts and technical rules in the areas of land use planning, environmental protection, public health and other related agencies. In addition, specific transitional periods and exemptions are provided for part of the environmental and infrastructure procedures until the end of 2027 or 2028.

The amendment mainly changes the effectiveness of a major amendment to the Building Act and related regulations. The basic effective date is postponed from 1 July 2026 to 1 January 2027 in order to align with the establishment of the Czech Territorial Development Authority and to simplify the transitional rules. Selected provisions are to take effect from the first day of the month following the promulgation in order to speed up building permitting and reduce bureaucracy sooner. In contrast, a minor part of the provisions is postponed until 1 January 2028.

The amendment mainly technically and substantively clarifies the extensive amendment to the Building Act and responds to the comments of the European Commission. It strengthens the requirement for decision-making to comply with EU law and international obligations, specifies that the protection of public interests must be explicitly justified, and sets out qualification requirements for officials assessing other public interests. It also regulates the processes for appeals, early use of buildings, electronic file management and some transitional periods, including the extension of the digitalisation transition period until 2030. At the same time, it extends the rules for strategic buildings to include large hospitals and modifies some conditions for buildings in flood plains.

The amendment abolishes in the Building Act the institution of permission for land division and consolidation, so that these acts are no longer subject to separate building procedures. At the same time, it follows up with changes to other laws, in particular the abolition of the administrative fee and the modification of the rules for strategic infrastructure. Forest land under 1 ha is to remain an exception, where the consent of the state forestry authority is retained to protect proper forest management.

The amendment deletes the inclusion of self-service dispensing, return and sales boxes among small buildings from the amendment to the Building Code. This maintains the current situation where the building law applies only if their location triggers a real building intervention, and is intended to prevent new administrative burdens and legal uncertainty for entrepreneurs and authorities. The proposal, on the other hand, leaves other newly added small structures, such as electronic communications networks, playgrounds, paved areas or public lighting.

The amendment removes a provision that would allow for the additional authorisation of an unauthorised building without meeting the basic legal conditions if its removal would be disproportionate. The aim is to avoid favouring builders who have breached the permit regime and to preserve equality before the law and the preventive function of construction law. Thus, additional permits should remain possible only if the standard conditions are met.

The amendment extends the validity of the EIA opinion from 7 to 10 years and the possibility to extend it from 5 to 7 years. The change is to be applied to opinions already issued to increase legal certainty for investors and facilitate the preparation of long infrastructure and energy constructions. The proposal also modifies the transitional rules for previously issued opinions and pending extension requests.

The amendment deletes the parts of the main proposal that were intended to exclude the designation of the extraction area from the EIA regime. The aim is to maintain the mandatory EIA prior to the decision on the extraction area and to keep this procedure between the subsequent procedures. The justification argues that the opposite would be contrary to EU law and Czech case law and would restrict the rights of the public concerned.