Documents and Laws in Parliament

The Standing Committee on the Constitution of the Czech Republic and Parliamentary Procedures recommends that the Chamber of Deputies approve the draft amendment to the Rules of Procedure of the Chamber of Deputies without amendments as submitted. At the same time, it instructs the Chairman of the Commission to present the Commission’s opinion at the Chamber of Deputies. It is therefore a subsidiary resolution to the main motion to amend the Rules of Procedure of the House.

The Committee on Media Affairs discussed a Senate bill that extends the powers of the Supreme Audit Office to Czech Television and Czech Radio. The resolution recommends that the Chamber of Deputies approve the proposal. It also instructed the committee chairman to table the resolution and authorised the rapporteur to inform the plenary of the outcome of the debate.

This is the resolution of the Guarantee Committee on Agriculture on the amendment to the Plant Health Care Act, which mainly determines the order of voting on the amendments at third reading. The Committee also expressed its views on the individual proposals, some of which it supported and some of which it rejected. The document itself does not substantively change the rules, but organises the approval of the amendment on the use of plant protection products and related obligations.

The Standing Committee on the Constitution of the Czech Republic and Parliamentary Procedures confirms its earlier opinion on the Senate draft constitutional law. It recommends that the Chamber of Deputies consider and approve Print 47 as originally submitted. The amendment therefore does not change anything substantively and supports the extension of the SAO’s audit powers to Czech Television and Czech Radio.

The document contains the MP’s interpellation on the reorganisation of the Ministry of the Interior, which abolished the Strategic Communication Department known as KRIT, and the Minister’s response. The Minister stated that KRIT was not a separate unit, that the State’s crisis communication was provided by other crisis management structures and that the reorganisation was not intended to weaken the security or preparedness of the State. The change, according to the Ministry, is to eliminate overlapping agendas and review expenditures, citing public funds in excess of K188 million without always proven benefits.

The document contains an interpellation and a reply from the Minister of the Interior on the funding of legal advice for applicants for international protection. The MEP criticises the fact that the Ministry has not launched a call for proposals from the European AMIF fund and instead wants to provide the services through a law firm paid for from the state budget. The Minister defends this by saying that the existing system was duplicative, and that the new solution will be cheaper in total and that the AMIF funds will be redirected to other forms of assistance for foreigners.

The amendment mainly renames the Ministry of Industry and Trade to the Ministry of Economy and reflects this change in the Building Act and other related regulations. At the same time, it stipulates that the Territorial Development Authority submits proposals for spatial development policy to the Government through this Ministry. It also introduces a new notification obligation of the professional chamber to the Territorial Development Authority when suspending or withdrawing the authorization of architects and engineers. This is mainly an organisational and nomenclatural change without creating a new office and without affecting existing rights and obligations.

The Committee on Budgets, as the committee responsible, has set the order of voting on the amendments to the Act amending the rules of public budgets on third reading. The Committee did not recommend most of the proposals, but recommended only proposals F, G, B1 and B2. The resolution also specifies which proposals will become non-votable if others are adopted and instructs the rapporteur to submit her opinion to the House.

The opposition report of the minority of the Budget Committee criticizes the amendments to the government’s amendment to the public budgets as a threat to fiscal responsibility and the stability of public finances. It states that they could lead to a rapid increase in debt, higher debt servicing costs and an early reaching of the debt brake. At the same time, it warns against weakening the budgetary autonomy of certain constitutional institutions in favour of the Ministry of Finance. It therefore proposes a second reading.

The amendment extends the scope of non-bailable offences to include murder, rape and trafficking in human beings. It amends the existing legislation by abolishing the original placement of murder in a single provision and explicitly including it, together with rape and trafficking in human beings, among the non-barred offences. The aim is to strengthen the protection of victims and to ensure that perpetrators of these most serious crimes cannot escape criminal liability simply by the passage of time.

The amendment extends the Criminal Records and Offences Act to allow for more serious offences to be newly recorded on the Child Work Register. New offences include torture, the whole of trafficking in human beings, entrusting a child to the care of another, pimping, child pornography and enticement to sexual intercourse. The aim is to strengthen prevention and protection of children by better identifying persons unsuitable for activities with regular contact with children. This Part is set to take effect from 1 January 2027.

The amendment clarifies the conditions for imposing a fine as a separate penalty. The new prohibition of a separate fine is to apply not only to felonies but, in the case of sexual offences, to all offences under this Title. The aim is to make the punishment of these offences more severe and to strengthen the protection of victims; however, a fine can still be imposed in addition to any other penalty.

The amendment extends special protection for the statute of limitations for selected serious crimes committed against minors. The statute of limitations should now not include the period until the victim reaches the age of 30 if he or she was under 18 at the time of the offence, instead of the current rule of only 18. The aim is to make it easier to report crimes later, which victims often report far in advance due to trauma, fear or dependence on the perpetrator.

The amendment expands the aggravating circumstances in the Criminal Code when imposing a sentence. The abuse of trust, authority or care, particularly towards children and in educational or family relationships, and serious psychological harm to the victim are to be explicitly taken into account. The proposal does not change the facts or the penal rates, but is intended to clarify and unify judicial decision-making and strengthen the protection of vulnerable victims.

The amendment clarifies the rules for factual remarks in the proceedings of the Chamber of Deputies. The factual remark should now relate to the matter under discussion and respond to the content of another speaker’s speech, instead of the previous general response to the course of the debate. The aim was to limit digressions and to clarify the interpretation of the Rules of Procedure.

The amendment adds to the construction and water regulations for energy security structures, in particular nuclear power plants, so that water permits and exemptions are now dealt with directly in the project decision under the Construction Act. The regional authority is to issue a binding opinion and in some cases may even change it, while separate water permit procedures are reduced, which should speed up permitting and reduce the number of subsequent disputes. The proposal also changes the existing regulation so that construction authorities are no longer water authorities, but in the case of strategic energy constructions they decide on the basis of a binding opinion of the competent regional authority. It also preserves the participation of persons who would otherwise be parties to a separate water administration procedure.

The proposal allows the government to regulate fuel prices for the domestic market for a maximum of 12 months, with the possibility of a repeat. The government may not set a minimum or fixed price and its powers complement the existing role of the Ministry of Finance. At the same time, the Law on Prices is amended so that government price assessments will be issued as government decrees and published in the Collection of Laws, including the rules for their effectiveness. The document states that this bill was rejected by the Senate.

The Senate rejected the government’s bill to regulate fuel prices. It therefore disagrees that the Government should be able to set maximum or administered fuel prices by regulation. At the same time, the Senate instructed three Senators to justify this rejection in the Chamber of Deputies.

The document contains an interpellation by MEP Jan Lipavský and a reply by Prime Minister Andrej Babiš on the abolition of the Strategic Communication Department of the State as of 1 January 2026. The MEP asks for an explanation of the legal basis, the transfer of competences, security implications and ensuring coordination in the event of crises and hybrid threats. The Prime Minister states that this was an internal management decision, as the department had no formal place in the state’s security architecture, and claims that coordination is still handled by the ministries and the Central Crisis Staff Working Group. According to the reply, the abolition did not restrict international cooperation or the State’s crisis communication.

The amendment significantly strengthens the protection of animals against cruelty and tightens sanctions and state intervention. It imposes new obligations on municipalities to deal with abandoned and stray animals, in particular neutering cats, tagging and trapping programmes, and expands the powers of the police and administrative authorities. The ban on breeding is extended from 5 to 10 years, minimum fines are increased, and the animal may become the property of the state if the cost of care is not paid. At the same time, administrative procedures, registration and professional competence in transporting animals are regulated.