Documents and Laws in Parliament

The amendment amends the Government’s draft Housing Support Bill to explicitly include foreigners with temporary protection or special long-term residence under the 2022 Act, in particular refugees from Ukraine, among those entitled to receive advice from the contact points. Compared to the original wording, which envisaged only citizens of the Czech Republic and selected other persons, the range of beneficiaries of counselling is thus broadened. These people must have resided, resided, worked or studied in the territory for at least 2 years and be without adequate housing or at risk of losing it. The aim is to prevent them from being exploited on the housing market and falling into housing destitution.

The amendment fundamentally changes the system of assessing housing support: it abolishes the obligation to obtain a binding opinion from the Labour Office and transfers decision-making and the collection of supporting documents to housing contact points (municipalities with extended competence). Instead of the existing complex conditions, a new income ceiling is introduced, defined as the sum of the household subsistence minimum and the minimum wage. At the same time, some restrictive conditions (e.g. assessing the ’eligibility of the dwelling’ and counting savings) are removed so that more households in housing need can qualify for support. The proposal also repeals related government regulations and modifies data registration and transitional provisions.

The amendment fundamentally changes the housing support system by abolishing the binding opinion of the Labour Office and transferring the assessment of applications entirely to municipal contact points. Instead of the current complex assessment, a new income ceiling is introduced, defined as the household’s subsistence level plus 1.3 times the minimum wage. The law also abolishes certain mechanisms, such as the calculation of future housing costs, the regular reassessment of the household’s situation and the criterion of “housing eligibility”, which significantly limited the range of eligible persons. The aim is to reduce the administrative burden and to extend the availability of housing support to working households in housing need.

The bill returned by the Senate modifies the law on public holidays and important days. It adds 30 March as Czech Flag Day to the list of significant days, replacing 28 March - the day of the birth of Jan Ámos Komenský. It is neither a public holiday nor a day of rest. The law is to enter into force on the day following its promulgation.

The Senate returns to the Chamber of Deputies the draft amendment to the National Holidays Act with amendments. It proposes to change the designation of 28 September from “Czech Statehood Day” to “Day of Czech Statehood and State Symbols”. It also changes the law’s effective date - instead of the day after its proclamation, it is to take effect only from 1 January 2027. The Senate also instructs its representatives to justify this position in the Chamber.

The interpellation by MEP Karel Haas concerns Decree No 169/2023 Coll., which allows energy recovery from waste fuels only in sources with a minimum capacity of 20 MW. The MEP proposes lowering this limit to 5 MW so that smaller municipal heating plants can also use them, which, in his opinion, would promote the circular economy, local energy and reduce energy costs. The Environment Minister said that the current 20 MW limit is the result of a compromise between the comment points and ensures control over the use of waste. He said changing the decree would require a new broad consensus among the concerned institutions.

The document contains a written interpellation from MEP Marian Jurečka to Minister of Industry and Trade Karel Havlíček regarding the planned introduction of mandatory basic knowledge of the Czech language for taxi drivers and transport platforms. The MEP warns of the possible impact on freedom of enterprise and the risk of setting a precedent for other professions. In his reply, the Minister states that the regulation of the taxi industry is primarily the responsibility of the Ministry of Transport and that the introduction of a language test as a condition of doing business could negatively affect the business environment. He also mentions the possibility of less stringent ways of verifying language proficiency and that the impact of the proposal will be assessed only by a specific legislative proposal.

The draft law regulates the rules for remuneration of members of municipal, regional and Prague councils in the event of concurrence of several public functions and corrects the shortcomings of the 2025 amendment. The new reduction of remuneration focuses mainly on cases of concurrence of vacant positions; when concurrent with the position of a deputy, senator or member of the government, the remuneration may not exceed 0.4 of the remuneration of the vacant representative. The obligation for representatives to notify the creation and changes to other functions and their remuneration within 5 days is introduced. At the same time, the rules for determining remuneration are changed - some previous restrictions are abolished (e.g. the upper limit of 0.6 times for a non-elected mayor) and the method of determining remuneration is simplified.

The amendment to the Consumer Credit Act implements EU Directive 2023/2225 and significantly strengthens consumer protection in the provision of credit. It introduces price ceilings for loans linked to the CNB repo rate, stricter rules on advertising, extensive information obligations and stricter creditworthiness assessments, including a ban on the use of sensitive data or social media data. Providers must now help clients in financial difficulty, for example by restructuring debt and referring them to debt counselling. The law also sets high penalties of up to CZK 20 million for breaches and regulates related areas such as credit-related insurance and rules for providers and CNB supervision.

The draft law comprehensively replaces the existing Act on the Residence of Foreigners and newly regulates the rules of entry, residence, expulsion and legal status of foreigners in the Czech Republic in accordance with EU law. It introduces extensive digitalization of the migration agenda through the Integrated Foreigners’ Agenda System and a mandatory “foreigners’ account” through which applications will be submitted and communication with the authorities will be carried out. The law also introduces the institution of a residence guarantor (e.g. employer or school), new types of visas and residencies, regulates labour migration, study stays, family reunification and tightens residence registration, including a new mandatory registration for EU citizens staying more than 90 days. It also sets out more detailed rules on return and detention of foreigners, integration (language tests and integration courses) and the management of large databases on foreigners.

The Act implements European capital market regulations with the aim of reducing the administrative burden and increasing the attractiveness of the market for small and medium-sized enterprises. The main changes include increasing the threshold for the obligation to draw up a prospectus from €1 million to €5 million, introducing an issue document for smaller issues and strengthening investor protection, especially for retail investors. Rules on investment research, transparency of shares with different voting weights and supervision of ESG ratings are also amended, with the Czech National Bank gaining new powers.

The amendment modifies dozens of laws in connection with the adoption of the Law on Civil Servants, which abolishes the existing institution of civil service and switches to employment relationships. The main changes include the replacement of terms such as “service” or “service office” by “employment” and “administrative office”, the abolition of service regulations and the modification of the powers of senior staff. The changes mainly concern the organisation of the civil service and the legal relations of civil servants.

The amendment to the Law on Civil Servants regulates the details of the transition from service to employment, including changes in remuneration, selection procedures and the status of senior staff. It introduces new rules on grades, leadership allowances and staff protection, including the possibility of integrity checks. The reform extends civil service opportunities for EU and EEA citizens, but maintains the requirement of Czech language proficiency. The aim is to increase the flexibility and efficiency of public administration. The law also contains provisions concerning foreigners and their rights or obligations.

The amendment to the reform of the Construction Act proposes to suspend the discussion of the House of Commons’ Print 67, which is intended to centralise construction procedures, speed up the permitting process and tighten penalties for breaches of the rules. The document reflects the procedure of the Constitutional Law Committee, which discussed the proposal and decided to suspend the debate. The changes mainly concern the streamlining of territorial administration and environmental protection.

The resolution of the Constitutional Law Committee suspends the consideration of the Senate’s draft constitutional law that would extend the powers of the Supreme Audit Office to include auditing the management of Czech Television and Czech Radio. The amendment is intended to strengthen the transparency of public media without financial impact on the state budget. The amendment is scheduled to take effect on 1 July 2026.

The law changes the rules for budgeting taxes to counties to ensure a more equitable and dynamic distribution of funds. The main changes are an increase in the counties’ share of shared taxes from 10.23% to 10.97% and the introduction of new criteria for redistribution, such as population, length of roads or emergency medical services capacity. In addition, a separate additional share of 0.1% is set for the capital city of Prague. The change is intended to strengthen the financial stability of the regions and better reflect their current needs.

The bill changes the tax budgeting system for counties to better reflect current needs and activity volumes. Instead of fixed percentages, it introduces a dynamic model with annual updates to the shares based on objective criteria such as population, length of roads, or emergency medical services capacity. The change will strengthen the financial stability of the counties and ensure a fairer distribution of funds without impacting the state budget.

The document contains the Economic Committee’s resolution on the bill amending the Road Traffic Act and related regulations. It sets out the timetable for the consideration of the amendments, including the new deadlines for their submission and consideration in committee. It shortens the deadlines for tabling amendments and tabular material in order to speed up consideration of the Bill.

The amendment modifies the name and remit of the Media Affairs Committee as part of a change to the Rules of Procedure of the Chamber of Deputies. It proposes to use ‘Media and Culture Committee’ instead of the original title ‘Culture and Media Affairs Committee’ and changes the order of the words in its terms of reference. The aim is to clarify the focus of the committee and ensure the legislative technical correctness of the proposal.

The resolution of the Guarantee Committee recommends that the Chamber of Deputies discuss the amendments to the Act on Public Health Insurance Premium. The aim is to address the imbalance in the financing of health insurance caused by the high number of Ukrainian refugees at the VZP ČR. The Committee supports one of the amendments and rejects the proposal to reject the bill.