This is a Cross-Post from Employment Law Worldview website. Please contact Jaroslav Tajbr with any questions. This year the Czech Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs will introduce major changes to Czech employment law. The summary of new obligations and rights are published here.… Continue Reading
The EU first adopted restrictive measures against the Russian Federation back in 2014, in response to Russia’s annexation of Crimea and Sevastopol and the destabilisation of Ukraine. Since then, the EU has massively expanded the sanctions, following Russia’s military aggression against Ukraine and its decision to recognise the non-government-controlled areas of the Donetsk and Luhansk oblasts as … Continue Reading
A new draft bill on the Act on Protection of Whistleblowers is currently being discussed in the Parliament and is estimated to enter into force on 1 July 2023. What obligations will it impose?… Continue Reading
Do you know that an amendment to Act No. 37/2021 Coll., on the Registration of Beneficial Owners (the UBO Act) becomes effective on 1 October 2022?… Continue Reading
Cross-border mergers have become an integral part of corporate restructurings within the EU internal market. Groups have been taking advantage of the harmonized rules to move or consolidate operations, ownership of assets and liabilities across the member states – for instance, many corporations used cross-border mergers to reorganise their structures as a result of Brexit. … Continue Reading
The new Construction Act has been adopted in its 3rd reading by the Chamber of Deputies of the Czech Parliament in the wording of a comprehensive amendment submitted by Mr. Kolovratník. The unified state building administration should therefore be put into effect next year and the new act as a whole will become effective from … Continue Reading
It is expected that the Unified Patent Court (UPC), the proposed common patent court in the EU, will be operational as of spring 2022. The UPC will provide an efficient forum for the enforcement of patents in Europe, ending the need for parallel litigation in different member states of the EU. It will also harmonize … Continue Reading
On 5 November 2020, the first reading of the bill of the new Construction Act took place in the Chamber of Deputies of the Czech Parliament. It was assigned to committees with a hundred-day deadline to provide views on the new bill. The original draft was prepared in cooperation with the Czech Chamber of Commerce … Continue Reading
Ensuring occupational safety and protecting employees’ health have been of the utmost importance for many employers over the past few weeks. With the rapid spread of Covid-19, employers were forced to adopt strict preventive measures to ensure a safer working environment within their workplaces. While the most obvious solution was the adoption of home office … Continue Reading
As we recently observed in many states across the EU, national lawmakers have been coming up with bills that put in place mandatory non-EU FDI (foreign direct investment) approval requirements. The purpose of this legislation is to give state authorities competence to assess risks to national interests arising from such FDI and, if necessary, take … Continue Reading
As the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) spreads worldwide, businesses in the Czech Republic face practical and legal employment challenges as they take measures to further the immediate goal of preventing the spread of physical infection to and within their workforces. This insight includes questions and answers on how to handle the most frequent issues faced by … Continue Reading
The Czech National Bank has increased the two-week repo rate from 2% to 2.25% with effect as of 7th February 2020. For commercial relationships governed by Czech law it means an increase in the statutory default interest rate from 10% to 10.25% per annum in relation to debts which will become overdue on or after … Continue Reading
In October 2019, the Council of the European Union formally adopted a new Directive for the Protection of Whistleblowers, requiring both private and public organisations to create safe channels for reporting across a wide range of areas, including public procurement, financial services or money laundering. Member States will have two years to transpose the Directive … Continue Reading
The Czech government has published draft of the new Building Act as a major tool to speed up the construction permitting process in the Czech Republic. The Czech Ministry of Regional Development set a deadline until Christmas 2019 for any comments or objections to the prepared draft bill. The bill was prepared not long after … Continue Reading
The framework of digital identity is about to be revolutionized in the Czech Republic. A group of deputies is proposing a bill that will allow banks to participate in the state digital identity scheme. Bank ID is intended to be used to access eGovernment services but also some services in the private sector.… Continue Reading
As of 1 January 2014, the Czech Republic has enacted new legal rules regarding the corporate law presented in the act no. 90/2012 Coll., Business Corporations Act (the “BCA”). Meanwhile the new regulation was settling in, the practice has discovered a number of gaps and shortcomings of the new law and thus the lawmakers has … Continue Reading
Last year, the Czech Ministry of Justice published a draft Act on Class Actions (“Act”), which was created in the aftermath of European Commission’s proposal to enact a directive on representative actions. Although the European Commission’s proposal is aimed at boosting consumer protection in the European Union, the Czech draft Act goes one step further … Continue Reading
Recently, legislators in the Czech Republic made an important step towards strengthening the rights of natural and legal persons as “clients of public authorities” to the provision of services by public authorities in the form of digital services. The draft Act on the Right to Digital Services (“ARDS”), also called “Digital Constitution”, presents a revolutionary … Continue Reading
Between 23 and 26 May 2019, more than 400 million European citizens will have the right to vote in the European Parliament elections. This is where the similarities between the CEE countries seem to end. Voters in the Czech Republic will be voting on 24 and 25 May 2019, in Slovak Republic on 25 May … Continue Reading
Under Czech law, can a statutory body member of a Czech company escape from the risk of his/her liability, if a certain action (e.g. entering into a contract on behalf of the company) is approved by GM or the sole shareholder in advance? Directors of Czech limited liability companies and members of boards of directors … Continue Reading
When two do the same, it is not the same. This old saying is true especially when comparing legal regulations in different countries. Businesses that are present in various jurisdictions sometimes tend to expect the same, when, at first glance, the regulation seems to be similar.… Continue Reading
Like any other major change of legislation, the recodification of Czech private law in 2014 has raised a long list of interpretation issues. At the end of August 2018, the High Court in Prague outlined (since the decision has not yet been confirmed by the Supreme Court) an interpretation with respect to one of the … Continue Reading
If there is a holy book for finance lawyers, at least on this side of the Atlantic Ocean, it would be the Loan Market Association (LMA) standard form. Aimed to improve liquidity and efficiency in the syndicated loan markets in EMEA, the recommended standard forms developed by the LMA are here to stay. Although intended … Continue Reading
On 8 March 2018, the European Commission (EC) published its long-awaited new FinTech Action Plan. The EC understands FinTech to be technology-enabled innovation in financial services, and the strategy covers developments related to new technologies which are changing the financial industry and the way consumers and firms access services. At the same time, the action … Continue Reading
