Czech Republic: The most important changes in Czech law for entrepreneurs

General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR)
Similarly to other EU countries, what is known as the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) will also come into effect in the Czech Republic as of 25th May, 2018. The new Czech Act on Processing Personal Data has not been adopted yet, but a proposal is already available.

Czech register of beneficial owners of legal entities
As of 1st January, 2018, records of data on beneficial owners of legal entities will be maintained in the Czech Republic. The Czech register and application for registration in this register is already available, explain the Ecovis experts.

Statutory pre-emptive rights in connection with immovable property
Since 2018, the statutory pre-emptive right of co-owners to immovable property will once again be valid. This pre-emptive right shall again apply to all transfers, except for the transfer of interest to a close person (e.g. a relative).

Amendment to the Building Act
On 1st January, 2018, an amendment to the Building Act came into force, which represents, among other things, significant process acceleration and streamlining for builders. Zoning and construction proceedings may be combined into one co-ordinated procedure in more situations than ever before.

Compensation for damage in the field of competition
The new Czech Act on Compensation for Damage in the Field of Competition, which transposed the 2014 European Directive at the end of 2017, should facilitate the recovery of damages caused by the restriction of competition. This includes, for example, a longer limitation period for the exercise of the right to compensation, which lasts for 5 years, and starts to run from the day on which the entitled person became aware of the damage, but at the earliest on the date on which the restriction of competition was brought to an end.

Unified electronic identification from 1st July, 2018
The Electronic Identification Act, adopted at the end of 2017, will allow a simple, secure, and state-guaranteed way of proving the user’s identity on the Internet from 1st July, 2018, while at the same time helping to develop and ease the use of online public administration services.

Author
JUDr. Mojmír Ježek, Ph.D., partner, rutland ježek, advokátní kancelář s.r.o. – Member of ECOVIS International, Prague, Czech Republic