ČKAIT: The Building Act is rushed, it is not well prepared

Prague - The draft of the building law, whose main goal is to expedite building approvals, is rushed and not well-prepared overall. This was stated today at a press conference by Pavel Křeček, the chairman of the Czech Chamber of Authorized Engineers and Technicians Active in Construction (ČKAIT). According to him, it seems to have been assembled for Prague’s residential developers. The Ministry for Regional Development (MMR), which is preparing the draft, wants to submit it to the government by mid-April. The law is expected to take effect from 2021, and its draft has other critics as well.

"We have been striving for a change in construction legislation for a while now and we are glad that the draft has been presented. But I do not like the speed and recklessness with which it is being discussed. We wanted it to be done in a standard way. It is impossible for there to be only two to three days to address comments," Křeček said. According to him, for example, the civil code was discussed for nine years, and it is not possible for total changes in construction legislation to happen practically within one year. "I can't even imagine what the wording will look like when every word is at stake," Křeček noted.

The vice-chairman of ČKAIT, Robert Špalek, added that it would be reasonable to apply the new model experimentally as a pilot project in one region. "In one where they have guaranteed data for technical infrastructure, both hardware and software equipment. The experiences gathered after a few years could be used for the final draft of the law," Špalek added.

The new building law is being prepared by the Ministry for Regional Development (MMR) in cooperation with the Chamber of Commerce of the Czech Republic. According to MMR, the law should shorten the approval process for buildings from the current average of 5.4 years to one year. Territorial proceedings, building proceedings, and environmental impact assessments will merge into a single approval process. A Supreme Building Authority is expected to be established as part of state administration. The proposal stipulates that if the relevant authority does not respond within 30 days (60 days in more complex cases), the so-called consent fiction will apply. Buildings cannot be permitted retroactively.

The draft law is mostly welcomed by representatives of construction companies or developers. They consider the current situation, where obtaining permits for larger projects can sometimes take over ten years, to be unsustainable. They cite this as one of the main reasons for the current sharp increase in apartment prices. According to the World Bank, the Czech Republic ranks 156th in the speed of building approvals worldwide.

Since the MMR presented the draft in early February, a number of comments have arisen. According to the Czech Union for Nature Conservation, the draft denies public interests, such as nature protection and heritage conservation, as well as the rights of neighboring property owners. The Czech-Moravian Confederation of Trade Unions is fundamentally opposed to automatic approval of construction if the building authority fails to issue a permit within the mandatory period. According to the unions, this opens the door to corruption. According to KDU-ČSL, the proposal, as it was prepared by the Chamber of Commerce of the Czech Republic, clearly favors investors and does not take into account environmental protection or heritage conservation. Environmental protection and heritage conservation are also limited in favor of builders and investors according to the Environmental Commission of the Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic.

MMR has received a total of 1,641 comments from other authorities. It aims to address them by the end of March. It rejects most of them. According to the ministry, due to electronic and digital processes, building approvals will be transparent, and officials will be under the control of the state, applicants, and the public. Appeals and judicial reviews of decisions will continue to be permissible, it stated. "The claim about the potential for corruption is a great untruth. The current legislation has that potential instead. Today, it is possible to bribe one of the dozens of officials in the process without personal responsibility and without the possibility of public scrutiny. That will not be possible after the change," MMR added. After the law is implemented, transitional provisions are expected.