The new construction law could threaten the permitting of buildings for a year

Prague – The new building law could halt the approval of constructions for one to two years, said Radka Vladyková, Executive Director of the Association of Towns and Municipalities of the Czech Republic, in the program Questions of Václav Moravec on Czech Television. According to her, the state should apply the current law more effectively and gradually approach changes. First, it should wait to see how the currently approved digitalization of the building process will function. However, according to the Minister for Regional Development Klára Dostálová (for ANO), a change in the law is necessary.

According to Dostálová, the amendment to the building law will speed up the construction process, but the digitalization of the construction approvals itself will not accelerate. The government approved the main intention of the new building law in mid-year, with a timeline counting on validity starting in 2021. The proposal is currently in the comment process, and municipalities and towns can express their opinions until December 23.

Vladyková criticized especially the institutional changes proposed by the law. According to her, the state building administration will be two-tiered, meaning that regional building offices will be under the highest building authority, with their branches in individual municipalities. Currently, there are 730 building offices in the Czech Republic.

According to Vladyková, this change poses a risk of collapsing the entire process of construction administration. "The approval of constructions could thus completely stop for a year or two," she pointed out. Changes should be gradual, according to her. She also highlighted the amendment that the Chamber of Deputies approved this week, which allows for construction approvals to be conducted in electronic form. However, the digitalization is expected to be completed only in 2023. According to Vladyková, the state should create better conditions for this amendment and subsequently apply it effectively, rather than simultaneously conducting a revolution in the setup of individual building offices. She further stated that cities would not want to let their officials into state offices.

Dostálová defended the change in the building law by stating that the current situation complicates construction disproportionately and that simply amending it could complicate matters further. According to her, institutional changes will help, for example, with the representability of offices. At the same time, she rejected the idea that the new arrangement would deprive municipalities of their building offices. According to her, the changes should accelerate the approval processes.

Municipalities and towns now have until Christmas to express their opinions on the new building law. Dostálová defended the short one-month timeline by stating that the ministry must adhere to the deadlines set by the government. Vladyková simultaneously complained that in the previous comment process, the Ministry of Regional Development inadequately reflected many comments from municipalities.

According to critics, the draft law also serves developers. They point out that a law firm, Havel & Partners, hired by the Chamber of Commerce, participated in its creation. Among the firm's clients were many developers and construction companies in the past. Dostálová stated that the main architect of the law is the ministry, and the proposal is only consulted with the Chamber.

The draft law includes that the territorial proceedings, building proceedings, and environmental impact assessments (EIA) will merge into a unified approval procedure. An important part, according to the Ministry of Regional Development, is the digitalization of the building agenda, from spatial planning documents through digital technical maps and project documentation of constructions to the electronic files of building offices.