The new building law is awaiting a comment procedure

Prague - A proposal for a new building law aimed at speeding up and simplifying the approval of constructions is heading into the comment process. Minister for Regional Development Klára Dostálová (for ANO) signed its legislative wording today. Other ministries and agencies will now provide their input on it. The law, which has faced numerous critics since its inception, is planned to take effect from 2021 according to the government’s plans. According to the website Respekt.cz, some officials from the Ministry of Regional Development (MMR), which presents the law, also criticize the proposal.

"Today, I signed the complete legislative wording of the law for submission to inter-ministerial comment procedure. We will address the comments even during the Christmas holidays. It has been a struggle, and further challenges await us in the Chamber. But I firmly believe that we all share the same goal. That is to shorten and simplify the construction processes for everyone, whether they are small or large builders. The current situation is already unbearable," Dostálová stated on her Facebook profile.

Under the new law, the approval process for constructions should be reduced from the current average of 5.4 years to one year. Critics argue, however, that the law favors developers, undermines public interests such as environmental protection, and opens the door to corruption. "The unprecedented preparation of the law has resulted in a proposal that weakens the protection of public interests and strengthens the private interests of large investors," stated the association of ecological organizations Zelený kruh today, for example. Environmentalists consider it unacceptable that a fundamental change in the rules for decision-making about constructions was prepared by the Chamber of Commerce, which also includes investors and developers whose businesses the law regulates.

Experts from the MMR’s Department of Urban Planning sent a letter to Dostálová in October, criticizing the proposal. According to them, some parts of the law are contrary to the goal of its creation, which is to speed up and simplify the construction process. Dostálová, in response to the letter, criticized the officials for complaining about specific points of the law even before the final version of the proposal was created. At the same time, she criticized her subordinates for not having complained earlier.

The bill envisions that the territorial proceedings, construction proceedings, and environmental impact assessments (EIA) will be merged into a single approval procedure. According to the MMR, an important component is the digitization of the construction agenda, from spatial planning documents through a digital technical map, project documentation of constructions to the electronic files of building authorities.

The substantive proposal for the new building law was approved by the government in June, and it is expected to come into effect in 2021, which some experts say is not realistic.