The Pardubice Region will propose an amendment to the Building Act

Pardubice – The councillors of the Pardubice Region today approved a proposal for a legislative initiative for the amendment of the Building Act. The principle of the regional initiative is to delay the effectiveness at all levels by one year, stated the spokesperson of the regional authority Dominik Barták. The legislative initiative will be presented at the meeting of the regional council on September 21, and according to Governor Martin Netolický, the region will address the Chamber of Deputies after the October elections.

The Chamber confirmed the new Building Act in mid-July. According to Netolický, the recodification of the Building Act is in fact a reform of public administration in the field of building law. It means the transfer of thousands of employees, and in this form, it is not prepared. The law will take effect in mid-2023, with some changes starting to apply as early as January 1 of the next year.

"According to an analysis by the Ministry of the Interior, the reorganization of officials, the transfer of files, and initiated proceedings will cause an immediate drop in the issuance of permits for at least one year and will thus cause extensive economic damage at a time when it is essential to accelerate construction and investment activities,” said the governor. He also mentioned that many material and technical issues have not been resolved, such as how the file separation will take place, how the archives of the building authority will be transferred and accepted, and how the legal status of newly state officials in the buildings of municipalities and regions will be addressed.

"There is indeed a significant and justified high risk of problems with the entire financially costly reorganization in the coming years, and therefore we want to provide space for finding agreement on the main principles of building law by delaying the effectiveness. That is why we want to present this legislative initiative to the newly formed Chamber of Deputies after the October elections,” stated Netolický.

The new Building Act was confirmed by the Chamber on July 13, when it overruled the Senate's veto. The law, which has been in preparation for a long time, was signed by President Miloš Zeman two days later. According to the government, the new amendment to building law is primarily intended to speed up building proceedings and ensure compliance with the established deadlines. The law transfers building authorities under the state and anticipates the establishment of a Supreme Building Authority. Under it, individual building authorities will be organized similarly to how it is currently done with the financial administration. The law has many opponents who argue that state administration will distance itself from citizens and that building proceedings will become more complicated.