Government representatives will present the schedule for the construction law today

Prague - Representatives of the government led by Prime Minister Andrej Babiš (ANO) will today present another schedule for the creation and approval of the recodified building law. At the same time, the public will be informed about the main amendments the state made to the proposal after the inter-ministerial commenting procedure. The new version of the law has already been criticized on Monday by business chambers and associations, and it is also not liked by the Czech Chamber of Architects.

The new building law has been discussed for several years. Since January, the current proposal has been in the inter-ministerial commenting process. According to the Ministry for Regional Development, over 5000 comments have been received regarding the law, most of which have been addressed by the office.

However, entrepreneurs have already criticized the new version of the law, claiming that it has deviated from the original version and the objective intentions. Instead of simplifying the situation in construction, they argue that it will complicate it. "The building law has thus become just an unsuccessful partial amendment that will significantly worsen the situation in construction," stated Vladimír Dlouhý, president of the Chamber of Commerce, on Monday. According to him, no one has discussed the current proposal with the chamber. Without reworking, he suggests rejecting this proposal.

According to the Minister for Regional Development Klára Dostálová (for ANO), however, the previous proposal was a maximalist variant that needed to be subjected to compromises. Nevertheless, the law in this form is expected to significantly accelerate the slow building permit process. "The current situation will thus improve one hundred percent," stated the ministry. The processes for building permits should now take weeks, at most months, instead of the current several years, according to the office.

The original proposal also had many critics. Among the most common objections was that it favored developers and did not protect public interests.

The government hopes for significant acceleration and simplification of the approval of constructions with the new building law. According to World Bank data, the Czech Republic ranks 157th out of 190 countries in terms of obtaining building permits. The law is expected to take effect at the beginning of next year. According to Dostálová, its effectiveness will be phased in gradually, with the latest deadline being mid-2023.