Representatives of local governments request to terminate the discussion of the amendment to the building code

Prague - The Association of Local Governments is calling for an end to discussions on the amendment of the building law. They consider it unrealistic for the government proposal to be qualitatively revised within a few days, as the comprehensive adjustments contain more than 300 changes. The association stated this in a press release available to ČTK.

The amendment to the law is to be addressed by the Chamber of Deputies in the second reading; currently, the change to the law is being discussed at the level of parliamentary committees. The Economic Committee interrupted the discussions last week due to a comprehensive amendment that is meant to fundamentally modify the original bill.

The amendment primarily anticipates the establishment of a central state construction authority. It declares mass housing construction as a public interest, which may facilitate the expropriation of land. The bill envisions the introduction of a single construction process handled by one authority with one stamp.

The comprehensive amendment, for instance, expands the purposes of the building law to include creating conditions for business. According to it, all regional cities, including Prague, could issue their own building regulations.

The amendment to the law, which introduces a central construction authority, was submitted in the form of a parliamentary proposal. As such, the change to the law did not undergo the usual commentary process before the first reading. According to the association of local governments, the parliamentary draft should be withdrawn, and the entire proposal preparation process should be repeated in accordance with standard legislative creation rules.

"If the proposal had been uploaded to interdepartmental commentary proceedings in December when it was submitted to the Chamber, it could have already been transparently resolved and quality processed, unlike the current situation," said the chairman of the Association of Local Governments, Petr Halada.

The association also objects, for example, to the fact that after the adoption of the amendment, self-service boxes for packages would be newly included among minor constructions. This would complicate their placement, thereby reducing service availability in rural areas.

"At the same time, this step goes against the declared goal of the amendment itself, which is to accelerate and simplify approval processes. There is a paradoxical situation where simplification is primarily experienced by large development projects with significant impacts on their surroundings, whereas in the case of boxes, there is a tightening instead," Halada added.

The new building law from 2021 was prepared over many years. Its current form will take effect from July 1, 2024. The amendment introducing a central construction authority was prepared by the ANO movement even before the elections and builds on the wording of the law from 2021.

The legislative change has its supporters and opponents among experts. It is supported by, for example, the Association of Construction Entrepreneurs and the Association of Developers. However, some aspects are problematic for the Czech Chamber of Authorized Engineers and Technicians in Construction and the Czech Chamber of Architects.