Experts: Construction proceedings will speed up, possibly at the expense of public interests

Prague - The building permit process will accelerate with the new building law; however, public interests may be compromised, such as environmental protection or public health. A major benefit lies in digitalization, and the expertise of officials at building authorities as well as their adequate capacity will be crucial. This was stated by experts whom ČTK reached out to today. The government approved the proposal for the new building law today, and it will now go to the Chamber of Deputies for discussion. The entities approached, which the law affects, have differing opinions on the evaluation of the new regulation.

"As for the announced acceleration of the building permit process, we believe that it will occur once the new building law takes effect. However, the question remains whether it will be at the expense of public interests, such as environmental protection or public health. As part of the acceleration and simplification of the process, most binding opinions from relevant authorities are to be removed, as we know it today," said lawyer Tereza Drastichová from Sedlakova Legal.

BDO Legal's partner Jiří Šmatlák sees a significant benefit in the planned digitalization. "The problem is that the draft submitted to the government still contains several substantial comments that have not yet been addressed. Moreover, the draft of the new regulation is very extensive and has too many raised comments," added Jakub Kadlec from the law firm Vilímková Dudák & Partners.

According to a previous statement by the Minister for Regional Development Klára Dostálová (for ANO), the main principles are a single proceeding before one building authority, the integration of relevant authorities into building offices, fixed deadlines, measures against inactivity, and an appellate principle whereby the superior authority will no longer return the case for a new discussion. MMR plans for the law to be in effect from the spring of next year, with enforcement gradually taking place until mid-2023. MMR expects, among other things, that the new regulation will shorten the average permitting time for larger projects from 5.4 years to one year.

Opposition parties today called on Prime Minister Andrej Babiš (ANO) to withdraw the building law from today's government meeting. They consider it unprepared and lacking concept, arguing that it will not accelerate the process.

The entities approached that are affected by the law have differing opinions on the evaluation of the new regulation. Some are satisfied despite minor reservations. Others, on the contrary, disapprove of the reduction of building authorities or the excessive scope of the law, pointing to what they consider insufficient heritage protection.

"Regions share concerns about adequate protection of public interests, where adjustments in individual areas are fragmented and addressed unsystematically. The chosen format brings significantly higher space for possible corrupt practices than is the case when maintaining the current model, in which individual building authorities operate in the presence of political and public oversight in their respective jurisdictions," stated Jiří Běhounek, the first vice-chairman of the Council of the Association of Regions of the Czech Republic.

The Czech National Committee of the International Council on Monuments and Sites (ICOMOS) added that the law had not been discussed with the UNESCO World Heritage Centre regarding its impact on the protection of cultural heritage sites. "This is expressly required in the report from the Joint Monitoring Mission of the UNESCO World Heritage Centre and ICOMOS from 2019," said committee spokesman Jan Štoll.

Conversely, the majority of approached developers or construction companies, albeit with reservations, agree with the form of the law. "Although we have several reservations regarding the proposal for the new building law, it is a clear step forward from the current state,” said Executive Director of Central Group Michaela Tomášková.

According to Michal Jurka, President of Skanska Central Europe, the Czech Republic desperately needs simplifications in construction law, and the company welcomes any such changes. "When we are currently approving apartment buildings for five years and highways for up to 15 years, even just digitalizing the building permit process would save us time and tons of paper,” added Jurka.