The council will approve the new Prague building regulations on Friday

Prague - The Council will approve the new Prague Building Regulations on Friday; the European Commission (EC) has already ratified them. Nevertheless, the Ministry for Regional Development (MMR) has submitted a proposal to the Constitutional Court to annul their older version, ČTK learned from its website. According to Mayor Adriana Krnáčová (ANO), this is merely a formality that will be concluded with the approval of the new regulations. The capital city did not meet the deadline for their amendment. They are expected to come into effect on August 1.

"As the MMR has long announced, it had to submit a proposal to annul the Prague Building Regulations to the Constitutional Court, as it is obliged to do so under the law on the capital city of Prague. This step was unfortunately legally enforced and the proposal was submitted at least by the latest possible deadline," said MMR spokesperson Veronika Vároši to ČTK. The only reason for this step, according to her, was that Prague failed to finalize the Prague Building Regulations within the set deadline. "We firmly hope that in the coming days the Council of the Capital City of Prague, as promised, will finally adopt the Prague Building Regulations that the European Commission has already notified, the reason for continuing the proceedings before the Constitutional Court will be eliminated, and the proceedings will be halted," Vároši added.

Once the city leadership approves the new wording of the regulations, the version that is being challenged in court will no longer be valid, and the court will not have to deal with it. The EC had reservations about the wording of the norm due to the regulation concerning the installation of flues; Prague and the Institute of Planning and Development amended the wording according to the objections, and the commission approved the amendments.

The creation of the regulations has been accompanied by problems for over a year. The regulations were created during the tenure of Mayor Tomáš Hudeček (then TOP 09), but their validity was suspended by the Ministry for Regional Development last January. Prague ultimately submitted a revised wording.

The building regulations are an implementing norm of the Building Act. They generally define the requirements for land use and technical requirements for buildings. The original building regulations were suspended by the MMR last January for 15 months. Prague has had its building regulations as the only city in the country for more than 100 years.