The council approved the amendment to the Prague Building Regulations

Prague - The council approved the amendment to the Prague building regulations, confirmed two sources from the council's meeting to ČTK. Prague has been in disputes with the Ministry for Regional Development (MMR) and the European Commission (EK) over the appearance of the regulations for more than two years. The amendment to the regulations was created while the previous leadership of the capital city was in charge, but MMR suspended their validity. After today's approval, they will come into effect on August 1.

"We approved the Prague building regulations today. They are one of the most fundamental documents that Prague has, and I am glad that it was successful after all the ups and downs,” said Mayor Adriana Krnáčová (ANO) to ČTK.

According to her, MMR's main objections included natural lighting and street lines, and EK was bothered by the regulation regarding the routing of flues. "It was taken from a national decree, which, however, does not have EK notification,” Krnáčová explained at the press conference. Another problem, she said, was that the original regulation was too vague and ambiguous; the new version is closer to the legislation.

According to Krnáčová, after today's approval of the amendment, the constitutional complaint filed by MMR against the original version of the regulations is now moot. However, the ministry had to challenge the document because Prague did not meet the 15-month deadline for submitting new regulations.

Prague has had its building regulations as the only city in the country for more than 100 years. Due to disputes, the ministry wanted to revoke this privilege from the capital city; the proposal still remains in the prepared amendment to the building law. "I cannot imagine on what legal basis this authorization could be revoked from Prague. I hope that the legislators at MMR will carefully consider this,” added Krnáčová.

The new version was presented by the mayor to the council after a competency dispute with her former deputy Matěj Stropnický (SZ/Triple Coalition); it was approved at the beginning of August last year. At the end of October, the council then prepared the regulations for submission for notification to Brussels. At an extraordinary meeting, they incorporated MMR's comments into them. The council was then convened with a smaller composition after Prague councilors had recalled four out of 11 councilors the previous night.

The original version approved by the previous leadership of the capital city became an electoral topic, where former mayor Tomáš Hudeček (independent, formerly TOP 09) stood against companies providing large-scale advertising. The regulations prohibited advertising larger than six square meters in buildable areas. "Young Stropnický deserves a few slaps not only from his voters for the removal of advertising regulation,” Hudeček wrote on Twitter. Krnáčová criticized him at the press conference, claiming he wasted a year arguing with MMR about whether the regulations needed EK notification.

The building regulations are an implementing regulation to the building law. They generally define the requirements for land use and technical requirements for buildings. The validity of the original building regulations was suspended by MMR for 15 months last January. The ministry justified the repeal of the regulations by stating that they have formal deficiencies and lack European Commission notification. During their suspension, the general conditions set by the building law applied in Prague.