The government approved the construction law, stated Minister Dostálová

Prague – The government approved a new building law at today's meeting. According to Minister for Regional Development Klára Dostálová (for ANO), it is a significant reform law. Thanks to it, building procedures will be significantly expedited, and the competitiveness of the Czech Republic should also increase. Dostálová stated this at a press conference after the cabinet meeting today.

"This is truly a new building law. We have attempted 26 amendments already, but it did not lead to the desired result, namely the acceleration of building procedures," she stated. The Ministry for Regional Development (MMR) hopes that the new norm will shorten the average approval time for larger projects from 5.4 years to one year.

The law has many critics. Opposition parties today urged Prime Minister Andrej Babiš (ANO) to withdraw the building law from today's government meeting. They consider it unprepared and lacking concept, claiming it will not expedite procedures. Dostálová noted that the law is a certain compromise and requested that "politics not be involved" around the law. She appreciated the Legislative Council of the Government for paying great attention to it. According to Dostálová, the Ministry was not in any conceptual disagreements with it, she said.

The main advantages of the new law, according to Dostálová, are a single procedure before one building office, the integration of affected bodies into building offices, fixed deadlines, measures against inactivity, or the appeal principle, where the superior office will no longer return the matter for new discussions. MMR plans that the law will take effect from spring next year, with its effectiveness gradually ramping up until mid-2023.

"The building law is too serious a matter to make it a political issue and for someone to gain visibility from it. The new building law involves thousands of hours of work from officials, the best lawyers, and dozens of other experts. The best experts in the Legislative Council of the Government dedicated dozens of hours to the law, issued several recommendations that we incorporated into the law, and their final verdict was that they recommend the government approve the law. Such a technical matter must be assessed by experts, not politicians," Dostálová told ČTK.

According to her, the building law represents, like any law, a compromise in which no one is entirely satisfied. "Especially in building law, dozens of interests clash, often opposing one another, so it is essential not to look at the law merely through one’s narrow interests, but to see it as a whole. As an opportunity that can pull us back into Europe from a community of African states in the field of construction permitting," Dostálová further stated.

Interior Minister Jan Hamáček (ČSSD) said upon arriving at the government meeting that from his perspective, MMR has resolved many comments on the regulation. "There are still over 300 disputes, but the building law is a key norm, and we agreed that we do not want to delay it any longer," he stated. According to him, the regulation "is heading in the right direction." "There is no point in wasting more months on academic debate; let’s move it forward, and in the legislative process, the law can still be adjusted," he added. According to Hamáček, MMR is prepared to incorporate adjustments through a comprehensive amendment.

The entities affected by the law have differing evaluations of the new norm. Some are satisfied despite minor reservations. Others, on the other hand, dislike, for example, the reduction of building offices or the overly broad scope of the law, pointing out what they consider insufficient heritage protection.

According to analysts contacted by ČTK, the new building law, although not ideal, will expedite procedures. They consider the significant benefit to be in digitalization, and the expertise of officials at building offices and their sufficient capacity will be important. Some believe that certain participants in the proceedings will still have too much power.