The government will return to the amendment of the building law next week

Prague - The government did not complete the discussion of the substantive amendment to the building law today and will return to it at its meeting next week, said Transport Minister Martin Kupka (ODS) to reporters after the meeting. The draft from the Ministry of Regional Development (MMR) primarily abolishes the establishment of the Supreme Building Authority and its subordinate system while maintaining part of the building authorities in municipalities. According to the results of the meeting, the cabinet also postponed the related amendment on a unified environmental statement (JES).

Kupka told reporters that the government began discussing the entire matter today, stating that it would continue at the next meeting. "Considering that it is a demanding regulation, we opened the discussion on this item and want to return to some points," he stated. According to him, the key part is the section dealing with the digitalization of the building process, which is intended to enable the fastest possible processes. "This led us to decide to postpone the final decision until next week," he added.

According to MMR, the amendment will speed up the building process. Representatives of the Association of Developers, the Czech Chamber of Architects (ČKA), the Union of Construction Entrepreneurs, the Chamber of Commerce, and city administrations called on the government before today's meeting not to discuss the amendment and to return it to MMR for revision. They state that it is of poor quality and will lead to delays in construction.

The amendment cancels the establishment of the Supreme Building Authority approved last year, and the basis for building administration will be municipal offices of municipalities with extended powers and other municipal offices. The submitted proposal indicates that under the first variant, either 375 or 389 building authorities will be retained, while according to the second, based on implementing legislation, all existing ones (694) will be maintained with the possibility of reducing their number. The government will decide on the number of building authorities.

The temporary postponement of government discussions also concerns the proposal for a unified environmental statement. This should combine the permits of all authorities responsible for environmental issues before the building process. According to the Ministry of the Environment, the JES is intended to replace administrative actions contained in up to nine different laws.