The committee suspended the discussion of the amendment to the building act

Prague - The Chamber of Deputies Committee for Public Administration today suspended the discussion on the government’s draft amendment to the construction law, which primarily aims to enable the merging of territorial and construction proceedings, as well as the environmental impact assessment process. Committee members will now have a month to submit their proposed amendments, which the committee will address in early February. A seminar on the amendment will also take place in the Chamber at the end of January.

Members of Parliament will have the opportunity to submit amendments until December 16, and the Ministry for Regional Development will provide its opinion by January 13. The economic committee and the environmental committee will also address the draft. Six amendments have already appeared in the parliamentary system. Minister Karla Šlechtová (for ANO) told MPs today that she is unable to predict how many amendments will be received and noted that about 400 were submitted for the new procurement law.

According to the ministry, the amendment is expected to simplify all stages of preparation and implementation of constructions. The so-called coordinated permitting process should merge the currently separate territorial proceedings, construction proceedings, and environmental impact assessments (EIA). This is intended to significantly expedite the permitting of constructions according to the ministry. Such a construction will be simultaneously permitted and located with one official decision. However, the merged process will not be mandatory; the investor will be able to choose whether to use it or to proceed according to the existing legal regulations.