ČKAIT considers the planned amendment to the construction law to be rather unrealistic

Prague – The planned amendment to the building law by the government of ANO, SPD, and Motorists is deemed problematic and rather unrealistic by engineers and technicians. The legislation approved by the current outgoing government has already impacted dozens of other laws, decrees, and regulations. The cancellation of ineffective regulations, standards, and environmental requirements for construction could clash with public interest or European standards, which are also demanded by many builders and investors. The Czech Chamber of Authorized Engineers and Technicians in Construction (ČKAIT) reported this to ČTK.

The emerging government plans, according to its program declaration, to change the building law, aiming to establish housing as a public interest, support young families with favorable loans for housing acquisition, and revise the housing support law. It also plans to limit some energy standards and environmental requirements for construction. The government intends to prepare a system of favorable tax depreciation for the construction of official and company housing for employees. According to them, state guarantees for cooperatives and investment incentives for investments in cooperative housing should be created. The private sector is expected to contribute more to construction, including collaborating on the establishment of new dormitories for students.

Representatives of ANO stated before the elections that the building law should take the form of the original proposal from 2021. This proposal establishes, among other things, the Supreme Building Authority, thus centralizing building administration. However, ČKAIT would prefer a quick comprehensive amendment proposal to the current law rather than an overall legislative change.

"Another approach would only increase the prevailing chaos and cause great uncertainty even in the staffing of individual offices. While everyone is currently struggling with how to authorize and inspect constructions, it wouldn’t even be clear who would handle building permits and inspections," stated ČKAIT Chairman Robert Špalek.

According to Špalek, the proposed changes to the building law and other points concerning the construction sector have not yet been consulted with ČKAIT by representatives of the future government. The chamber represents over 32,000 authorized builders in the Czech Republic.

According to the chamber, the current building law and the 2021 draft contain several main problematic parts that paralyze the sector in the Czech Republic. Many of these relate to documentation for the authorization of constructions. ČKAIT claims this documentation is overly simplified, ultimately leading to more labor-intensive project implementations. There is also a lack of definition regarding the roles of individual supervisors on construction sites, which, according to the chamber, leads to higher quality and safety.

At the same time, there are no uniform requirements for construction. Different conditions apply in Prague, Brno, Ostrava, and the rest of the country. The building law itself also, according to ČKAIT, will not resolve issues with digitization, which complicates the work of builders and offices since the launch of new systems. Given the situation where the new building law exhibits a significant number of fundamental shortcomings, the chamber believes it is unnecessary for building authorities to shift from local government oversight to state administration.