Selection of information about the latest changes to the building code

Prague - A selection of information on the recent changes to the building act (the government adopted a new building act yesterday that establishes a central building authority and designates collective housing projects as public interest):

- Changes to the building act have been the theme of most previous governments, which mostly promise simplification and acceleration of the permitting process. The digitalization of the building procedures was also supposed to help.

- The last major amendment was created under the previous government of Andrej Babiš (ANO) and its wording was sharply criticized by the then opposition (ODS, Pirates, TOP 09, KDU-ČSL, and STAN). The Chamber of Commerce and large cities also raised objections to the building act.

- The House approved the new building act in May 2021. The MPs accepted the regulation in such a way that all building authorities were to be transferred under the state. They were to fall under the Supreme Building Authority and be organized similarly to financial offices. The law was to take effect from July 1, 2023.

- In July 2021, the Senate rejected the law; the House overrode the Senate's veto. Opposition parties stated that if they were to govern after the October elections, they would change the proposed draft. The law was subsequently signed by President Miloš Zeman. The law had many critics; for example, the leadership of Prague and representatives of the Union of Towns and Municipalities of the Czech Republic (SMO) pointed out that the law leads to stronger state centralization instead of greater involvement of local governments. The Czech Chamber of Architects criticized, for example, the exclusion of the designer’s oversight from selected construction activities.

- After the elections in October 2021, which resulted in the government of Petr Fiala (ODS) composed of the Spolu parties (ODS, KDU-ČSL, TOP 09), the STAN movement, and Pirates, the House, despite opposition dissent (the ANO movement and SPD), supported a one-year postponement of the effectiveness of key sections of the new building act. From mid-2023, only a Specialized and Appeal Building Authority was to be formed, responsible for large investment projects, such as highways. The government announced that it would prepare an amendment to the building act in the meantime. In May 2022, the governing coalition in the House pushed through a one-year delay in the establishment of the Supreme Building Authority and regional building offices.

- The amendment to the building act was approved by Fiala's government in May 2022. The draft from the Ministry for Regional Development (MMR) canceled the establishment of the Supreme Building Authority and its subordinate system and temporarily maintained all building offices in municipalities. The government also approved a draft law on unified environmental assessments (JES), which was to consolidate the permits of all authorities responsible for the environment before the construction procedure.

- The House approved the new building act amendment in March 2023. The amendment, which was later approved by the Senate and signed by President Petr Pavel, did not establish the planned Supreme Building Authority or its subordinate system of regional offices. Building authorities thus remained tied to municipalities.

- The new building act comes into effect on January 1, 2024. Some changes began to take effect in July 2023, and others from July 2024. In January 2024, a new Transport and Energy Building Authority (DESÚ) was primarily established under the Ministry of Transport, responsible for key transport and energy construction projects. The amendment was also to accelerate and simplify the building procedures. A process was to enable the building authority to directly contact other concerned authorities and obtain their opinions in a so-called coordinated binding statement. This statement will newly include what is called a unified environmental assessment (JES). In the end, there should be only one stamp for the builder.

- The regulation adopted under the government led by Babiš (ANO) in 2021 also introduced the digitalization of the building procedures, which came into effect at the beginning of last July. Due to a number of issues with the tender for the supplier of the system for digitalization of building procedures, the MMR, led by the chairman of the Pirates Ivan Bartoš, ultimately decided to find a supplier without a tender in a negotiation procedure without publication. A contract for the supply of key information systems for the digitalization of building procedures for 37 million crowns was concluded at the beginning of November 2023 with the company InQool. Shortly thereafter, the antitrust office began to deal with the matter, which last March prohibited the fulfillment of the contract with InQool. The prohibition took effect four months after it was confirmed by the chairman of the Office for the Protection of Competition Petr Mlsna on May 23 - that is, at the end of September. The company could still prepare the Information System for Building Procedures (ISSŘ), which was launched at the beginning of July. However, its operation has faced strong criticism from the outset, not only from officials who work with it, but also from builders and designers. Both opposition and coalition politicians criticized Minister Bartoš for the problematic functioning of the digitalization. Bartoš was ultimately forced to leave the government in September 2024, and the Pirates went into opposition.

- In mid-October last year, the government decided not to continue the development of the building procedure systems launched in July, but allowed them to be temporarily used alongside the originally used systems. The government decided to issue a new contract for the building procedure system, with the new system expected to launch at the beginning of 2028. Last November, the House accepted the amendment to the building act in an expedited manner, which took effect on December 21 and allows building authorities to use the original systems until 2028. In January this year, the MMR deployed a so-called technological bypass for the building procedure in selected offices. Thanks to it, officials can use interlinked original building procedure systems with new digital ones.

- Changes to the building act were also promised by the new government of Andrej Babiš, which was appointed on December 15. The election winner, the ANO movement, had already announced before the elections that it wanted to establish a central state building authority. Minister for Regional Development Zuzana Mrázová (ANO) aims to focus on better building approvals and housing support in her office. According to her, the building agenda should improve with the draft law submitted by the MPs of the new coalition of ANO, SPD, and Motorists on Friday. The amendment separates spatial planning from building approvals - planning will remain within the jurisdiction of municipalities, but the approval rules will be taken over by the central building authority. The authority will be created by merging the building authorities of the Ministry for Regional Development, the Ministry of Industry and Trade, the Ministry of Transport, and the Transport and Energy Building Authority. Under it, there will be 14 authorities in the regions and Prague and 205 local offices in municipalities with extended jurisdiction. However, additional local offices could also be created in other municipalities according to local needs, states the explanatory memorandum to the draft law. Mrázová intends to proceed with the digitalization of the building procedures only after the new building act takes effect.

- The government today adopted a new building act, which establishes a central building authority and designates collective housing projects as public interest. The new building act aims to fundamentally simplify and accelerate building approvals. It introduces the principle of one authority, one procedure, and one stamp, which abolishes the existing duality and numerous binding opinions from various institutions. The change to the building act is also expected to establish the Office for Spatial Development of the Czech Republic. Under this office, officials who currently conduct building administration under regions and municipalities will transition. Under it, there will be 14 offices in the regions and Prague and 205 local offices in municipalities with extended jurisdiction. Additional local offices may also be created in other municipalities according to local needs.