From the initiation of the process of transition to a market-economy based upon the rule of law, a prime preoccupation of the Czech Republic has been to modernise and reform its legal system. In particular this has involved steps to replace laws inherited from the previous regime which were incompatible with a market-economy, plus the introduction of new laws essential to the functioning of a market-economy which were absent under the previous regime.
In 1991, the Government of the Czechoslovak Federal Republic passed resolution no. 533, later confirmed by the Government of the Czech Republic's resolution no. 396, which sought to ensure the harmonisation of the laws of the Czech Republic with laws of the EC.
The goal of harmonisation was confirmed with the signing of the Europe Agreement (signed on October 4th, 1993 and coming into effect on February 1st, 1995), under Chapter III (Articles 69-71). Article 69 recognises that "the major precondition for the Czech Republic's economic integration into the Community is the harmonisation of the Czech Republic's existing and future legislation to that of the Community," while the Czech Republic committed itself to "endeavour to ensure that its legislation will be gradually made compatible with that of the Community."
Under Article 71, the Community committed itself to facilitate legal harmonisation via technical assistance and the provision of early information on relevant legislation. Technical assistance has been provided under the framework of the Phare programme, while the European Council, convening in Cannes, approved the Commission's White Paper in June 1995 which highlighted the key aspects of the internal market acquis communautaire.. To facilitate a coherent approach to the task of legal harmonisation, the Czech Government established a Department for the Compatibility with EC Law within the Office for Legislation and Public Administration on April 1st, 1993. While the principal responsibility for harmonisation rests with the legislative section of the relevant ministries and executing institutions, the Office for Legislation, which represents the Czech Government in the Europe Agreement Sub-Committee for Legal Harmonisation, is responsible for assistance in providing guidance, consultation, overall co-ordination and delivering opinions on the implementation of harmonisation.
The process of harmonisation is chronologically scheduled through the year 2000 according to the legal and economic priorities and social acceptability regarding the fact that implementation of new legal regulations may play a major part in the political development of the country and in social status of its inhabitants.
Regarding the possible future acceptance of the Czech Republic into the EC, the harmonisation of the social security policy of the Czech Republic with other countries is one of the most important tasks. Social Security shall be understood as the co-ordination of the social security systems in terms of the supposed migration of the inhabitants of the citizens of the EC, e.g. in the community employment market, maintenance of the social benefits from the original countries, calculating number of years of employment or of insurance and providing payments abroad. Harmonisation should be finished by the year 1998 and the country should be ready to join the EC in regard of the specified legal harmonisation.
Furthermore, changes to the Labour Code (Act no. 65/1965 Coll., as amended) will have to take place in order to secure employee health and safety. The expected changes to the Labour Code should remove most of the divergence in regulations.
The contemporary situation regarding equal opportunities for men and women seem to be in accord with the regulations in EC countries.
Additional areas of action concern the protection of the environment and regulations concerning waste. A proposal for the new Act on Waste has already been approved by the Government of the Czech Republic and should by submitted to Parliament for approval this year. The Act shall be legally binding from the year 1997 and it should bring full compatibility between laws of EC countries and of the Czech Republic in terms of the Catalogue of Waste, its treatment and transportation of dangerous loads, e.g. export, import and transit of used materials. The speed of implementation of the new act will depend very much on issuing other regulations which will have to be consulted with the EC experts.
Regarding treatment of chemical materials, there is so far no legislation in the Czech Republic comparable to legislation in the EC countries. Two new laws are being prepared and these should ensure full compatibility by the year 1998.
The situation in the area of regulation of air pollution is influenced by the existing energy infrastructure, which does not provide the Czech Republic with a very good basis for harmonisation in the relevant legal areas. An amendment to the Act on Air is being prepared which will include a list of materials polluting the air, a list of sources of pollution, emission limits and requests for original evidence of sources of pollution.
Harmonisation of the legal framework in the sphere of Financial Markets was initiated in 1990 and continues. The first step taken in the harmonisation of the legal systems was the adoption of The Foreign Exchange Act no. 528/1990 Coll., as amended. The Securities Act and the Stock Exchange Act (no. 591/1992 Coll., as amended and no. 214/1992 Coll., as amended), were both implemented in 1992. These laws already include important harmonisation provisions. Another step will be amendments to the above mentioned Acts and to the Commercial Code (Act no. 513/1991 Coll., as amended). The Act on The Investment Companies and Investment Funds (Act no. 248/1992 Coll., as amended) was based on relevant EC regulations. Full compatibility is scheduled to be achieved in the areas of public investments and foreign securities exchange by the year 1998.
The completion of harmonisation of in the area of financial markets will require achieving compatibility particularly in the areas of market transparency, number of publicly traded securities, the number of investment companies and funds as well as the number of securities dealers. The development of the institutional structure of the Czech financial markets will have to be completed, primarily reporting and monitoring of trading and prices. The whole process will also demand information systems and services such as unbiased ratings of companies.
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Commercial Law - Harmonisation of the Czech Legal System with that of the Europe
