Czech Republic

CEPEJ Member: Ivana BORZOVÁ

Head, Department of Civil Supervision
Ministry of Justice
Vysehradská 16
128 10 PRAGUE 2
+420 221 997 416 fax: +420 221 997 557, iborzova [at] msp.justice.cz

Czech Republic - European Cyberjustice Network member (ECN)

Mr Přemysl Sezemský
Head of Dept. Of Computerization of Justice of the Ministry of Justice
PSezemsky [at] msp.justice.cz

National Correspondent

Ivana BORZOVÁ
Head, Department of Civil Supervision
Ministry of Justice
Vysehradská 16
128 10 PRAGUE 2
+420 221 997 416 +420 221 997 557, iborzova [at] msp.justice.cz

Pilot Court

District Court of Prague 1
Ms Alena NOVOTNÁ
Vice-president of the Court, Ph.D
Ovocný trh 14, 100 00 PRAHA 1
(+420) 221 093 411, (+420) 737 244 043 anovotna [at] osoud.pha1.justice.cz

Regional Court Ústí nad Labem
Mr Václav BENEŠ
Judge
Národního odboje 1274, 400 92 ÚSTÍ NAD LABEM 50
(+420) 477 047 357, vbenes [at] ksoud.unl.justice.cz

Evaluation Exercise

Translations of CEPEJ documents:

Links to relevant Institutions

Resources

Legal texts (Codes, laws, regulations etc.)
Ministerstvo vnitra ceske republiki
Case-law of the higher court/s
Nejvyšší soud

Recent developments in the judicial field

New Civil Code (10/01/2014)

The New Civil Code is effective since 1st January 2014.

The preparation and drafting of the Code took more than 10 years; the new Code is to replace the Civil Code of 1964 and will repeal more than 100 special acts including the Family Act or the Commercial Code.

It is supposed to react to modern needs and current economic and social situation.
It is composed of five books (general provision, family law, ownership, obligations and transitional provisions) and contains 3081 sections.

The purpose is that all private rights, duties and status of individuals and entities are governed by one code. It stresses our democratic legal traditions and principles of private law in Europe. The new Civil Code was inspired primarily by foreign legislation in continental countries, mainly Germany, Switzerland, Austria, Italy and the Netherlands, but certain inspiration came also from Québec.

Report on the implementation of the CEPEJ guidelines for judicial time management in 7 pilot courts / institutions (Czech Republic, Georgia, Italy, Norway, Switzerland, United Kingdom) (March 2011)
Special distinction awarded at the Crystal Scales of Justice in Brussels in June 2009 on the occasion of the Justice Forum for the project "Mentor Scheme" by the Association for probation and mediation in Justice
Approval of the new Criminal Code which will come into effect on 1st January 2010.

The most significant achievement in Czech criminal legislation is the approval of the new Criminal Code. It essentially changes and modernizes Czech criminal law. The Criminal Code, which will come into effect on 1st January 2010, newly introduces, for example, a house arrest to the system of criminal sanctions. The most important task in the non-criminal area at present is the recodification of private law. Currently the proposal of a new Civil Code and the Act on Mediation in Non-criminal Matters are in the legislative process.

The aggregate amendment of the Civil Procedure Code will come into effect on 1st July 2009. It introduces new arrangements for service of process, audio recordings of trials, a limitation of the extent of reasoning in judgements, reinforcement of the role of notaries in succession proceedings and other changes. As a matter of fact, it generally means improvement and transparency of civil proceedings and elimination of shortages arising in practice.